Danish Gevaer m/50 - An American Gun Made in Italy
Forgotten Weapons
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8m 14s
Dozens of countries around the world received M1 Garand rifles from the United States in the decades after World War Two, and Denmark was one of those that not only got some rifle but went so far as to formally adopt the M1 as its post-war standard. The US and Denmark signed a mutual defense agreement in 1950 which coincided with Danish adoption of the M1 as the 7.62mm Gevaer M/50. They receiver 20,000 rifles on load, and by 1964 would purchase another 49,000 from the US (including 1,000 M1D snipers). They also purchased 20,000 rifles from Italy, who had been chosen to be the official NATO supplier of new M1s. These were made by Beretta and Breda, and have an interesting set of Danish markings on the receivers, unlike the surplus American rifles. Unlike some other countries, Denmark opted not to convert its M1s to 7.62mm NATO, and eventually replaced them in 1975 with the G3 (although is would take more than 20 years before the M1s would be sold as surplus).
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