Garand Primer-Activated 1924 Trials Rifle
Prototype & Trials Weapons
•
23m
The first successful iteration of John Garand’s rifle was developed in 1921 and refined through 1924. A small batch were made for US military testing in 1924, where it was compared to guns like the Bang, Hatcher-Bang, and most significantly the Colt/Thompson Autoloading Rifle. Garand’s rifle was primer-activated, with a downward-tilting locking lug at the rear of the bolt (like an 1886 Mannlicher). It was the clear willer of the trials, but was rendered useless in 1925 when the military adopted a new loading of .03-06 which used IMR powder (with a substantially different pressure curve than wha tGarand had been using for his design) and staked primers - which rendered it thoroughly unusable in the 1924 Garand.
In response, Garand would completely change his design, moving to a rotating bolt with two symmetrical locking lugs and a long stroke gas piston - which would eventually be adopted as the US Rifle M1. However, Garand’s skills as a rifle designer are clear in this 1924 prototype - it handled and balances wonderfully, and has excellent sights and trigger. It disassembles easily, and simply feels robust and svelte in a way that is quite unusual for early semiautomatic rifles.
Up Next in Prototype & Trials Weapons
-
AAI 2nd Gen SPIW Flechette Rifles
The SPIW program began in 1962 with entries from Colt, Springfield, AAI, and Winchester. The first set of trials were a complete failure, and both Colt and Winchester abandoned the project at that point. AAI pressed on, producing these second generation rifles - one for trials in 1966 and one aft...
-
Ross Rudd's Prototype Delayed Blowbac...
Ross Rudd was born in Toronto in 1915, but his family moved to Springfield Massachusetts in 1917, and he would grow up there. Interested in guns and gun design from an early age, Rudd went to work for Savage in 1940, where he was involved in Lee Enfield production and the simplification of the Th...
-
XM29 OICW Mockup
The OICW - Objective Individual Combat Weapon - was part of a program in the 1980s and 1990s to replace the whole lineup of uS small arms with a consolidated group of new high-tech ones. The M4, M16, and M203 would be replaced by the OICW, the M240, M2, and Mk 19 would be replaced by the Objectiv...
