M1 Garand

The garand was the first self-loader adopted by the US Army as a standard weapon. It was selected in 1936 as good, robust (if somewhat heavy), reliable and simple weapon after a series rifles were tested. During WWII the rifle was made mainly by the Springfield Armoury and Winchester Repeating Arms Company, by others were made by other Ameican arms companies. After the war a quantity were also made by the Italian Beretta company. Manufacture finished in the mid 1950's after about 5.5 million had been produced. There were variants of the rifle, a National Match model and at least three sniper rifles. The rifle is 43.50" long, a barrel of 24" and a muzzle velocity of 2800 f/s.