Customer Reviews

Complete Guide to the M1 Garand and the M1 Carbine

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I found this book to be just what I was looking for in a Reference/History book. Bruce Canfield must have had the average military collector in mind when he wrote this work. He has updated the original text and the clarity of the pictures is excellent. It has helped answer some of the questions that I had about my M1 Garand. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED FOR COLLECTORS.

If you own an M1 or are thinking of buying an M1 either Garand style or a carbine you NEED this book. As a collector of military rifles this book paid for itself the first weekend I had it. A must have for U.S. military weapons collectors.

The author gives a comprehensive look at the M1 Garand and M1 Carbine---the workhorses of small arms for U.S. soldiers of WWII and the Korean Conflict. Background information on the firearms, identification charts, and great photos (many, many color photos) make this book ideal for the expert or novice firearms collector. If I could only have one book about these two weapons, CANFIELD'S BOOK WOULD BE IT!

If you are looking to buy an M1 Garand or carbine and don't know what you should be looking for than this is the book for you. I think that it is an extremely informative book with great pictures. You should now be able to tell why one rifle is selling for $600.00 and another is selling for many times that amount. I am a collector first, and this book helps me to identify a recklessly, missmatched put together shooter which is fine if that is what you are seeking.

Bruce Canfield's books are always worthwhile reading for the interested student of history: he always explains the development and technical details of the firearm under review within its historical context, never slacking in detail yet somehow never getting bogged down in minutiae.

If you don't already have _War Baby_ and are interested in the M1 Carbine, this is a worthwhile book; if you already own _WB_ or are planning on getting it and are uninterested in the M1 Garand rifle, you would be better off saving your money & spending it on _War Baby_, which focuses exclusively on the M1 Carbine. I have read _War Baby_ and found the section on the Carbine in Canfield's book to be (understandably) inadequate in comparison, but wholly enjoyable and complete in its own right if not already familiar with the extensive and absolutely thorough coverage provided on the subject by _War Baby_.

Any fan of the Garand rifle is well-served by adding this title to his personal library. That said: I really wish that this title was offered as part of a compendium with Bruce Canfield's _Johnson Rifle_, as that other book is rather pricey in comparison; if the two were combined at the present price of his book on the Johnson rifle, it would be a no-brainer to buy it, offering as it would a fairly comprehensive look at the long arms developed and used by the U.S. immediately prior & during World War II. Something the publisher should consider, as I imagine sales of the book on the Johnson rifle are handicapped by it's high price, while this book is not as thorough as others devoted exclusively to their single topical long arm and hence could benefit from the addition of the added material on the Johnson rifle which competed with the Garand for political favor...

Although I am not finished reading this book, I am very pleased with the content so far. This book goes into very good detail with good quality pictures. I was looking for a book to assist me in the purchase of an M1, and I feel more comfortable in my quest now that I am much more educated on the specifics of differant models and details purtaining to certain years and serial numbers as pointed out in this book. The content may be a little to detail oriented for the reader that is just trying to gain the history of this weapon, but for the reader looking to learn the "nuts and bolts" of this gun, I would highly recommend this guide.

This item had all the bells and whistles if you need to identify anything to do with the M-1 Garand or carbine. A great wealth of information.

I owned this book and bought another for a good friend. Well done with easy to understand historical info. Fast shipper and well packed. A must for the WW II history buff.

Good excellent book I was surprised that it was particularly informative, especially pertaining to M1A1 paratrooper style M1 carbines apart from regular carbines and garands, of which you form an opinion as I've already years ago that if you see a m1a1 for sale, chances are its a standard m1 carbine action thrown onto a recently surplussed m1a1 stock set that originally came in this country on a full auto m2 carbine action that had to be destroyed except for parts, it never fails, everytime there is a wave of m2 carbine parts and parts for sale, suddenly there are suddenly loads of paratrooper carbines coming out of the woodwork, "arsenal fresh and all correct", with fuzzy photo's. This book can help you weed out the posers of real items. There is an expansive section on the individual manufactures of carbines and what markings to be found on various main parts. I have other books by Ruth and the "For Collectors Only" series of books on carbines, but this one is a good compliment to the others, doesn't hurt to have everything you can get to save from a bad purchase, or just to know, I find myself referring to this one on the manufacturer sections, and it saved me from a bad purchase of a heavily pushed fake locally where a dealer "had a line" on an original supposed m1a1, one look at the hollow rivets painted black and made solid with some sort of filler, and the unmarked rear flip sight that looked new-is with fresh sanding on the edges, along with the action was recently reparked and completely one tone of park, with sandpapered edges, its no wonder the owner of the shop was buying boats and new trucks, and expensive caribbean cruises, that could have been $3.5k in his wallet, out of mine for a poorly done fake worth $500, bore was worn too!
I believe it was this book that mentioned that ww2 rifles will have different shades of parked items, not all the same, due to the high volume of production from various subcontractors, etc. That is something I just learned, seems I have a garand that has been reparked by my local pro's before I knew we had some real pro's local, and I believe I shelled out an extra eight hundred dollars for that cause I was sure it was mint condition original, actually found out in this book, I'm sure the arsenal this was re-arsenaled at was in someones' home garage.

I bought this for my husband and he loves it. He is a gun collector and said that the information in the book was very useful. Fast Shipping!