Customer Reviews

The M1 Garand, 1936-1957

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Beginning as a rank armature interested in collecting a WWII era M1 Garand, I purchased this book to assist me in my quest. With the help of this book, I was able to not only pick out a quality Garand from among the hundreds of pieces of junk out there, but I was able to restore it to "as issued" condition. This is quite simply the premiere resource book on the Garand for anyone looking to collect true collectable military Garands! From the correct rear sight, to the markings on the stock, right on down to which cleaning kit or bayonet was issued with a rifle of a certain series of receiver serial numbers, this book will make you a more savvy investor of the M1 Garand. I've referenced this book so many times that the binding is falling apart! There is even an inventory check-list which allows you to see at a glance, which parts on your rifle are historically "correct", and which needs replacing. Simply put, if you have a Grand and want to restore it to it's original "as issued" condition, or want to educate yourself before heading to the gun show, you could spend months in the library, or just buy this book!

Based upon the editors description I thought I was getting a detailed field book describing specific parts that make up as-designed M1's. Not so. The specific information is sketchy, it includes almost no parts photos, only low quality line drawings. Much detail is left out and few exceptions to the general rules are mentioned. Some of the factual information is suspect ("The round operating rod spring was the same for all manufacturers and did not change during its production life"). Personal experience with CMP issued rifles suggests this is not true. An "OK" book for beginners, serious collecters should search out a copy of the Duff manual.

Given the size of this book, anyone expecting it to be a comprehensive encyclopedia of the Garand over the 22 years it details would be disappointed. However, different researchers uncover different facts, and this book adds substantially to what we know. As the folks directly involved the with the creation of the M1 rifle (God bless them) have become fewer and fewer, we need to gather the last bits of first-hand history of
this remarkable weapon. This book is an essential to anyone seiously interested -- along with only a handful of others. My approach is to buy them ALL in the belief that every book will tell some part of the story. Scott Duff of course, and Jim Thompson and Julian Hatcher and the beautiful book on the Gas Trap from Collectors Grade Publications. And all the TMs and FMs, and if a current-day armorer at the CMP had something to say about the recent crop of Garands passing through their hands, I'd be anxious to read that as well.

You can always find something to criticize in a book: this is called "reviewsmanship" and is exemplified by a statement like "it is inexplicable why the author elected to ignore the important modification to the trigger guard occurring made in 19xx." But, when you get into that, you ignore the value that the book does deliver -- in this case plenty -- just to show off that you know something this book didn't happen to mention. Why bother?

This is a fine book, with great material and, like any book, some omissions. Read it.

The book is very helpful when looking through a parts bin to find the right part for the serial number you want. Nothing more, nothing less. It's not a complete reference for every bit of info about the Garand but it's enough not to get ripped off from a "oh yeah, that's the right part" dealer. Very handy indeed.

The book has a lot of good information; however, it is very difficult to understand what the author is describing when explaining the different variants of Garand parts. The pictures are not clear and are black and white. The pictures also don't correlate with the text. Figure 2 on page 3 may actually represent some text on page 2 while page 2's text has a Figure 1 with text around where one would assume the text is referring to Figure 1. The information in the book is good, but don't expect to not have to buy another supporting book.

This book is the first I've bought on the M1 Garand. I purchased it on the recommendation of numerous people I know who are very involved in the hobby of collecting antique service weapons. I am currently using the book to help me get to know a 65 year old M1 that I recently acquired, and find it very informative and well put together. This book is known as one of the standards. Well worth buying.

Very informative, covered every aspect of the rifle in great detail, also addressed serial numbers of all parts, dates, changes in production including modifications

This book is a must have for anyone who is trying to restore an M1 Garand or just building one. Each system for the rifle is covered with a breakdown of the parts with the correct drawing and revision number used. The WWII Garands are classified according to manufacturer and serial number run by month and year. Post war Garands are by manufacturer and year. The only thing I would like would be more illustrations of certain parts and the types. There is a lot of history about the Garand and its designer. If you want to make your Garand correct by manufacturer and date of build, this is the book you need.

Great book for the collector and hobbiest, full of detail about the M1 Garand and differences in production detail

This is a great book for someone who is a new proud owner of an M1 Garand, and wants to research out their rifle, explore and date their rifle part by part. It has a mixture of photos and drawings. The line drawings are fine, they help highlight the characteristics of the different parts as they changed throughout the years. This books is a complete inventory of all the parts over all the years. It includes, repair tools, slings, bayonets, ammo, rifle stock, stock markings, plus of course every single part in your rifle. It also includes history(background comments) surrounding the parts.

Bottomline it's a great reference tool.