Your Favorite P-08 Luger

Doubs · 08-12-2003, 12:05 AM

I agree with Norm on almost all points. Our Army did adopt the Garand in 1936 while the Marines insisted on keeping their version of the 1903 Springfield. The Marines learned on Guadalcanal that the Garand was the better battle rifle and moved swiftly to replace the '03. In the book "Shots Fired in Anger" (an excellent book, BTW) the author points out that the Garand proved to be the more reliable weapon and if the gas system failed could be manually operated more quickly than the bolt of an '03. The soldiers in the Philippines and on Wake Island were armed with the '03 rifle when the war broke out so it's true that many US servicemen entered the war with bolt actions but the Garand quickly became the standard. We were the only major power to use semi-automatic rifles as standard issue and it gave us a tremendous advantage in a fight.

The English began the war with the #1 Mk III rifle and slowly replaced it with the #4 rifle which was officially adopted in 1939.

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08-12-2003, 12:05 AM	#29
Doubs User Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Byron, Georgia Posts: 1,742 Thanks: 826 Thanked 1,788 Times in 590 Posts	I agree with Norm on almost all points. Our Army did adopt the Garand in 1936 while the Marines insisted on keeping their version of the 1903 Springfield. The Marines learned on Guadalcanal that the Garand was the better battle rifle and moved swiftly to replace the '03. In the book "Shots Fired in Anger" (an excellent book, BTW) the author points out that the Garand proved to be the more reliable weapon and if the gas system failed could be manually operated more quickly than the bolt of an '03. The soldiers in the Philippines and on Wake Island were armed with the '03 rifle when the war broke out so it's true that many US servicemen entered the war with bolt actions but the Garand quickly became the standard. We were the only major power to use semi-automatic rifles as standard issue and it gave us a tremendous advantage in a fight. The English began the war with the #1 Mk III rifle and slowly replaced it with the #4 rifle which was officially adopted in 1939.