GARAND RIFLE

also called M1 rifle semiautomatic, gas-operated .30-calibre rifle adopted by the U.S. Army in 1936. It was developed by John C. Garand, a civilian engineer employed at the Springfield Armory, Springfield, Mass. The Garand was the first semiautomatic military rifle used as a standard combat shoulder weapon. It was the basic U.S. infantry weapon in both World War II and the Korean War. More than 5,000,000 M1s were manufactured. The Garand weighed 9.5 pounds (4.3 kg) and was fed from an eight-round clip. Its 24-inch (61-centimetre) barrel was rifled with four grooves. Located next to the muzzle on the underside of the barrel was the small gas port that fed some of the propellant gases into a small cylinder that operated the autoloading mechanism.