Me, just a little 
My favorite rifle to shoot, bar none.
Pic of my original & correct WWII Springfield. This pic was used in a Garand Collector Association article.
Me with the rifle above
Made this lamp from non serviceable parts ā¦ guess you have to turn sideways. The base has a start & stripe theme, and then I mounted two dowel rods to slide into the storage holes in the Garandās stock
Same pic of me (oops) ā¦ donāt know how I did as attach vs embed
I am digging that lamp.
In purely āpersonal interestā terms I would rather have a Garand or M14 over an AR-family; in practice, however, my stubby little arms (seriously, I have to have an AR stock set at almost fully collapsed! life sucks down here at 5ā6") and limited upper-body strength leave me limited to ARās, maybe if Iām lucky and can find short-stock version M1 Carbine or Mini-14.
As a WWII History major, my interests tend to naturally go toward arms of that conflict. So, I guess you canāt call me really āenthusiastā but more āM1 Curious.ā (Sigh, if only I had two more inches and some usable pecsā¦ seriously, my girlfriend is taller than I am even without heels.)
Itās an easy thing to do, just need a beater mil surp rifle, base plate with elevation blocks underneath, a bayonet (optional), a helmet (can use a toy one with a real cover if a budget thing) and from Home Depot a strip of LED lights.
Remove the rifleās baseplate and drill a healthy diameter hole in the stock. Mount a dowel rod of matching diameter to the baseplate and then slip the rifle onto it. The LED lights thread into the webbing inside the helmet of just Gorilla tape in place & hide the light cord by weaving in & around the sling ā¦ walaā
Found this better picture to illustrate ā¦ (EDIT ā¦ if anyone knows how to control sidewise vs upright, holler)
Hey, youāre better off than you give yourself credit for. Thereās plenty of old guys with very limited physical capes still shooting these ā¦ they shoot off a bench and have a blast of fun. The recoil isnāt sharp, because of all the weight, more like a firm push. A mini 14 should fit you well, and is a close cousin as you know of the Garand. Iāve been tempted by the Mini 14 plenty of times ā¦ the newer ones use a thicker barrel helping fix the wandering accuracy of earlier ones under rapid fire. Really reliable design, and just feel āquick handlingā
I got my first from the CMP ~25-years ago. When everyone went gaga for the āblack riflesā to use in high power service rifle matches, one of the reknown M1 builders got āstuckā with some custom Nat Match-built Garands, with new Criterion barrels and such.
I ended up getting a National Match custom build, in 308, Pro Tech Engineering barrel, tight chamber, muzzle checked @ -0.5 and throat @ 0 on the erosion gauges. All wrapped up in a fancy figured walnut stock by Wenig. If I told you what I paid for it ā¦ youād call and have me arrested, as I stole it! ā¦ it was just a few bucks more than what CMP charges for special grade ones today.
Bought a ton of the Federal OTM 168-grn load for the M1A for it, tuned a venting gas port to that load and sheās a sub-MOA rifle! To me thereās nothing like the feel of real wood and solid forged/milled steel for a MBR. The M1 just feels SO GOOD in the hand ā¦ and firing stances!
LOVE the lamp!
Good to know. Irony is, before my AR build the only long-arms Iād ever handled that did fit were an 07/SOT friendās private Thompsonsā¦ and those were with the stocks in my armpit rather than shouldered. (Which are admittedly ten-pound guns, butā¦)
My Garand has a soul that my AR will never have. Here are some pictures of a display case that Iām wanting for mine. The gentleman sells each case for $4,000, including sand from each of the Normandy landing beaches.
Man, wouldnāt THAT be a hell of a visual aid for lecturing once I get my professor creds! 
That sounds like the M1 Garand opportunity of a lifetime, I would have done a backflip and handed over my wallet at the same time to score that set up. I would think most folks wouldnāt think sub MOA possible from a war horse like the M1, thanks for proving otherwise.
I handled a Thompson once, and I couldnāt believe how heavy it was ā¦ looking at it, youād think itād be light. Can you imagine lugging that at ready through steamy jungles?
Well said. What a great concept for a display piece. Gorgeous. Do you think youāre going to get it? While I could make that case, Iām scratching my head how I would go about getting the sand from those beaches. I guess these days, we can connect with someone to do that, for a fee.
I have many more practical rifles but I donāt love any of them like I love my M1.
Was my NRA across the course rifle for many years, even after the M14/M1A gained prominence.
That match is won or lost in my opinion at the 200yd offhand stage and few rifles are as nice as
the Garand in off hand standing.
Still have a few cases of 1968 LC NM , we used to pull the M72 and substitute the 168 Sierra MK.
It was and still is a very serious rifle to 600yds as is, if you have the eyes.
Nice ācareerā youāve had there with the M1. Off hand standing @ 200 yards ā¦ not exactly my strength 
When you say āfew rifles as niceā for that task, managing the weight with muscle burn has always been my challenge, so Iām hoping you can give me some tips on how you got to where you are with it? Thx.
I know you will think this flippant, and maybe it is .
The same way you get to Carnegie Hall, practice.
Seriously , I went to Camp Perry the 1st time as a 5ā something junior in 1965 and we got
Garands for Small Arms Firing School.
I would suggest you attend a NRA HP match at a local club somewhere in your area,
the seasoned members are always ready to help anyone become a competitor.
If your a NRA member look in American Rifleman for info or gun stores, clubs, public
shooting ranges.
They will show you, better than anything I can forward in text.
Fair enough, reading your post it made me think I simply need to have sessions of only offhand instead of just rushing through it at the end of a session. Right now I avoid it more or less when I shoot for practice. I do CMP matches and do okay in slow & fast prone, but then struggle in standing offhand. Usually have a miss or two which kills your score fast obviously. No small feat holding iron sights on a bull at 200 yards, but yeah, need to man up on this. I know the tips, and was hoping you had a magic wand / new one, but tips without repetition arenāt much help. Thanks for bucket of cold water.
I think Iād rather use a Century Arms Garand, but other than that, neat idea.
I have three Garands, two CMP and one import I bought when I turned 18 in 1992. I also love the carbine and have two, one CMP and another Inland import I bought with the Garand. I put it in a reproduction paratrooper stock.
Here is my 1954 Springfield from the CMP:
And my Inland import in the para stock:
I remember reading the article in the GCA quarterly. I love the Garand. Itās hands down my favorite rifle. I have three of them from the CMP. I have a 5.4 million Springfield, a six digit 800,000 Springfield, and a 5.8 million Springfield. I really need to get off my butt, and do a āMy Favorite Garandā article for the GCA quarterly. I love all three of mine, so it would be hard to pick a favorite. I figure the favorite title would go to the 5.4 million as it was my first one, and itās a super nice service grade.
Here are a few pictures of mine. First is the 5.4 million, second is the six digit, and last is the 5.8 million.
I feel the same exact same way.
I had no idea what the heck a Century Arms Garand was, and Iām pretty studied up on Garands. I googled to learn they were commercially made cast (not forged) receivers. Bust my britches, never heard of these. I used a ārealā Garand receiver with a busted out heel, a worn smokey barrel, bent op rod, cracked stock etc. Total cost was about $200ish. Took me a bit of time to source the parts, but that was part of the fun as the owners were happy to get some money on their non serviceable parts collecting dust.
Youāre ahead of me, nice collection. I donāt have the Carbine yet, and thatās an itch I keep scratching. Not many seem to come up for sale anymore and I donāt have the knowledge base to know what I want yet.
It was fun to write, and theyāre very open to any decent contributions, which you definitely qualify for Great rifles, thanks for posting the pics, I never tire of looking at Garands, and while I like my ARs, they donāt ātalk to meā like Garands do.
Just look inside the cover or so of the magazine, and thereās emails for those guys ā¦ give them a brief synopsis of your article idea. Once they approve and you write, itās roughly two cycles of the magazine before it would be in print. Good luck!
I think for a couple years Springfield Armory (the one in IL, not the real one) made a z grade commercial Garand also.
Dang, you are blowing me away with your knowledge! I was skeptical as heck but thought hey, the guy was right before. Sure enough, that indeed was available!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M1_Garand#Springfield_Armory_commercial_production
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