Two Old War Horses

General Firearms Other Semi-Automatic Rifles
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Had the opportunity to shoot two old military weapons on Saturday. My FIL came over for some grilling and beers Saturday evening and brought his M1 Garand and a 1903 Springfield. Both are Springfield Armory rifles.

Didn’t get to shoot them as much as I would have liked. Reason being, my FIL is very fugal and I don’t have a 30-06 in the arsenal. No, actually he’s tight as paint on a wall. He brought 3 clips of ammo for the Garand. 24 rounds. All different types. Black tips, silver tips, soft points, FMJ. Just whatever he found in his supply and a 20 rd box of Winchester 150gr SP for the 1903. He’s one of those old dogs that think that once you learn to shoot, you don’t need to “waste” ammo on practice. :rolleyes: He’s a good guy though and I enjoy his company.

The Garand was really nice and in excellent condition. The 1903 not so much. The barrel appeared to have alot of wear on it and it did not shoot well at all.

I was allowed one 8 rd clip in the Garand so I decided to let go with it on my 440 yd IDPA sized steel target. Didn’t know how this was going to work out with open sights and my bad eyesight. Took me 5 rds to get on target and wouldn’t you know that it was apparently a AP round I hit it with. Didn’t penetrate the 3/8" plate but cratered it good. Was close on the last 3 rds but no cigar.

My FIL, son and myself had a really good time. We shot my recce and my sons’ 98 Mauser too and “wasted” about 120 rds. Good Times on the July 4th weekend!

The Garand is a beautiful piece of work. I may just have to put one on my wish list.

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Great post, I don’t think there is enough of these guns on this forum. But that’s why I’m on another board as well, mil-surps ain’t M4Cs mission.

I always wanted an M1 Garand. I was at the city range once next to a guy with a Garand. I think I stood there and watched him shoot for 10 or 15 minutes, just to hear that ping after the 8th round. Straight out of a movie. My wife has always bugged me about having almost a dozen WWII rifles and none of them being American. I need to have some American guns but boy are they expensive compared to the guns that didn’t win the war.

ETA: Now that I remember my wife has an M1 Carbine from her great-grandfather who was a WWII pilot instructor. Doesn’t sit in MY gun safe though.

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Nice rifles, I love me some Garand action, but this is in the wrong sub-forum even, as this is for AR General Discussion.

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Yeah, but it does spruce the place up!

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Please do not post something in where ever you want. We have sections for a reason. Once it starts, it’s like a virus and spreads and then we spend all day cleaning up threads.

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Sorry Gunz. It did occur to me after I did it. One of those moments.

Glad you guys like them. FIL left them with me to clean. For some reason the 1903 was just nasty. Even watched a video on how to disassemble the Garand, but decided not to take it that far. If it was mine maybe.