American Rifle - Alexander Rose [268]
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37. Hatcher, Book of Garand, pp. 57–60. Pedersen also did his bit for postwar belt-tightening: the smaller cartridge cut down on lead, brass, and powder to the tune of 3,500 pounds of lead, 6,400 of brass, and 2,750 of powder for every million produced. That doesn’t sound like much until one considers that in the Second World War 47 billion rounds of ammunition would be manufactured, thereby potentially saving 82,250 tons of lead, 150,400 tons of brass, and 64,625 tons of gunpowder.
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38. “Summary of Progress to 1925: History and Present Status of Postwar Development of Small Arms,” Ordnance memorandum, March 31, 1925, in Hatcher, Book of Garand, pp. 63–64. See also “Springfield to Turn Out Semi-Automatic Rifles,” Washington Post, January 16, 1927, p. R11.
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39. On Pedersen’s work methods, see Hatcher, Book of Garand, p. 66, and on the Browning anecdote, p. 67.
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40. Ibid., pp. 68–71.
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41. “Novel Rapid-Firing Shoulder Rifle Is Success in Tests,” Washington Post, May 16, 1926, p. S14. On the start of the tests, see Hatcher, Book of Garand, p. 72. Pedersen would file a patent for an updated version about a year later. See “Magazine rifle” (and associated drawings), Patent no. 1,737,974, June 9, 1927 (granted December 3, 1929). He submitted another soon afterward: “Rifle,” Patent no. 1,866,722, November 29, 1930 (granted July 12, 1932). Both are available at the United States Patent and Trademark Office Web site.
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42. The biography of Garand is collated from the obituary in the New York Times, February 17, 1974, p. 67; “Inventor of Garand Rifle Dies at 86,” Washington Post, February 17, 1974, p. D13; his entry in the American National Biography; and Hatcher, Book of Garand, pp. 25–31. J. McCarten’s hitherto overlooked profile of Garand, “The Man Behind the Gun,” New Yorker, February 6, 1943, pp. 22–28, is immensely useful and contains many anecdotes (such as the list of journals to which he subscribed) not seen elsewhere. On Garand’s accent, see “Garand’s Gun: Modest Inventor Is Bewildered by Fame His Rifle Has Drawn,” Newsweek, December 4, 1939, p. 18.
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43. McCarten, “Man Behind the Gun,” pp. 22, 28.
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44. See Hatcher, Book of Garand, pp. 41, 53–54, for additional technical details. A summary of the mechanism is provided on pp. 62–63.
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45. “Two New Types of Rifles Given Trials by Army,” Washington Post, November 1, 1925, p. AF8. The second type of gun was a Thompson Autofire, but it became apparent that, while it was functional, it wasn’t what the army was looking for. On the delivery of arms to Fort Riley, see “Shoulder Rifle Sent to Army for Tests,” Washington Post, June 13, 1926, p. S12.
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46. “Summary of Progress to 1925,” in Hatcher, Book of Garand, pp. 62–64.
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47. “New Rifle May Make Every Doughboy Machine Gunner,” Washington Post, June 25, 1923, p. 1.
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48. Report of the Pig Board, in Hatcher, Book of Garand, p. 81. “New Garand Type Rifle Is Expected After Army Tests,” Washington Post, December 11, 1927, p. R9, notes that Frankford Arsenal was mildly interested in .256s. See also “Army Develops Two New Rifles with .276 Caliber,” Washington Post, July 15, 1928, p. R7.
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49. Though Ordnance officers tended to prefer the .30, line officers were more open-minded about the .276. Major General Herbert Crosby, the chief of cavalry, was reportedly “inclined to favor the smaller caliber for his arm of the service,” and his infantry counterpart Major General Robert Allen was “understood to be of the opinion” that he had not yet seen decisive proof of the superiority of the .30 over the .276. “Springfield to Turn Out Semi-Automatic Rifle,” Washington Post, January 16, 1927, p. R11.
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50. Hatcher, Book of Garand, pp. 74–75.
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51. Report of the Semiautomatic Rifle Board, 1st Series, September 21, 1928, in Hatcher, Book of Garand, p. 85.There were also representatives