“The Winchester Rifle was seriously handicapped by the short period of time it has been under development. As demonstrated by the tests, in its present state of development it is not a satisfactory service rifle.… [T]he comparative standings of the four types of rifles competing in these tests are as follows: Springfield, Garand, Johnson and Winchester. It will be noted that this standing is in accordance with the length of time each rifle has been under development. Each of the three types of semi-automatic rifles has certain desirable characteristics. Modifications which will improve their reliability under all conditions are being made now and undoubtedly will continue to be made in the future. At the present time, however, the Marine Corps feels that its test conclusively proved that the M-1 rifle is the most satisfactory semi-automatic rifle available to the services at this time.”

Despite the Winchester G30M’s lackluster performance in the Marine Corps tests, the U.S. Army Ordnance Dept. still expressed interest in the rifle and Winchester continued refinement of the design. As stated by Pugsley: “On returning from San Diego, I told Williams to see whether he could produce a gun for the standard cartridge, .30 M2, which would have a minimum of the faults we had seen in the test gun at San Diego, and be as light as possible … .”

Several newspaper articles at the time made some mention of the Army’s interest in the Winchester semi-automatic rifle. One example was found in the March 2, 1941, edition of the Washington, D.C., Sunday Star which had a lengthy article titled “Battle of the Garand – Military Adopts Rifle, but Controversy Rages in Street.” The article focused on the trials and tribulations of the Garand rifle at that time and commented that “… A Winchester model, recently submitted, was so esteemed that the Ordnance Division encouraged its further development.”

At the time that David M. Williams was working on further improvements in the .30-caliber semi-automatic rifle, the Ordnance Dept. issued a requirement for a “light rifle” as a possible replacement for the M1911A1 .45 pistol and solicited proposals from various inventors and firearm manufacturers. Winchester submitted a design for consideration that, in some ways, resembled a miniature version of the larger G30M .30-’06 Sprg. semi-automatic rifle. This gun was eventually adopted as the “U.S. Carbine, Cal. .30, M1” and validated the concept of the short-stroke gas piston mechanism.

Winchester continued attempts to improve its “in house” semi-automatic rifle, and the refined design was renamed the G30R. It had a number of interesting characteristics, and the basic mechanism was essentially a scaled-up version of the M1 carbine action with a similar pattern operating rod, bolt and short-stroke gas piston. The upper barrel band and two-piece handguard assembly were reminiscent of, and may have been adapted from, the Model 1917 rifle. Detachable-box magazines were fabricated in five-, 10-, 20- and 30-round capacities. The Army designated the G30R as the T10E1, and it was tested at Aberdeen. The tests revealed that the functioning of the rifle was still not satisfactory, but the Ordnance Dept. was interested in further development, specifically a version modified for selective-fire operation.

It was recognized by Winchester’s management that the semi-automatic G30R was not going to replace the M1 Garand as a service rifle. Nonetheless, the company believed that a modified selective-fire version could perhaps supplant the aging Browning Automatic Rifle. Winchester submitted a substantially modified G30R with selective-fire capability and a heavier barrel fitted with a bipod. It was several pounds lighter than the rather hefty BAR, and the company designated it the “WAR” (Winchester Automatic Rifle), which was a great acronym for a military arm!

The new model was tested by the Ordnance Dept. in late December 1944, and the results were sufficiently impressive to grant a contract to Winchester for the production of 10 more of the guns. They were tested by the U.S. Army Infantry Board at Aberdeen and by the U.S. Marine Corps Equipment Board in June and July 1945. Before the test results could be compiled and evaluated, World War II ended, which obviously took a lot of urgency out of searching for a replacement for the BAR. The WAR project was dropped and, for all intents and purposes, Winchester’s proprietary .30-caliber military rifle program died with the end of the war. As stated by arms authority Konrad Schreier, Jr.: “Although it was agreed that the WAR showed great promise, and was a possible replacement for the BAR, the timing of its development could not have been worse. As soon as World War II ended the U.S. Armed Forces halted practically all its arms research and development work, and most procurement. Such work was not resumed until the lessons of World War II had been digested, and by then the .30-caliber Winchester Automatic Rifle was not among the projects resumed.” The WAR, so to speak, was over.

After the conclusion of World War II, Winchester dropped any further development of the G30 variants, including the WAR, due to their rejection by the U.S. military and the perceived lack of viability in the commercial post-war marketplace. Regardless, they represent an interesting, but little-known, chapter in the story of one of America’s most revered firearm manufacturing companies.

Photos from the Edwin Pugsley files