“Tag: Bruce Canfield”

The Smith & Wesson Model 1940 Light Rifles were obsolete before they were even delivered.

While the Ross rifles did not see overseas combat duty in the hands of the American Doughboys, the rifles did make available a number of badly needed M1903s and M1917s for combat units rather than training duty.

In the days before America’s entry into World War II, there were doubts about the M1 Garand as a battle rifle. Seeing potential profit, Winchester developed its own rifle, the G30, and even a select-fire gun called the WAR.

With the U.S. Army and Marine Corps receiving the bulk of early M14 rifle production, the Navy chose to convert .30-’06 Sprg. M1 Garands to 7.62 NATO, extending the service life of John Garand’s masterpiece.

Ever wonder if there was a special bayonet made just for the Model 1897 Trench Gun from WWI?

When the U.S. Army sought a sniping rifle based on the M1 Garand at the end of World War II, the M1C, with its offset scope, was delivered in small numbers. Never the best solution, the M1C performed adequately in post-war service and remains one of the most highly prized American military rifles.

I was at a gun show and saw a Remington-made Model 1903 Springfield rifle. It looked just like a World War I ’03, but I have been told Remington only made 1903A3 rifles during Word War II. Was this some kind of rebuild?

While eclipsed by the far-better-known Winchester Model 97 and Model 12 “trench” and “riot” shotguns, the Model 37 Ithaca served from World War II all the way through Vietnam.

Published first in the January 1994 issue of American Rifleman, the author explains how the rifle so familiar to millions of Americans wasn’t John C. Garand’s initial successful version, the little-known rarity collectors call the “gas trap” M1.