M1 Garand

The M1 Garand is a semi-automatic rifle featured in all World War II era Call of Duty games. This weapon is notable for its distinctive metallic "pinging" sound when an empty clip is ejected.

Call of Duty and United Offensive
"The M1 Garand is a powerful and accurate semi-automatic rifle. Its primary drawback is it can't be conveniently reloaded in the middle of a clip."

- Call of Duty manual description.

Campaign
In the original Call of Duty, and in the expansion pack Call of Duty: United Offensive, the M1 Garand is typically the US Army's rifle of choice. It combines high power and accuracy, as well as a fast rate of fire, when compared to the other rifles. It is a one-shot kill at any range to the head or chest, just like the bolt-action rifles, but has some amount of close-range effectiveness due to its semi-automatic nature. Its only major flaws are that the game restricts the player from reloading mid-magazine, and its ammo can become scarce, just as with all Allied weapons.

Multiplayer
In multiplayer, this rifle is issued to the American team. In Call of Duty, it is just as effective as the bolt-action rifles available, being able to kill in two quick shots to the chest or one to the head. In the expansion pack, Call of Duty: United Offensive, it is much less effective at range, taking two bullets to the head to kill, and five to the chest. It is not particularly effective at close range, either, as its slow rate of fire in comparison to the submachine guns prevent it from engaging in close quarters combat. Its small magazine and inability to reload mid-magazine make it overshadowed by weapons such as the STG-44.

Call of Duty: Finest Hour
The M1 Garand is seen in the American campaign of Call of Duty: Finest Hour. It has a decent rate of fire and has moderate damage, requiring 1-3 shots to kill. It still cannot be reloaded unless empty and ammo is rather scarce, meaning that the player will have to enter combat with a partially empty magazine or replace it with a Kar98K or G43 eventually.

Campaign
In Call of Duty 2's campaign, this is the most frequently used American weapon. It is still quite powerful, capable of killing an enemy with one shot to the head or chest at any range, and it still has limited close-range capabilities. It retains its inability to reload mid-magazine, and the scarcity of ammo.

Multiplayer
This weapon is issued to the American or British team in multiplayer. With precision, it can kill in just one shot to the head at any range. It is a two-shot kill to the chest at any range, and a three-shot kill to the limbs. Its semi-automatic nature can allow it to take on enemies at medium-long range, and even close range to a limited extent. However, it is still incapable of reloading mid-magazine, forcing the user to either waste several rounds to reload, or take on enemies with a mid-magazine weapon, which in itself can be dangerous if the user runs out of ammo, forcing them to reload during a firefight.

Call of Duty 2: Big Red One
The M1 Garand is a starting weapon in most missions, and is a very common weapon in the hands of US forces. In the campaign, it takes 2-3 shots to kill an enemy. Like in previous installments, it cannot be reloaded mid-clip. However, it has one of the fastest reload times of all the weapons in the game. Ammunition is somewhat scarce.

Call of Duty 3
"Caliber .30-06, semi-auto gas operated rifle. The brainchild of John Garand, the M1 was powerful, accurate and reliable. Chambered for the venerable .30-06 cartridge, the M1 was the first semi-automatic rifle in military use."

- In-game description

Campaign
In Call of Duty 3's campaign, the M1 Garand can typically be found in the hands of American soldiers. During the American campaign, the player often begins the level with it. It is very powerful, and can kill enemies in 1 hit, providing the shot is placed above the enemie's waist. However, the inability to reload mid-clip is something of a hindrance. The player must empty their clip before they reload.

Multiplayer
In multiplayer, the M1 Garand is issued to the Allied Rifleman class. It has an 8-round magazine and 40 rounds in reserve. A Rifle grenade can be mounted on it. It has a good rate of fire and medium recoil. Compared to the Axis' equivalent, the Kar 98k, it is superior in most aspects, as it can kill with 2 shots to the chest at any range, or a single headshot, and has a larger capacity and a much higher rate of fire, due to its semi-auto nature. It cannot be reloaded mid-clip, which lets it down slightly.

Call of Duty: Roads to Victory
In Call of Duty: Roads to Victory, the M1 Garand is seen in the American campaign during the mission "Hunner Park" and in the Canadian campaign during "Sloedam" and "Walcheren." Like in previous Call of Dutygames, the M1 Garand is prevented from being reloaded mid-magazine. The M1 Garand is generally a two shot kill, like every other rifle in the game.

Call of Duty: World at War
The M1 Garand in Call of Duty: World at War is very similar to Call of Duty 3's version of the M1 Garand. Treyarch reused the wire frame for Call of Duty 3, but used a different firing sound, as well as a new reloading technique unseen in previous Call of Duty games.

Campaign
The M1 Garand is fairly common, being standard issue for Marine riflemen. It is the weapon of Pvt. Polonsky, and the player starts off with it on several levels. Ammunition is widely available during the American campaign, so it is not a bad idea to use the weapon throughout the Pacific Theater. On the level "Little Resistance," a M1 Garand with a Bayonet is available. Also, in "Hard Landing" and "Relentless," a M1 Garand with a Rifle Grenade can be found by a Japanese base on the airfield and in a trench by the tanks. It is generally advisable to use the M1 with a fully automatic-firing weapon such as the Thompson or Type 100 as a back-up, as some fighting can occur in close-quarters. It can be reloaded without expending the magazine (this is not always advised, due to the fact that reloading empty is faster, although reloading to ensure the player always has a full magazine is also beneficial, deciding to reload mid-magazine or not depends on the current situation faced). Excluding headshots and shots to the chest, it usually takes two shots to kill.

Multiplayer
The M1 Garand is unlocked at level 17. The weapon has significant recoil in comparison to other weapons. However in some cases this makes headshots easier. In Call of Duty: World at War, the M1 Garand can now be reloaded at any time, without having to empty the magazine. Statistically speaking, the M1 Garand is more uncomfortable than other rifles due to its restricted rate of fire, high recoil, relatively low ammo capacity, slow reload and only slightly higher damage. However the recoil sometimes helps to get headshots or chest-shots. The high damage and recoil will help the user to manage their ammo supply. Three direct hits with the weapon will guarantee a kill, allowing for the use of a perk besides Stopping Power. This obviously does not apply for Hardcore, where the M1 Garand is 1 hit kill if the enemy is not behind cover or using the Second Chance perk. However, this only applies to the un-scoped M1 Garand. It is advisable to use this weapon at longer ranges, as it can be difficult to fire quickly in close quarters. Overkill can be used effectively to allow an SMG for close quarters, for example. It must also be noted that the M1 Garand and the M1 Carbine are the only semi-automatic rifles that can be fitted with a bayonet, but the Garand is unlocked at an earlier level and is less effective in close quarters. The bayonet makes the weapon effective in close quarters, eliminating the need for assistance such as a weapon with the Overkill perk.

The M1 Garand can be equipped with a Sniper Scope and can be used as a semi-automatic sniper rifle. When equipped with the scope (Marksman IV), the damage is raised to 70 (the same as all other sniper rifles with scopes), but it has much lower damage multipliers than the other sniper rifles. As a bonus, the M1 Garand scoped moves idly the same amount as the PTRS-41 (4 degrees), while all other scoped bolt actions idle at 6 degrees, making the M1 Garand more accurate due to the lower sway. The M1 scoped has another advantage, in that the sway drops to 3 degrees when crouched or prone, making it the most accurate sniper rifle in the game. One flaw of the M1 scoped is that it is the only sniper rifle whose recoil does not reset before the next shot. However, for most players, the low visual recoil and high rate of fire more than make up for this. Another flaw is that it is only a one shot kill to the head, which is hard to get on moving targets, although Stopping Power will grant a one-shot-kill to the head, neck and chest, unless a target is using Juggernaut. The M1 Garand scoped does exactly the same damage as the M21 from Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare because they have the same base damage and multipliers. If caught in close quarters, with a Scope the weapon can be hipfired fairly accurately due to the low recoil while also benefiting from the increased damage.

An interesting fact is that the M1 Garand is the only weapon in Call of Duty: World at War that takes longer to reload when it still has rounds in its magazine than when it is empty. Although some players believe that for this reason it should not be reloaded mid-magazine if a decent number of shots remain, a player can never really know when extra bullets might be useful, so it is generally helpful to reload when not in immediate danger. Also, the fast reload when empty allows the user to get back in the fight quicker than with a rifle with a longer reload (ex. SVT-40, Gewehr 43).

This rifle is one of the most overlooked guns in the game because of the reasons stated above, but it is the best scoped rifle in the hands of a skilled sniper due to its higher accuracy, rate of fire, ammo capacity, and a high amount of starting ammo compared to other sniper rifles, which negates the use of Bandolier.

One of the only disadvantages with using it as a Sniper Rifle is that a Ghillie Suit is not supplied while using it with a scope. But, if one equips Overkill and uses a sniper rifle as their primary weapon and the M1 Garand in the secondary slot, the character will be wearing a Ghillie Suit. On another note, the M1 Garand has the slowest rate of fire of any Semi-automatic rifle (excluding the PTRS-41) in Call of Duty: World at War. However, when the Double Tap perk is used it has the same rate of fire a Gewehr 43 or an M1 Carbine, but it is deadlier because of its quick reload rate with an empty magazine.

As the player starts with a large amount of ammunition for the M1 Garand, Bandolier is of questionable value, as the player only needs to hit an enemy twice with Stopping Power at most distances, or three times without stopping power at any distance unless the player was shooting through cover, or if the player has Juggernaut equipped. Also, for a skilled player, they would not waste many rounds, meaning they could get a very long killstreak before needing to change gun or find some ammo. Sleight of Hand is rather ineffective as the player will only receive most of the benefits of Sleight Of Hand if reloading a partially empty magazine, which can be handy when the player is not in combat, as it reduces the chances of the player being killed whilst reloading. Camouflage and a Flash Hider can work very well with the M1 Garand, since the M1 Garand always requires three hits to kill any player who does not have the Juggernaut or Second Chance equipped. This can be a good tactic in Search and Destroy as a stealth class.

Nazi Zombies
The Garand appears on all Nazi Zombie levels, being available from the Mystery Box (most commonly with Rifle Grenades) and off the wall on Verrückt and Shi No Numa. In Nacht Der Untoten it holds four grenades in reserve, in Verruckt it holds 15 grenades in reserve, and in Shi No Numa and Der Riese it holds 20 grenades in reserve. It is not the most powerful gun, as damage to the body is reduced, and like all semi-automatics, it is good for the early to mid rounds. Double Tap is useful. When it is used with the Pack-a-Punch Machine in Der Riese, the gun is upgraded to the "M1000". The Rifle Grenade variant is upgraded to "The Imploder", and is one of the best weapons for making crawlers, though it usually overlooked for more powerful weapons.

Weapon Attachments

 * Flash Hider
 * Bayonet
 * Rifle Grenade
 * Sniper Scope

Call of Duty: World at War (DS)
The M1 Garand in the Nintendo DS version of Call of Duty: World at War is a blend of the versions from Call of Duty 2, Call of Duty 3, and Call of Duty: World at War, as it cannot be reloaded mid-magazine and does not have a limited rate of fire, and can drop an opponent in 3-4 shots, as in World at War. In Easy mode (The equivalent of Recruit) for Campaign, the M1 Garand kills in one shot, making it one of the best weapons for DS. If the player tries to melee while holding this weapon the character will not knife the enemy, it will hit him with the gun's stock, which is the same animation for the BAR, the SVT-40, the G41 and the sniper rifles. In multiplayer however, the M1 Garand is not as good as in campaign, as the damage is reduced to that of the other two semi-automatic rifles (SVT-40 and Walther G41) but it has a few disadvantages compared to them: it has a lower capacity magazine and cannot middle reload, and sports a bit more obstructive ironsights.

Call of Duty: World at War Final Fronts
The M1 Garand is used in the War in the Pacific and Victory in Europe Campaigns. Its appearance is the same as in Big Red One. Like other previous Call of Duty games, reloading mid-magazine is not possible. It has fairly good stopping power as a headshot will always get a kill. It is in the missions "Basic Training", "Betio Assault", "Codename: Forager" and sometimes in "Mount Tapochau" as a starting weapon with the M1 Carbine or Trench Gun.

Call of Duty: Black Ops
The M1 Garand returns in the revised zombie maps from World at War, available for download for the special editions of Call of Duty: Black Ops. It can be purchased off of the wall on maps where it could in the previous versions. However, since it can no longer be obtained from the Mystery Box, an M1 with grenade launcher cannot be obtained. It is worth noting that the M1 Garand is superior in some respects to the eight-round M14 that appears in the later zombie maps, as the only difference is its empty reload animation, which is much quicker than the M14's; note however that in return, a Pack-a-Punched M14 holds more ammo both in the magazine and in reserve than the Pack-a-Punched M1 Garand does.

Trivia

 * The M1 Garand is one of few weapons in Call of Duty where it takes longer to reload mid-magazine then if it were empty.
 * The Call of Duty: World at War, the M1 Garand has a personal marking on the gun, a major scratch right below the clip latch.
 * There is a mix-up in the Barracks in which it says the player unlocks the Sniper Scope after getting only 100 kills instead of the 150 needed. It also says that the sniper scope is unlocked in the third marksman challenge, instead of the fourth. As a result, the Rifle Grenade and the Sniper scope are mixed up.
 * In the Wii version of Call of Duty: World at War, the scoped M1 Garand has a faster ADS time compared to other scoped weapons.
 * Call of Duty: World at War and Black Ops are the only Call of Duty games in which the M1 Garand can be reloaded mid-magazine.
 * Several American soldiers can be seen firing the M1 Garand full-auto in Call of Duty 3.
 * In Call of Duty 2: Big Red One, if the player goes ADS, it is possible to see written "U.S Rifle Cal. 30 M1 Springfield Armory L853380". This is also true in Call of Duty: World at War: Final Fronts.
 * In Call of Duty: World at War (DS), whenever the player switches to the Garand from another weapon, or if the player aims down the sights of the Garand, and then go back to hipfire mode, the bolt will be open, as if the weapon was empty.
 * In Call of Duty 2, when the player reloads the M1, the character's palm clips through the bolt handle.

Videos
Video:Call of Duty World at War Gameplay M1 Garand

Gameplay with the M1 Garand in World at War

M1 Garand M1 Гаранд