M1 Garand

The M1 Garand is a semi-automatic, gas-operated service rifle that was used by the United States during World War II, Korea, and to limited extent, Vietnam.

Real Life Information
The M1 Garand was designed by Canada-born John Cantius Garand to replace the Springfield M1903 rifles as the standard service rifle for the United States. It officially replaced the Springfield as the main U.S. service rifle in 1936. It is considered one the best rifles in any armed forces during the twentieth century and is perhaps the most iconic rifle of WW2, and General Patton called it "The Greatest Battle Implement Ever Devised". It is still used today by the U.S. Marine Corps and NJROTC classes as a drill weapon, and is manufactured in parts of India, and Italy under license with the Beretta Company. The M1 is semi-automatic, it is a gas-operated, en-bloc clip-fed shoulder weapon, and could be fired as fast as the shooter could pull the trigger.

The M1 Garand was used by all branches of the United States Military in front-line service until 1957, when it was replaced with the M14 rifle. However, the M1 Garand was used by reserve and National Guard units well into the 1970s. A Sniper variant of the Garand was used by U.S Forces in Korea and Vietnam, Known as the "M1D".

The M1 Garand is en-bloc clip-fed from the top of the receiver with an 8-round clip that once the last round had been fired would automatically eject out of the rifle and makes a distinctive "pinging" sound due to the tin-metal the clips were made of. This is perhaps the most distinguishable part of the weapon and is instantly recognizable. The M1 Garand rifle was the standard service rifle of the United States Military.

The M1 Garand was very useful for engaging enemy forces at medium to long range, its large .30-06 (thirty-aught-six) rounds were more than enough to drop a man in one single body hit. It has a clip of eight of the .30-06 rifle cartridges. The clip, the "en-bloc" clip has a unique style design in which four rounds are staggered between two rows making a total of eight rounds. The M1 Garand is a common and distinctive weapon in the Call of Duty series.

With the exception of Call of Duty: World at War, the in-game version of the M1 can not be reloaded in mid clip; the weapon can only be reloaded when empty. In reality, the M1 Garand is easily manually reloaded. Partially fired clips could also be loaded if the shooter is running low on ammunition, however the loading of a partial clip could be tricky in the heat of battle due to the partially fired clip having a few rounds gone, therefore having the remaining ammo sitting loosely in the clip instead of tightly together as it would if the clip had all eight rounds, and can get scattered if not loaded carefully. An inserted clip wasn't easily topped-off with single rounds while the clip was in the rifle, unlike in previous rifles of the era. It was possible to open the weapon and top it off, but by no means was it practical in combat, It was much quicker and more practical to just manually eject the clip, and insert a new one, this method is what made mid-clip reloading with the M1, much faster than any other rifle of the period. In fact, the field manuals recommended simply firing the rifle until empty, rather than reloading it mid-clip, However soldiers in the field often disregarded the manuals, and went about fighting with the M1 the way they saw fit, that often meant mid-clip reloading to ensure the soldier enters combat with a full clip. mid-clip reloading was also heavily favored over firing till empty because it saves ammo for partial loading later, it doesn't give away your position (as it would if you fire off rounds just to load a new clip), and it avoids the dreaded "ping" sound. In World at War, you can feel free to reload your M1 at anytime.

The developers have made the M1 Garand of the earlier Call of Duty games un-reloadable, the unfortunate myth that originally started among gamers with Medal of Honor: Allied Assault about the real-life M1 being "un-reloadable" mid-clip, has absolutely no historical accuracy or value whatsoever, this was done by video game developers purely and simply to balance out the weapons in the game.

Call of Duty 1 and United Offensive
In Call of Duty, the M1 Garand is a solid rifle that can take out an enemy in 1-2 hits, depending on where you hit the enemy. A headshot will kill an enemy in one shot, so try to get one if you can. Unlike bolt action rifles, the M1 Garand can be used with some success in close quarters. It usually doesn't stand up to a submachine gun, but it can be deadly if you catch an enemy off guard. The recoil is manageable if you use it in close quarters, controlling it is not a problem.

If you're using it as a sharpshooting weapon, remember to compensate for recoil as the M1 Garand is very accurate, but recoil can throw you off.

Be careful, as the weapon in the game cannot be reloaded mid-clip. You must finish off the current clip before you can insert new rounds. If you feel you are entering a dangerous area and have low ammo, fire off the remaining rounds so you can reload, though it may give away your position. Make sure you don't fire it in an area where enemies can hear you, or you may as well blow your cover.

Call of Duty 2
In Call of Duty 2, the M1 Garand is exactly the same as it is in Call of Duty, right down to the historical inaccuracy of being unable to reload without finishing off the clip.

Call of Duty: World at War
The M1 Garand is unlocked at level 17. The gun has significant recoil, but its high recoil can increase the chances of a head shot. In Call of Duty: World at War, the M1 Garand can now be reloaded at any time, without having to empty the clip. Statistically speaking, the M1 Garand is much worse than other rifles due to its restricted rate of fire, high recoil, relatively low ammo capacity, and only slightly higher damage. Still, the M1 Garand has a swift reload for an empty clip. Also, three direct hits with the weapon will guarantee a kill, allowing for the use of a perk besides Stopping Power. This only applies to the M1 Garand without a scope.

The M1 Garand can be equipped with a sniper scope and can be used as a semi-automatic sniper rifle. When equipped with the Sniper Scope(Marksman IV), the damage is raised to 70 (same as all other guns with sniper scopes), but it has lower damage multipliers than the other snipers. 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 bonus, which is that its sway drops to 3 degrees when crouched or prone, making it the most accurate sniper in the game. One flaw of the M1 scoped is that it is the only sniper whose recoil does not reset before the next shot. All other snipers reset perfectly before the next shot. However, for most players, the low visual recoil and high rate of fire more than make up for this. The M1 Garand scoped does the exact same damage as the M21 from Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare because they have the same base damage and multipliers. It is a one-shot-one-kill with Stopping Power to the head, neck, and chest (the same as bolt actions without Stopping Power). Without Stopping Power it needs a headshot for a one shot kill.

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 clip than when it is empty. Although some players believe that for this reason it should not be reloaded mid-clip if a decent number of shots remain, a player can never really know when extra bullets might come in handy, so it is generally advisable to reload when not in combat.

This weapon is stock-standard for the USMC along with the Thompson submachine gun.

Trivia

 * In all previous Call of Duty manuals, it says that the M1 can't be reloaded effectively mid clip, the developers now know that saying it was impossible or hard to do in reality was not true at all, and that it was very quick, practicle, and easy to do,especially in the hands of trained soldiers, and made the wise decision to allow players to unload the rifle at any time, thus making the weapon more realistic.


 * Tapping the trigger as fast as possible will result in the gun shooting considerably slower than other rifles in Call of Duty: World at War.


 * The M1 Garand in World at War is actually greatly affected by the Second Tier perk Double Tap, but it is difficult to take advantage of due to it being semi-automatic and having a decent amount of recoil.