On 11 Oct 2010 23:30:03 GMT, "DoN. Nichols"
wrote:

On 2010-10-11, Gunner Asch wrote:
On Mon, 11 Oct 2010 00:40:19 -0400, "J. Clarke"
wrote:

[ ... ]

However I do wonder what qualifies the Garand as less of a "battle
rifle" and more of a "target rifle" than the Lee-Enfield.

Because the Lee Enfield can be buried in mud, used to pry out a Bren
carrier and then used as a tent pole, and when needed, it will fire

The Garand...unfortunately...wont fire when treated that way. Least not
more than once.

Plus it holds 3 rounds less than the LE

And it tells the other side when its empty.

I don't think that anything tells the other side that more than
a Luger. :-) (I guess that you could paint the toggle links day-glo
orange or something, but even without that, it is still pretty obvious,
even to the person you are pointing it at.

Is the Garrand empty status more visible to someone off to the
side? Does it perhaps drop the magazine automatically? (I've never had
one of those to play with -- just the 98 Mauser, and the SKS for long
guns.)

Enjoy,
DoN.

He is talking about the rather distinctive "ting" the Garand makes
when it ejects the empty clip. This story has been going round and
round probably since the days that the Garand was accepted and makes
perfect sense - there you are in the middle of a fire fight - 50
people shooting guns, grenades exploding, machine guns blasting away
and you fire your last round and the rifle ejects the clip - Ting.

Immediately the enemy, hearing that noise, amid the sounds of battle,
and knowing that your rifle is empty leap to their feet and charge
your position as they now know that your weapon is empty.....

And, given that you can load 8 rounds into a Garand faster then you
can load 7 into a colt 1911 you can see that the enemy has a plenty of
time to come and get you.

Cheers,

John D. Slocomb
(jdslocombatgmail)