I have a lot of gun related magazines accumulated over many years. One I picked up out of storage was a 1998 issue of Man at Arms and glanced at it the other day. In it was a story about how the 1938 M1 Garand battle rifle was changed from original government manufacture blue print. The largest and most noticable correction was the "gas trap" became a "gas port" because of a few perceived flaws. Among the flaws was a cleaning problem with a possible lost patch in the gas trap and because of it's design the trap tube might move slightly and throw the front sight off and a bayonet wasn't as solidly connected as they wanted on the original production design.
The correction was an intended stronger design attached to a replacement barrel that was two inches longer. And in the process the ears on the front sight were bent outward....to keep soldiers under pressure of combat from maybe confusing the straight ear parts as the sight blade. The corrections began in March of 1941.
Eventually most of of the early production rifles all had the modification made. However, it is reported that the early not yet altered rifles were employed in the Philippines at the start of the war and General MacArthur praised the reliability of the rifle to General Marshall and found no flaw in the uncorrected rifles even though he knew about the changes in process of being made.
Notice in the photo of the two rifles from the barrel end that clean out removable screw on the later gas port.
M1 Garand wasn't without modifications
M1 Garand wasn't without modifications
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