Image credit
- Title
- File:M1 Garand rifle - USA - 30-06 - Armémuseum.jpg
- Author
- Armémuseum (The Swedish Army Museum)
- Licence
- Public domain
- Source
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:M1_Garand_rifle_-_USA_-_30-06_-_Armémuseum.jpg
How Muzzle energy is calculated
E = ½ · m · v²
Inputs
- m11.66 g179.9 grverifiedsourcePublished as 180 gr; 1 gr = 0.06479891 g exactly.
- v823 m/s2,700 fpsverified
1 of 2 inputs link to their source.
How Muzzle velocity is calculated
measured at this barrel length
Inputs
- v823 m/s2,700 fpsverifiedsourcePublished as 2,700 ft/s.
1 of 1 inputs link to their source.
How Loaded mass is calculated
m_loaded = m_empty + m_magazine + n · m_cartridge
Not calculated: m_magazine has no sourced figure yet. Nothing is substituted for a missing input.
Assumptions
- One magazine, filled to the stated capacity. Spare magazines, optics, slings and lights are the owner’s, not the arm’s.
2 of 4 inputs link to their source.
How Free recoil is calculated
E_recoil = ½ · m_firearm · v_recoil²
Inputs
- m_firearm4.309 kg9.500 lbverifiedsourcePublished as 9.5 lb; 1 lb = 0.45359237 kg exactly. The article publishes 9.5–11.6 lb across configurations; the lower figure is recorded.
- v_recoil2.227 m/s7.306 fpsestimated
Assumptions
- Propellant gas momentum is excluded: ARMAG does not record charge weights (SPEC.md §14). This is therefore a lower bound on the real free recoil, consistent between entries but smaller than a figure that includes the gas term.
- Free recoil: the arm is unrestrained. Stock design, muzzle devices, stance and shooter mass are not modelled, because none of them is a property of the arm.
1 of 2 inputs link to their source.
How Capacity is calculated
as published for the primary chambering
Inputs
- capacity8verifiedsourceEn bloc clip, loaded into an integral magazine.
1 of 1 inputs link to their source.
Derived figures
Computed from the sourced values above. Open ƒ on any figure for the formula, its inputs, and the assumptions it makes.
How Momentum is calculated
p = m · v
Inputs
- m11.66 g179.9 grverifiedsourcePublished as 180 gr; 1 gr = 0.06479891 g exactly.
- v823 m/s2,700 fpsverified
1 of 2 inputs link to their source.
How Sectional density is calculated
SD = mass(gr) / (7000 · diameter(in)²)
Inputs
- mass11.66 g179.9 grverifiedsourcePublished as 180 gr; 1 gr = 0.06479891 g exactly.
- diameter7.85 mm0.3091 inverifiedsourceC.I.P. G1, maximum bullet diameter.
Assumptions
- Reported in the conventional lb/in² so it is directly comparable with published figures.
2 of 2 inputs link to their source.
How Power factor is calculated
PF = mass(gr) · velocity(fps) / 1000
Inputs
- mass11.66 g179.9 grverifiedsourcePublished as 180 gr; 1 gr = 0.06479891 g exactly.
- velocity823 m/s2,700 fpsverified
Assumptions
- A competition classification defined by the IPSC and USPSA rulebooks, stated in their units. It describes a scoring category, not an effect.
1 of 2 inputs link to their source.
How Magazine dump is calculated
t = (n − 1) / (rpm / 60)
Not calculated: rpm has no sourced figure yet. Nothing is substituted for a missing input.
Assumptions
- Cyclic rate held for the whole magazine, no stoppages, trigger held down. A theoretical figure for comparing mechanisms, not a measured one.
1 of 2 inputs link to their source.
How Sight error at 1 mm is calculated
θ = atan(misalignment / sight radius)
Not calculated: sight radius has no sourced figure yet. Nothing is substituted for a missing input.
Assumptions
- Shows what a stated aiming error costs. The misalignment is the reader’s figure; the site does not claim how well anyone aims.
No input on this calculation carries a clickable source yet.
Specifications
Every row here is generated from the schema, so a figure recorded on this entry cannot be missing from the table — and the same rows, read the same way, are what the comparison shows.
Identity
- Type
- Rifle
- Action
- Self-loading
- Fire modes
- Semi-automatic
- Operating system
- Gas, long-stroke piston
- Feed
- Designed in
- United States
- Produced in
- Introduced
- 1936
- Production
- 1934–1957
Dimensions and mass
- Mass, empty
- 4.309 kg9.500 lbsource
Published as 9.5 lb; 1 lb = 0.45359237 kg exactly. The article publishes 9.5–11.6 lb across configurations; the lower figure is recorded.
- Magazine, empty
- not recorded
- Length
- 1,105 mm43.50 insource
Published as 43.5 in; 1 in = 25.4 mm exactly.
- Length, folded
- not recorded
- Width
- not recorded
- Height
- not recorded
- Barrel length
- 609.6 mm24.00 insource
Published as 24 in; 1 in = 25.4 mm exactly.
Sights and rifling
- Sight radius
- not recorded
- Sight height over bore
- not recorded
- Rifling twist
- not recorded
- Twist direction
- not recorded
- Grooves
- not recorded
- Sight graduation
- not recorded
Chamberings
- .30-06 Springfieldprimary8 rounds
Scale
A to-scale outline against family siblings. The dimensions are sourced; the shape is a representative outline for the type, and says so.
- M1 Garand1,105 mm43.50 inheight not recorded
Representative outline — the dimensions are sourced, the shape is not. Overall length, and barrel length where recorded, are drawn from this entry's own figures; the profile is a generic one for the firearm type and says nothing about this arm's actual contours. M1 Garand records no height, so its outline is drawn at the type's proportion — that height is part of the shape, not a measurement.
Detail
The first self-loading rifle to be issued as a standard infantry arm anywhere, and the design John Garand spent seventeen years at the Springfield Armory arriving at. Gas is tapped near the muzzle and drives a long-stroke piston attached to the operating rod, which runs down the right side of the stock and turns the bolt through a camming slot — a mechanism that is heavy, exposed and almost impossible to stop.
The famous compromise is the clip. Garand’s rifle loads from an en bloc clip that is part of the feed system rather than a container the rounds are stripped out of, so the rifle cannot be topped up and the empty clip is ejected with an audible ring. It also cannot take a detachable magazine without redesign, which is why the M14 exists.
A second consequence is less well known and matters to anyone who owns one: the gas system was designed around the pressure curve of the 1930s service load, and commercial hunting ammunition using slower powders can bend the operating rod. That is a property of this rifle, not of the .30-06 cartridge.
The article publishes no width, height or sight radius, and its rate-of-fire figure is a practical aimed rate rather than a cyclic one, so no cyclic rate is recorded here.
References
This entry's own bibliography. Every citation key on this page resolves into this list.
- M1 Garand · Wikipedia · 1369864245 · read 2026-08-31 · CC BY-SA 4.0
Last verified 2026-08-31 · review status: agent-populated