Hello

Does anyone out there know of anyone that makes a three round clip for the M1. We use them in our Legion Firing Squad and it would be much simpler to have a three round clip.

Thankx
Dick

They are quite easy to make.

You can buy either two round or 5 round clips just by "googling" for a site that sells them.

Then buy one of them and take a close look at it. You will see that it is nothing more or less than a standard 8 round clip with part of the sides cut loose from the ends with a set of tin snips or a parting wheel. Then the sides are shortened a bit and bent inward to reduce the capacity of the clip. (Be careful to leave enough room for the follower to rise through the clip.)

The shortening is done from what will become the "bottom" of the clip, so you don't have to adjust the "feed rails" part of the clip.

You may have to experiment with two or three to get the right dimensions, but once you've got one good 3-shot clip, you can make dozens with little effort.

Alberta Canuck:

I read your post with great interest. Some of us who carried an M1 (back when dinosaurs walked the earth)always wondered why the engineers never figured out a way to be able to load with only 7 rounds -and now a real Garand can be fired with a 3 round clip? Will wonders never cease! I confess (and I'm no expert, I hasten to say) how is the "empty space" handled in the new arangement? I mean about the spring tension. Anyway, thanks for an interesting post.

quote:

Originally posted by gerrys375:
Alberta Canuck:

I read your post with great interest. Some of us who carried an M1 (back when dinosaurs walked the earth)always wondered why the engineers never figured out a way to be able to load with only 7 rounds -and now a real Garand can be fired with a 3 round clip? Will wonders never cease! I confess (and I'm no expert, I hasten to say) how is the "empty space" handled in the new arangement? I mean about the spring tension. Anyway, thanks for an interesting post.

Hi G375 -

Yeh, actually you can make Garand clips which work well with any number of rounds from 2 to 8. It has long been practice in Hi-Power shooting with the Garand to use two different clips in rapid-fire matches...one two round clip and one 8 round clip...for a total of ten shots with one re-load, as per the match requirements.

There really isn't any issue with additional space, because there isn't any additional space. With a standard clip, after you have fired 6 of the rounds in the clip, you are left with two rounds in the clip...pretty much the exact same relationship you have with a fully loaded 2-round clip. The "follower" comes up through the clip as the rounds are expended, and the lifter and follower are powered by a spring plenty powerful enough to make it feed right, from the get-go.

As I can't post drawings here (don't have the skill or the know-how), I suggest you try googling "two round Garand clip". You can then probably find a site which will show you what one looks like, and it will become instantly clear...or at least far clearer than my ability to put it into words.

[I remember those "dinosaur days" too. Used to tote a Garand during my days with the 25th U.S. Infantry Division (Tropic Lightning). Had one before that too, with the 71st Combat Engineers, and even earlier, with the 546th Field Artillery....]

Here's a good quick text and pictures from Fulton Armoury telling/showing how to make your own two round clips:

http://www.fulton-armory.com/2clip.htm

Alberta Canuck:

I thank you for being kind to me in your explanation about why my dumb phrase of "empty space" didn't apply. (I should have thought of it) Even more embarrassing is to explain that when I carried a Garand it was in the NYNG. I volunteered after Korea broke out. I flunked a combat PX and wound up as a small arms instructor on a rifle range at what was then known as Pine Camp (1950) (Watertown, NY) later known as Camp Drum and then Fort Drum (now home to the 10th Mountain Division -after my time) How the heck did a guy get from field artillery (105s?)to engineers to an infantry outfit? The Army must have been a regular smorgasbord for you!

quote:

Originally posted by gerrys375:
Alberta Canuck:

I thank you for being kind to me in your explanation about why my dumb phrase of "empty space" didn't apply. (I should have thought of it) Even more embarrassing is to explain that when I carried a Garand it was in the NYNG. I volunteered after Korea broke out. I flunked a combat PX and wound up as a small arms instructor on a rifle range at what was then known as Pine Camp (1950) (Watertown, NY) later known as Camp Drum and then Fort Drum (now home to the 10th Mountain Division -after my time) How the heck did a guy get from field artillery (105s?)to engineers to an infantry outfit? The Army must have been a regular smorgasbord for you!

No sweat G375. I started out as NG too, on the other coast, with a Long Beach, CA combat engineer outfit...so when I went active duty by joining the Regular Army, I got an RA serial number beginning with "28"
(RA 28 244 XXX) like all those who went active from NG did in those days.

Yeh, the Army kind of WAS a smorgasboard for me...also went to jump school, and then later through MP training at Camp Gordon, GA. Actually had a 951.3 MOS for a while, but ended up with a 741.3 before emergency air-evac'd back to the States and disabled out.....

Talk about interesting, managed to get assigned for a couple of years as Sports Editor, USARHAW. Now, THAT was a sweet deal!! Lived off post (had a house right across the street from Waikiki Beach), pulled NO company duties, and stood NO formations. Even had a 24/7/365 Class A pass. Got per diem, had my own car and driver part of the time, and got paid extra for being Hawaiian Major League announcer and official scorer.

T-O-U-G-H duty, you bet. The rest wasn't so nice, but at least so far am still alive....

Alberta Canuck:

Reading about your Hawaii duty I was reminded of a brother of mine who was in the 36th Div.(and served his time in Italy). This guy was what was known then in the Army as an "operator". (He stayed in after the war) You getting assigned to Hawaii makes me think you might also have been an "operator"!

Well, wouldn't call myself an operator...just lucky. Did get in one on interesting deal in Hawaii, though.

In those days tourists came to Hawaii in ships, not airplanes generally....bucking the westerlies in multi-engine prop jobs often made for a 10-hour flight to get to Hawaii from San Fran, and none too safe. So most folks, both tourists and servicemen, got there and back by ship.

Anyway, several of us who had the 24/7/365 Class A passes formed a group led by a guy named Jack Byrd...a draftee who had been a young CBS-TV Bigwig in New York when he was drafted. (He got drafted just days before turning 26 and becoming exempt!!)

The group managed to meet almost every incoming ship from the mainland. We'd hand out flyers to all the young nubile things who debarked, inviting them to a free dance & party (free booze, lots of guys) at the Waikiki Biltmore ballroom.

We also did the circuit at Ft. Shafter, Schofield Barracks, Hickam Field, and Pearl Harbor, selling tickets to the parties to servicemen (lots of girls, guaranteed!!!) for $10. They also each had to bring one bottle of booze of their choosing (cheap from the PX).

Needless to say, the parties were well attended, and the $10 fees paid for rental of the ballroom and left a tidy sum to boot. The posters given to the servicemen were free as they were run off on the USARHAW PIO (Public Information Office) mimeograph machine. (Also used a process I can't remember the name of anymore for the art work on the stuff given to the tourista-girls...over in the USO artsy-craftsy room at Tripler Army Hospital...)

Anyway, that didn't last long for me, but was great for a short while. I imagine Jack kept it going a while afterward...while some of us got to find out why we really have an Army.

Alberta Canuck:

Great story!