The Lore of the Corps

Marines used M1 Garand sniper variants in 2 wars
By Keith A. Milks - Special to the Times
Posted : February 12, 2007

In the early days of World War II, Marines fought the Japanese in the Pacific with their trusted M1903 Springfield rifles, which had been America’s standard infantry rifle for nearly four decades.

However, as leathernecks went on the offensive in the fall of 1942, many did so with a new weapon — the M1 Garand. As the U.S.’s first mass-produced semi-automatic service rifle, the Garand quickly established itself as a rugged, reliable weapon and by 1943 had all but replaced the M1903 in front-line service.

As is common with most successful weapons, there was a push to fulfill a variety of combat roles with a single rifle, and the Garand was no different. Throughout World War II, several variants of the Garand were introduced, with varying levels of success.

Two of the more successful variants were the M1C and M1D sniper rifles. In June 1944, the M1C (also designated the M1E7) entered service with the Army in the European theater, and the M1D was fielded shortly thereafter.

Both sniper weapons were essentially the basic Garand in that they fired a standard .30-06 Springfield cartridge loaded on an eight-round strip that fit into an internal magazine, had a muzzle velocity of 2,750 feet per second and weighed a shade less than 10 pounds.

The differences between the original M1 and its sniper variants were modifications that allowed them to accept scope mounts. The M1C bore a model M81 2.5x scope, but difficulties encountered in the mounting process led to the installation of a simpler mount designed for the M82 2.5x scope. This minor change was the only difference between the M1C and M1D and theoretically increased the Garand’s maximum effective range from 460 meters to between 750 and 925 meters.

During World War II, the Marine Corps used the M1903A4 Springfield and M1941 (M1903A4 with a Unertl scope) sniper rifles because of their known performance and limited supplies of the M1 sniper variants. The Corps began the Korean War with the M1941 as its primary sniper rifle but accepted stockpiles of the M1C from the Army in 1951.

Marine snipers prowling Korea with the M1C found the weapon’s performance bedeviled by its lackluster scope and unavailability of the match-grade ammunition they preferred for long-range shooting. These limitations were offset somewhat by the use of armor-piercing ammunition, but many snipers still preferred the time-tested M1941 or hard-to-find M1903A4s, which could effectively hit targets at ranges of up to 950 meters.

In 1952, the Corps replaced the M1C’s M81 scope with a Stith-Kollmorgen Model 4XD-USMC scope, and the weapon was redesignated as the USMC 1952 or MC52. Marine armories also added a bell-shaped flash hider, but few of these weapons made it into theater for combat service by the time the Korean War ended.

Marines carried the M1C and the MC52 throughout the 1950s and used them in the Dominican intervention in 1965 and during the early days of the Vietnam War. In 1966, the MC52 sniper rifle was phased out of service and replaced by the M40 sniper rifle, effectively ending the M1 Garand family’s 23-year run as a front-line Marine combat weapon.

The writer is a master sergeant. He can be reached at kambtp@aol.com.

Ellie