Canned Garands

[bamboomaster]

I stumbled upon on article about "Canned Garands" by "Weapons Man" here:

http://weaponsman.com/?p=13309

A few fascinating highlights:

"It didn't seem prudent to just throw them away or scrap them. After all, the M1 was a front-line combat rifle, still technologically ahead of most of the world. And they could be nice trinkets in international diplomacy."

"...the excess guns were canned in 1947 and 1948. No one seems to know how many were so treated"

"For those of you thinking about caching weapons, note the extreme effort this took. Two years of development by professional engineers to work out the system."

"So why haven't these Garand Cans turned up? Our best guess is that they took the can opener to them during the Korean War..."

"About 300,000 M1s and unknown quantities of other firearms were canned in this manner."

"If anyone does find one, it will be clearly labeled."

Happy hunting!

[MT1]

Great story. Thanks.

[LisaA]

WOW, this is very interesting. Thanks for sharing.

[AJ C-burg]

Good read. Thanks!

[Bang]

Some of them the ones Obama won't let in to CMP from Korea?

[bamboomaster]

Some of them the ones Obama won't let in to CMP from Korea?

While I'm only speculating, that may indeed be true. You wouldn't want 300,000
Garands hanging out in an assortment of arsenals, especially if you thought they may one day be over-run.

Like, for example, Korea. So where did they go?

I know there are far more kindred spirits here adept at running down a gazelle than am I.

So if possible, may I respectfully suggest putting jets on your feet and letting the kindred spirits here know what you discover?

Kindest regards,

[Hawk]

From a thread on the CMP Forum:










More info:

The canning of the M1 Rifles was begun in November 1946, in the South end of building 104, previously occupied by the M1 Rifle line. However, a considerable amount of planning and preliminary action had been necessary prior to this action: It was necessary to locate, procure and install equipment with which the armory had no previous acquaintance, such as vapor degreasers, welding machines, alkali and ?onderizing [can’t see that first letter — I told you these were hard to read] tanks and water spray paint booths. Because the greater part of this equipment was necessary for the final assembly of the weapons into the containers, it was possible to manufacture parts of the container assembly pending receipt and installation of this equipment. The manufacture of the container, or drum was procured for the initial orders, the Walsh Boiler Company of Holyoke, Massachusetts, being the contractor.

The initial order for canning the M1 Rifle was completed in October 1947; and after necessary adjustments in the production line, the Armory began the canning of the Carbine. The process was then applied to Pistols, Submachine guns and the BAR, the orders being completed in the early part of 1948.�
Canning Data

Many of the unserviceable weapons received by Field Service were rebuilt and directed into the Long Term Storage Program. During the fiscal year 1947, the Armory canned 87,300 M1 Rifles. The following fiscal year production was greatly increased and the following major items were a candidate.

220,310 Rifle, U.S. Cal. .30 M1
254,520 Carbine, Cal. .30 M1 & M2
10,000 Rifle, B. A. Cal. .30 M191842
20,007 Gun, B. M. .50 Cal. M2
14,083 Gun, B. M. .50 Cal. M2, H.B. Flex
59,920 Pistol, Auto. Cal. .45 M1911A1
29,910 Gun, Sub-Mach. Cal. .45 M3, M3A1

Many of the unserviceable weapons received from overseas were rebuilt and directed into this Long Term Storage. Due to the lack of storage space the Armory shipped the processed items directly from the shops, a highly successful procedure that required close coordination of production and shipping schedules.

[Gunowner99]

That is so cool, thanks for the story.

[IronButt]

From a thread on the CMP Forum:










More info:

The canning of the M1 Rifles was begun in November 1946, in the South end of building 104, previously occupied by the M1 Rifle line. However, a considerable amount of planning and preliminary action had been necessary prior to this action: It was necessary to locate, procure and install equipment with which the armory had no previous acquaintance, such as vapor degreasers, welding machines, alkali and ?onderizing [can’t see that first letter — I told you these were hard to read] tanks and water spray paint booths. Because the greater part of this equipment was necessary for the final assembly of the weapons into the containers, it was possible to manufacture parts of the container assembly pending receipt and installation of this equipment. The manufacture of the container, or drum was procured for the initial orders, the Walsh Boiler Company of Holyoke, Massachusetts, being the contractor.

The initial order for canning the M1 Rifle was completed in October 1947; and after necessary adjustments in the production line, the Armory began the canning of the Carbine. The process was then applied to Pistols, Submachine guns and the BAR, the orders being completed in the early part of 1948.�
Canning Data

Many of the unserviceable weapons received by Field Service were rebuilt and directed into the Long Term Storage Program. During the fiscal year 1947, the Armory canned 87,300 M1 Rifles. The following fiscal year production was greatly increased and the following major items were a candidate.

220,310 Rifle, U.S. Cal. .30 M1
254,520 Carbine, Cal. .30 M1 & M2
10,000 Rifle, B. A. Cal. .30 M191842
20,007 Gun, B. M. .50 Cal. M2
14,083 Gun, B. M. .50 Cal. M2, H.B. Flex
59,920 Pistol, Auto. Cal. .45 M1911A1
29,910 Gun, Sub-Mach. Cal. .45 M3, M3A1

Many of the unserviceable weapons received from overseas were rebuilt and directed into this Long Term Storage. Due to the lack of storage space the Armory shipped the processed items directly from the shops, a highly successful procedure that required close coordination of production and shipping schedules.

Maybe I missed it, but there's no mention of them ever being shipped to NATO countries. So.........are they still here in the US? I'd buy a "can" of them.

The last Service Grade Garand that I bought at CMP, the armor there told me that they were getting them from armorys in Greece. That was about 4-5 years ago.

[Hawk]

Maybe I missed it, but there's no mention of them ever being shipped to NATO countries. So.........are they still here in the US? I'd buy a "can" of them.

The last Service Grade Garand that I bought at CMP, the armor there told me that they were getting them from armorys in Greece. That was about 4-5 years ago.

The scuttlebutt is that they are currently (as of 2011) stored in a warehouse in Korea. Korea owns them. It could be the same lot that Korea wanted to import to the U.S. but was nixed by Obama.