Farnam Defensive Rifle (Garand carbine)?

M

MatthewVanitas

New member
This rifle has been mentioned a couple times in the past on TFL, though mainly in passing.

http://www.gunwork.com/PAGES/prods.htm

Apparently, it's a M1 Garand cut down, lightened up, chambered in .308, and just generally tricked out. The gunsmith said that it measures three pounds and four inches less than a full M1 (would that make it about eight pounds then?)

My main military rifle experience is Enfield, SKS, and M16A2. From those weapons, I have come to the conclusion that I like a traditional stock vs. pistol grip, box magazine vs. detatchable. Though I have no direct experience with terminal ballistics, I would feel more comfortable carrying a .30 caliber weapon.

My question is this: if you were in a military unit where you had the option of bringing your own firearm, would you consider this to be a good option, price aside? Perhaps without the scope, sticking with the aperture sights? Any objections to this piece at all aside from simple capacity?
 
I don't know that there's any real advantage to this over an M1A in a similar configuration. There's a lot to be said for an M-14 with iron sights...
 
The Garand and the M-14 can both benefit from some reduction of their overall length. Handiness is thus improved, while impacting shootability not at all.

The scout scope would seem particularly well suited to use on the Garand, leaving the top of the action unobstructed as is needed for its en bloc clip.

The main disadvantage of a Garand is that it cannot be "topped off" if the shooter has expended a portion of its cartridges. The remaining rounds must be shot up or manually ejected, along with the clip, thus losing them.

In general, I think an M-14/M1A set up in this manner would be superior to the Garand.

Rosco
 
My main objections to the M14/M1A...

... involve the magazines.

- M1A mags are pricey and getting more so all the time (especially vs. a bag full of en-bloc clips)

- A 20rd mag would prevent a full, ground-hugging prone position, one of my primary objections to the FAL, while a 10rd mag would offer barely more capacity.

- While a M1A Scout would be slightly cheaper, and designed around the 7.62x51 from the get-go, it would be a stock civilian made piece, rather than a carefully custom-made piece of mil-surplus. Plus, pardoxically, it'd be heavier than a FDR. I'd rather spend the extra $300 and have a custom-tuned piece.

- The presence of detatchable mags would preclude the addition of a bayo lug or flash hider. Ideally, if I had an FDR I'd love to have an M16A2 style bayo-lug, and some kind of dual flash-suppressing/braking compensator. Possibly like the Vortex reducer.

Can you eject the M1's enbloc clip without scattering all the rounds? Topping off is good, but you can't top off an M16A2 either, just kick out the mag, put in a fresh one, and refill the half-empty one later.
 
When I noted that the M14/M1A can be "topped off", I was noting that a partially depleted magazine can be removed, saved, and replaced with a full one...just like Matthew describes for the M16.

I once planned to have a scout "tanker" Garand built. I purchased a newly manufactured .308 "tanker" from Springfield Armory and the Gunsite Gunsmithy was willing to tackle forward-mounting the scout scope. However, I was never able to get the base rifle to function reliably. Several trips back to the factory did not help. Springfield Armory very generously and graciously swapped me a "bush" M1A for the lemon tanker.

I believe the M1A's gas system lends itself to barrel shortening better than does the Garand's.

A reliable Garand (tanker or otherwise) is a formidable weapon, but I fail to detect any advantage over the M1A. To the contrary, I think the M1A offers a number of advantages.

- It doesn't scatter en bloc clips around the countryside (important if resupply is a problem).

- As noted previously, the M1A may be topped off (tactical loaded, if ones prefers)

- The M14/M1A bolt's roller makes lubrication less critical and helps with reliability in the rain.

- Sturdy, inexpensive composite stocks are available for the M14/M1A.

- 20 rounds on tap can be comforting.

As we all know, it's the man, not the gun. Still, make mine an M1A.

Rosco
 
The so-called tanker Garands are well known to be problematic. I actually have come to the opposite conclusion on the M1A vs. Garand.

-enblocs are much faster than magazines. Especially large .308 mags.

- You can get closer to the ground with a Garand.

- It is easy to top off a Garand. Eject the old enbloc, pop in a new one.

- You can carry more ammo due with enblocs.

- Who cares about scattering enblocs around. They are real cheap. If I shoot that many rounds I will be dead or have a huge new gun collection.

Dave
 
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