John Garand, M1 Rifle, Springfield Armory: "Commence Firing" 1954 US Army; The Big Picture TV-276 (Patreon)

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'From colonial days, marksmanship has been an American tradition. In this film presentation, television audiences will visit the Armory at Springfield, Massachusetts, established in 1794. Gunsmiths here have created the basic weapons for our fighting forces. The Armory is the small arms center of the U.S. forces. Here, are concentrated the Ordnance Corps facilities for experimental development of hand weapons, including rifles and automatic weapons--also for pilot line production. Included in "Commence Firing," is footage of the Camp Perry, Ohio World Series of Marksmanship, sponsored jointly by the National Rifle Association and the National Board for the Promotion of Rifle Practice.'

Originally a public domain film from the National Archives, slightly cropped to remove uneven edges, with the aspect ratio corrected, and one-pass brightness-contrast-color correction & mild video noise reduction applied.

The soundtrack was also processed with volume normalization, noise reduction, clipping reduction, and/or equalization (the resulting sound, though not perfect, is far less noisy than the original).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Springfield_Armory

Wikipedia license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

The Springfield Armory, located in the city of Springfield, Massachusetts, was the primary center for the manufacture of United States military firearms from 1777 until its closing in 1968. It was the first federal armory and one of the first factories in the United States dedicated to the manufacture of weapons. The site is preserved as the Springfield Armory National Historic Site, Western Massachusetts' only unit of the national park system. It features the world's largest collection of historic American firearms.

Famous first as the United States' primary arsenal during the American Revolutionary War, and then as the scene of a confrontation during Shays' Rebellion, the Springfield Armory in the 19th and 20th centuries became the site of numerous technological innovations of global importance, including interchangeable parts, the assembly line style of mass production, and modern business practices, such as hourly wages. The facility would play a decisive role in the American Civil War, producing most of the weaponry used by Union troops which, in sum, outpaced Confederate firearm production by a ratio of 32 to 1. American historian Merritt Roe Smith has posited that advancements in machine manufacturing which allowed the facility to increase production capacity by more than 25 fold, from 9,601 rifles in 1860 to 276,200 in 1864, served as a precursor to the mass production of the Second Industrial Revolution and 20th century assembly line production. The numerous firearm models produced at the Springfield Armory from 1794 to 1968 are referred to as "Springfield muskets and rifles"...

By the time that the United States entered World War I, approximately 843,239 standard service Model 1903 rifles had been manufactured... During World War I the Springfield Armory produced ≈25,000 M1911 pistols before all facilities were dedicated to production of M1903 rifles.

In 1919, when John Garand was 31, he came to Springfield, where he worked to develop a semi-automatic rifle. Over the next five years many designs were submitted for the rifle, but none met the army's rigid specifications. In 1924, Garand offered a design that was approved for further testing. This was the famous M1, or "Garand rifle" as it came to be known. The army adopted the rifle in 1936, and production began the next year. This began what was to become the greatest production effort in the armory's history: during the entire production history of the M1 rifle, the Springfield Armory produced over 4.5 million of them.

The M1's accuracy and durability in battle earned it high praise. General Douglas MacArthur reported on the M1 to the Ordnance Department during heavy fighting on Bataan that "Under combat conditions it operated with no mechanical defects and when used in foxholes did not develop stoppages from dust or dirt. It has been in almost constant action for as much as a week without cleaning or lubrication." Further testament to the M1s role in combat was given by another well-respected military officer, General George S. Patton, Jr., who reported to the Army Ordnance Department on January 26, 1945, "In my opinion, the M1 Rifle is the greatest battle implement ever devised."...

By the time the U.S. was involved in the Vietnam War, Springfield Armory developed not only rifles but machine guns for ground and air use, grenade launchers, and associated equipment. Many weapons were not manufactured at the Armory, but plans and specifications were drawn up for the use of private contractors who built them elsewhere, representing an economic shift toward the American private arms industry...