For no particular reason this question popped into my mind the other day. Given its track record and production numbers during the war, why wasn't the Garand more popular as a sporting arm post WWII?
I figure most of the gunwriters here (and members in general) are babyboomers and might have greater insight and memory into this query.
With the post war popularity and availability of Mausers and Springfields it's no surprise they became so prevalent in the hunting world. Shouldn't the Garand have followed this course to some extent?
I can think of a few possibilities why perhaps it didn't gain a foothold. Were they readily available after the war and at reasonable cost? Did most hunters already own a good bolt or lever 'hunting' rifle they returned to after the war? During that era was the bolt or lever action still seen as the hunting rifle compared to the semi-auto 'war' rifle. Was the difficulty of scope mounting a problem (although in the dense East thickets, I would think the peepsights would have worked fine)? Was the 8 round clip 'off putting' to hunters?
I grew up in N. Wisconsin in thick woods. The Marlin 336, Win 94, and Rem 7600 were the most ubiquitous--most often in .30-30, .35 Rem, or .30-06. Not only did I not know or hear of anyone who ever hunted with a Garand, I never knew anyone who even owned one (and I would have known being a rilfe loony and a WWII loony).
So for those of you whose fathers and their friends would have served in WWII or hunted during the immediate years after, what are your thoughts on the Garand's seeming lack of sporting use? Just curious. It was such a iconic weapon during the war, it seems that popularity would have bled over into the sporting realm.
