Even though I have been into guns for decades and handled dozens of them, I had never, up until yesterday, actually fired an M1 Garand.
A buddy of mine brought over his 1944 Springfield Armory shooter (not collectors grade). He really sucks at sighting things in so he wanted me to sight it in for him. It was a very nice shooting rifle, but geeze it was heavy. And it kind of hurt to shoot from the bench too. After sighting it in, I shot the remaining rounds on my hind legs which made it quite a bit more comfortable. I do have a nice M1 bruise.
Which brings up a question. Where is a good place to get M1 Garand spec rounds? He said he is having trouble finding rounds. Any leads?
Also, I have even more respect now for those guys that hauled around that M1 in combat. I know why they had such confidence in the "stopping power" of the M1. It definitely fires with authority. It feels like you are firing the thunderbolts of Zeus or something. I used to own a 30-06 Abolt for years that never felt quite like that. I also owned a M1A for many years but I didn't really enjoy shooting it as much as I did that Garand (and I don't remember it kicking quite as hard . It just didn't have that aura I guess.