His Majesty’s Garands
Scott A. Duff over at American Rifleman has in interesting piece up about the M1 Garands transferred via Lend Lease in the early days of WWII.
FDR sent them over largely before Pearl Harbor, after which U.S. Garand stocks were so low that millions of M1903A3 Springfields and M1 Carbines were cranked out to equip the enormously growing American war effort.
From Duff:
Large quantities of M1 Garand rifles were to be transferred to England. The first appropriation was made on March 27, 1941, and authorized transfer from current production and existing stocks by random requisition. After a second appropriation on October 28, 1941, a percentage allotment of current production was authorized. These transfers continued even after the declaration of war against Japan until a decision in March 1942 that all .30-cal. arms be allotted to the U.S. Army. Transfers were officially terminated at the end of June 1942. In all, a total of 38,001 M1 Garand rifles were shipped to England under Lend-Lease. These were the “British Garands,” which in recent years have become highly sought after by collectors.
And also, as a bonus, here is a great video that shows you how to partially load an M1, a trick not known by many for sure.