THE TRACTOR COMPANY ANOMALY

General George S. Patton wrote that, “In my opinion, the M1 rifle is the greatest battle implement ever devised."* The "U. S. rifle, caliber .30, M1," also known as the Garand, was the standard infantry weapon of U.S. troops in World War II, and its 8-round semi-automatic configuration gave the American soldier a distinct advantage over those German, Italian, and Japanese counterparts who were equipped with slower and lower-capacity bolt-action service weapons. About 3.5 million Garands were made by the government armory in Springfield, Massachusetts by the end of the war, and these were supplemented by approximately a half-million more made by the Winchester Repeating Arms Company of New Haven, Connecticut.

Once the war ended and most of the troops went home, the Army had a glut of unneeded Garands, and it couldn't swing a dead cat without hitting unused rifles. Then, the Korean War came along. The remaining supply of surplus WWII Garands was not going to be enough for that conflict, and production resumed.

Obviously, the Springfield Armory was called upon to crank out more new rifles. However, Winchester was not. Instead, the nod was given to the International Harvester Company in Evansville, Indiana. IHC did a great job making vehicles and farm equipment, but it had never produced a firearm. Winchester, of course, was one of the country's most renowned arms maker, had a reputation for high quality (including its WWII Garands), and already had all of the tooling to make the weapons. Why did the tractor factory get the contract instead of the gun company?

The answer is simple--geography. Springfield Armory was within sixty miles of the Winchester plant in New Haven. In fact, most of the country's leading arms manufacturers were in New England and relatively close to the Atlantic Seaboard. The government was concerned that the Soviets, who had just obtained the atomic bomb, could launch an air strike from a carrier in the Atlantic and take out all Garand production at once if Winchester was the selected contractor. In this pre-ICBM era, however, it would have been very difficult for the Ruskies to nuke Evansville, Indiana.

IHC eventually made about 338,000 Garands before it ceased production in 1956. There were a lot of manufacturing glitches, and IHC struggled to meet quotas. The rifles IHC did make were of fine quality and met government standards, but it took IHC quite a bit of effort to do so.

Once at least one source of Garand production was established in the Midwest, the government did award one more contract to another New England gun company--Harrington and Richardson Arms Company of Worcester, Massachusetts. This outfit made approximately 429,000 copies until 1956. American** Garand production altogether ceased in 1957.

Today, all Garands, regardless of the manufacturer or country of origin are highly prized by collectors. The IHC "tractor Garands" are especially so. First, not many of them were produced. Second, a large number of them were sent to Iran as surplus arms when the Shah was still in power, and the current regime has shown no real inclination to return them.

If this factoid was not enough to satisfy your insatiable lust for IHC Garand information, check out this article in The American Rifleman.

*Movie buffs realize from watching Jaws that the M1 rifle is greatest implement ever devised for punching a hole in an oxygen tank when the tank is in a great white shark's maw. They also realize from viewing Gran Torino that the M1 rifle is likewise the greatest implement ever devised to encourage compliance with the request "Get off of my lawn."

**Some Garands were made in Italy under license by the US government (obviously, after Italy had surrendered in WWII) by Beretta and the Breda Armory for use by Italian armed forces.