Dad always loved the Garand. As a tank mechanic he was issued a 1911 but there are always "spare" weapons lying about and he always had a Garand handy in the halftrack he worked out of. When he was a boy he had hunted with 2 .22 rifles, a worn out bolt gun that spit gas into his face when fired and an old Winchester pump "gallery gun". Never was good with the Springfield as he flinched, expecting a facefull of gas and powder. But he really took to the Garand, said he couldn't miss. His tank unit was attached to the 45th Infantry division when they landed at Anzio and he wound up in Rome with some downtime as he and his buddies set up camp at the Garibaldi memorial. Bored, one guy picked up a Garand from a pile the dead and wounded had left behind and took a few shots at the rubble sitting atop the wall. And missed. Pretty soon everyone was blasting away, until someone with rank showed up and told them to knock it off!. So if you're ever in Rome, look for some .30 caliber holes up by the top of the wall. They probably filled them in, but maybe not.