POTD: Garand’s Own M1 – The First Production “Gas Trap” Rifle #5
Sam.S 05.05.25

Welcome to today’s Photo of the Day! Here we have an M1 Gas Trap rifle. This unassuming rifle represents one of the most important American military firearms ever made – the very first completed M1 Garand from the legendary “model shop” batch of 80 trial rifles ordered in 1932. What makes serial number “5” extraordinary isn’t just its status as the first completed T1E2 Garand (despite the higher serial numbers being finished later), but its incredible personal history with John Garand himself. According to Art Tuttle’s included letters, this rifle was rescued from a scrap pile, recognized for its importance, and became Garand’s personal “showpiece” that he kept in his private vault at Springfield Armory. As Tuttle wrote: “This was considered John’s gun… used for displays when VIPs visited the Armory.” After Garand’s retirement in 1953, he gifted the rifle to Tuttle, saying simply: “It’s yours. Keep it.”
Technically, this is one of the earliest “gas trap” M1s, featuring the original complex gas system before the simplified gas port design was adopted. It has all the distinctive early features – five-line receiver marking, wingless front sight, rounded lower front receiver edge, angular “legs,” and the distinct early gas cylinder with lightning cuts marked “R” on the bayonet lug. The included Springfield Research Service documentation confirms this rifle was the first completed and shipped to Aberdeen Proving Grounds on April 10, 1934, along with serial numbers 1, 3, and 4. After testing, it returned to Springfield for modifications before being sent to the Ordnance Department in Washington. Most of these early “model shop” rifles were scrapped once mass production began, making survivors extraordinarily rare. Serial #1 resides in the Springfield Armory Museum, #2 at Rock Island Arsenal Museum, and #3 in private hands. From prototype to John Garand’s personal rifle to Billy Pyle’s collection, this M1 represents the birth of the weapon General Patton called “the greatest battle implement ever devised” – and the one example its inventor chose to keep for himself.
“U.S. Springfield Armory T1E2 M1 Garand Rifle Serial Number ‘5.’” Rock Island Auction Company, https://www.rockislandauction.com/detail/4094/1304/us-springfield-armory-t1e2-m1-garand-rifle-serial-number-5. Accessed 30 Apr. 2025.