Short Garands

I have a few random thoughts that might be of iontrest to those of you that are thinking about having a Short Garand made up.

Many years ago just after the first Assault Rifle Ban, my brother and I decided to have a couple of T26/Tankers made up.

We were both HighPower Rifle competetors and had regular Garands. We contacted a well known Garand Match rifle maker and had him make us both a Tanker in 308 with all the Match modifications. The way the laws were going, we wanted a rugged, handy rifle, that would also be legal, at least for a while in all 50 States so we could carry it when we traveled and on hunting trips. Some states have a 5 shot rule for semiautos when hunting so we got some 5 round clips too.
Well it was going to take several months to get our rifles, so when I ran into a fella at a Gun Show that had a Tanker, made by the same gunsmith I bought it.

It was a 30/06, but I had a fair amount of 30/06 ammo in clips for my DCM [now called CMP] Garand. I thougI will shoot and "play" with it till my 308 comes in and then sell the 30/06.

Well long story short, I found I liked the Tanker sized Garand I kept the 30/06, and the 308.
The 30/06 is ironsights only but the 308 has a Scout Scope on it.

I have had these Tankers for several years, and they are some of my most favorite rifles. They are very accurate and handle great.
I really cannot tell much difference in recoil between these and the full sized rifle. Nothing wrong with an AR15, for a 223, or a M 1-A, but the Garand without the extended magazine is much sleeker/slimmer/and trimmer to handle.
Some people werry about the "firepower" of an 8 round clip vs 20/30 round magazines, and yes the 20/30 round guns will have more "firepower", till you run your magazines all dry, and how many magazines will you be carrying on you??? With the Garand it is very easy to have 2000 rounds of ammo already loaded in 8 round clips, because 250 eight round clips cost about the same as enough 20 round magazines to load 300 to 400 rounds.

So if you would like a short handy rugged rifle, still legal in all 50 states [as far as I know], And you like a fullsized Garand, you will love a Mini G sized Garand for sure.