@sneakypete
Me and my 2 sons are total fans of the Garand. My youngest started out with the Garand and on his 18th birthday had to rush out and get him a bolt action 30-06. I half filled his closet with surplus de-linked MG ammo. I also have a fair supply of M2-AP. My oldest was constantly taking a Garand out to show his Navy buds what it was all about. Everyone likes to shoot them. I need to get a couple more.
@Elderberry The old Garand is one sweet piece of work. THE best battle rifle of WW-2 and the Korean War era,and the government should have just modified them to 308 and magazine fed instead of adopting the M-14. If you could see it and were a average good shot,you could hit it with a Garand.
I reluctantly have to say the FN-FAL takes the title of best battle rifle ever,mostly because it is insanely reliable,and has an adjustable gas system so you can tune it to work with any ammo you shoot in it. Yeah,it's a little heavy,but I can guarantee you that the first time you hear a bullet pop as it goes past your ear,you will think it is as light as a feather and has no recoil at all.
I am still stunned that maybe 15 years ago you could buy a demilled FN-FAL parts kit,buy a new semi-auto receiver,and have a functioning 308 Main Battle Rifle for just a few hundred bucks if you knew how to put one together,or someone who did. The best of the bunch were the Israeli versions because all of them came with heavy barrels to be used as squad automatic weapons,and it wasn't unusual at all to get one in that looked to be unfired.
They were all demilled by cutting the receivers in half,but whoever demilled them always took the bolts out before cutting them in half in the magazine area. A new semi-auto receiver and you were in business.