Evening star., 1940-05-09
Congressman See
Army Test Two Rifles
And Submachine Gun
No Conclusions Reached;
Thomas Is q Casualty,
Lundeen q Hero
BY FRED H. MORHART, Jr.,
Star Staff Correspondent.


FORT BELVOIR, Va. May o.
More than 20 Senators. Representa-
tives and ranking Army officers to-
day tested the relative merits of
the Garand and johnson semi-au-
tomato rifles on a 300-yard rifle
range at this Army post, but no
definite conclusions were reached.
In the final rapid-fire perform
ance the Garand outshot the John.
son. Operated by Capt. Rothwell
Brown, 29th Infantry, the Garand
delivered 100 shots In eight and one
half minutes at rapid fire at 600
yards.
The johnson took one minute
longer for the same number of
rounds. There were three failures
by the johnson during this test. It
was explained that they were the
result of the failure of the bolt to
lock. thus putting the gun tempo
rarily out of commission. The gun
was fired by John Morrissey of the
7th Regiment, New York National
Guard.
In the first test, firing 48 rounds
in three minutes, the Johnson shoul-
der weapon scored II points higher
than the Army's new piece. The
johnson score was 404, the Garand
393. In the same round the Thomp-
son submachine gun, firing above its
normal range, scored 234 points.
However, in the second round of
48 shots the Garand scored 405
points, against the Johnson's 348.
The Thompson trailed with 253
points.
Thomas Fingers Burnt.
The only casualty of the demon
stration was Senator Elmer Thomas,
Democrat, of Oklahoma, who suf-
fered burnt fingers when he grasped
the barrel of Garand rifle immed-
lately after it came off the firing
line. Though he did not drop the
gun, Senator Thomas juggled it and
whistled in pain.
Nevertheless he pronounced the
Garand rifle an effective field piece.
Senator Ernest Lundeen, Farmer
Labor, of Minnesota proved the hero
of the day when he made perfect
score of eight bull's-eyes out of eight
rounds fired. He used the Garand
rifle in that test, and later declared
it a shoulder weapon worthy Of the
Army.
In today's demonstration both
long-range and short-range ammu-
milton was used. Observers noticed
that the six Army riflemen demon
strating fired low. However, the
scores were called gratifying for all
three weapons tested.
johnson Recoil Stronger.
It was noted that the johnson gun
seemed to have a stronger recoil
than the Garand. On several occa-
sions it nearly knocked the hats off
the riflemen. The Garand jolted
the entire body Of the gunners to
a much lesser degree, being notice.
able only as far down as the hips.
There was practically no noticeable
recoil from the Thompson sub
machine gun. The johnson rifle
made considerably more noise than
the Garand. With silencer, the
Thompson gun made practically no
noise at all.
Subject of much controversy re-
Gently, the Garand rifle is being de-
livered at the rate of 200 day to
the Army from the Springfield
Arsenal. Already more than $1,000
pieces have been placed in the hands
Of Army troops. Most Of these are
now undergoing intensive field serv-
ice in the Southern maneuvers.
Basic Principles Contrasted.
Fundamentally, today's demon
stration was contrast of two basic
principles of rifle design, the Garand
representing the gas-operated piece
and the johnson representing the
mechanical recoil system. The
Thompson submachine gun, it was
said, was included in the demon
stration to show its short range
usage in tank, armored car and
motorcycle operations.
An interesting feature was brought
out in the discussion about the
Garand, when it developed that
Vice President Garner used one of
the rifles during the last deer
hunting season In Texas. After
using 1t In the field during the
November December season he was
reported to have expressed delight
with its quality.