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Title:	RIFLE, MILITARY -  U.S. RIFLE M1 .280 SN# 719700
Maker/Manufacturer:	GARAND, JOHN C.
Date of Manufacture:	07/01/1942
Eminent Figure:
Catalog Number:	SPAR 3512
Measurements:	OL:110.4CM 43 1/2" BL: 60.9CM 24"

Object Description:

U.S. RIFLE M1 .280 SN# 719700
Manufactured by Springfield Armory, Springfield, Ma. in 1942 - Modified M1 gas-operated, semi-automatic rifle. 8-round "en bloc" clip fed. Barrel chambered and rifled for British .280 cartridge. Successfully tested at Aberdeen 19 September 1951. Test conclusions read in part: "It is concluded that on the basis of limited testing performed, the U.S. Rifle, Caliber .30, M1, can be modified to fire the British, Caliber .280 Ammunition by using a barrel rifled and chambered for this round and by enlargement of the barrel gas port diameter to .150". Further evaluation of the performance of the M1 Rifle converted to fire the British Caliber .280 round cannot be made without further testing with more rifles under adverse and endurance firing conditions."

Markings:
Receiver: U.S. RIFLE/CAL..30 M1/SPRINGFIELD/ARMORY/719700.
Bolt: D28782-12SA/S-04 Diamond.
Stock: 2 Ps in circle. Ordnance bomb on pistol grip. S.A./O. S.A./G.A.W. .280. BRITISH .280 in yellow paint.

Notes: If there was a revolutionary development in small arms in World War II, it was the German MP43/STG 44 Assault Rifle - the mother of assault rifles. It was this weapon that introduced to the world the "intermediate cartridge," in this case the 7.92x33mm round. No country, save the United States, doubted the significance of this advancement. The failure of the U.S. Ordnance Department to grasp this would not only set small arms development back for years in the United States, but also had serious diplomatic implications as well.
Following WWII, the British were convinced that the intermediate cartridge was the wave of the future. They assumed, incorrectly, that all countries had learned this lesson also. The British immediately went to work to find an ideal caliber for a lightweight weapon. After numerous studies, they concluded that a .276 (7mm) round, later called the .280, would be the perfect cartridge for an assault type rifle. But also knowing that the "free world" was calling for standardization of ammunition, they made "the base end of the cartridge case for this cartridge identical with that of the (US) 1906 .30 cartridge so it would have been easy for existing US weapons to be converted." In 1947, their findings, which are still classified, were submitted to the U.S. government.
For the most part the British were simply ignored. "The U.S. Army," they were told, "is firmly opposed to the adoption of any less effective small caliber cartridge for use in either its present rifle, or in the new weapon being developed." If there was to be standardization of ammunition, it would be on American terms.
While the Soviets were busy developing the AK-47, the forces that would make up NATO would now be locked into a weapon, which like the M1, would simply not be suitable for full-automatic fire.
The British balked. They simply adopted the .280 EM2. This controversy, becoming even more bitter, continued until the return of Winston Churchill to 10 Downing St. In his first major address to the House of Commons since he left office, Churchill told the Commons that in this world of international politics, "the best was not always the most practical." That "it is our duty on both sides of the Atlantic to make new efforts to harmonize our long-term policy, and I propose to persevere in this and I trust that we may reach a good decision." He was, and in un-Churchillian fashion, telling the House that the EM2 rifle might have to be abandoned.
The whole matter was essentially tabled until 1953 when Churchill, President Dwight D. Eisenhower, and Premier Joseph Laniel of France, agreed to the American .30 caliber light weight cartridge (later designated the 7.62x51mm NATO round)* for all of NATO. The British Secretary of War proceeded with procurement of the FN FAL for troop testing. The "free world" was now, from a small arms point of view, locked firmly into the past.
Although there is no smoking gun as yet, there is a belief that the British caved in at this time in part because the U.S. agreed to adopt the FN rifle. No lWhatever the case, the Ordnance Department not only got the cartridge they wanted, they would eventually get their T44 rifle, later adopted as the M14, as well. This victory would be short-lived. In less than fifteen years there would be a total reorganization of the Ordnance Department which included the closing of the Springfield Armory.
In 1950, the Springfield Armory tested the .280 round in the rifle displayed here. It was made clear by Colonel Rene Studler, however, that the round was not to be compared to the T65 (the U.S. light weight cartridge). The test report, SA-MR11-1059, concluded that "on the basis of limited testing performed, the U.S. Rifle, Caliber .30, M1, can be modified to fire the British, Caliber .280 Ammunition by using a barrel rifled and chambered for this round and by enlargement of the barrel gas port diameter to .150."

Cartridges used in testing: British, Caliber .280, Lot 13A; Bullets, SCB at 140 grains; R.G. (Radway Green) Cases "New Rim"; C.Y. Caps Lot 51; Charge 30 grains of N.R.N. 11; Lot D17646, Hopper-Filled; Green-Tipped; Explosive, Group 6.

*The American standardizing action was OCTM Item 35464 (August, 1954).

References:
Stevens, Blake. U.S. RIFLE M14 FROM JOHN GARAND TO THE M21. Collector Grade Publications Inc. Toronto, Canada. 1991.

See, SA-MR11-1059. U.S. RIFLE, CALIBER .30, M1 MODIFIED FOR BRITISH CALIBER .280 AMMUNITION, by F. Hoppert. Springfield, Ma. October 23, 1950.