The M1 Garand was the standard rifle of the United States military during the Second World War and the first semiautomatic rifle to be issued as a primary arm by a major armed force, officially replacing the boltaction Springfield M1903 as the US Army's standard rifle in 1936.

The Garand features a distinctive loading method where the entire 8round enbloc clip is inserted into the action, automatically ejecting when expended and locking the bolt open for a rapid reload. The sharp closing of the bolt when a clip was inserted could result in the bolt slamming shut on the operator's thumb, resulting in a condition given names such as "rifleman's thumb" or "Garand thumb." In videogames, the Garand is often depicted as impossible to reload without expending the entire clip; this is not strictly true, as it is possible to eject a partially fired clip by pressing the clip latch button and operating the action, though this requires the use of both hands. Soldiers were drilled to fully expend a clip rather than attempt this in combat.

Much is made of the "ping" sound that occurred when the metal clip ejects or lands on a hard surface, but this "disadvantage" imagines that wars are fought as oneonone duels in perfect silence, and was seldom a factor in reality. A survey of users found a small number concerned over the possibility, but far more deemed it a helpful reminder of needing to reload than a potential hazard.

The Garand served in both theaters in WW2 and remained the standard US rifle in the Korean War, being replaced by the selectfire M14 Rifle in 1957, though Garands remained in service until the seventies. After WW2, many European countries made use of the Garand during the early days of NATO, both by rearming themselves with US Surplus/Aid and some Italian production. The M14 and Beretta BM59 are essentially Garands redesigned for fully automatic operation and use of a detachable magazine.

There were also 2 sniper variants of the M1 Garand rifle being the M1C (formerly M1E7, introduced in June 1944) and M1D (formerly M1E8, introduced in September 1944). The only difference between the 2 models was the mounting system for the telescopic sights. The M1C could mount the M73, M81, M82 and M84 scopes using a Griffin & Howe mount affixed to the left side of the received, whereas the M1D could mount the M82 and M84 scopes in a Springfield Armory mount attached to the rear of the barrel (for proper identification use the following method: M1C has 2 mounting rings for the sight, M1D has only a single ring). Both served in WW2 and saw relatively limited service in the Korean and Vietnam Wars. The relative inaccuracy of the M1 as an early semiauto and difficulties with the production of the scoped variants made the sniper variants relatively rare.

At the end of WW2 there were some trials with a shortened M1 Garand carbine version called the T26 Tanker Garand in the Philippines. Although the weapon has never been officially adopted by the US Forces, there are commercial versions available on the market. After NATO's adoption of 7.62x51mm NATO, many M1s were converted to use the new ammo (either by a total rebarreling or less reliable barrel sleeve) and produced in the caliber to start.

The Garand is popular today, because of its design, effectiveness and historical presence. The rifle's legacy is significant enough that original spec M2 Ball (required to run the rifle reliably without modification) is still produced in significant numbers. General George S. Patton described the Garand as "the greatest battle implement ever devised".