M1 and it's ping

[locosway]

After seeing much debate about the "ping" noise the M1 makes when ejecting it's clip I thought I would post this with a recent experience I had.

I was at Burro Canyon walking towards my vehicle when I heard it. "Ping!"... It was very loud and distinct among the gunfire. I also had ear plugs and over ear protection on. I looked towards the direction of the sound and there was a man some 30 feet from me shooting his M1 Garand,

So, for those of you who think you can't hear the clip being ejected amid gunfire or from a distance, you're wrong. I heard it clear as day.

[C.W.M.V.]

No one who's ever shot a garand could think otherwise. For that matter who was questioning it?

[jshoebot]

No one who's ever shot a garand could think otherwise. For that matter who was questioning it?

I've seen in a few past threads, people saying "There's no way an enemy solider could hear the ping! Gunshots would drown out the noise you n00b!!!"

And as you said, it's normally those who have never fired a Garand.

[Latigo]

If you get the chance to watch the Mythbusters in-depth experiment on it, do it.

[NotEnufGarage]

I remember hearing it in a couple of scenes from "Saving Private Ryan".

[lgm118icbm]

The ping is the best part!

[Turbinator]

The "ping" was prominently featured in Top Shot during the M1 Garand shootoff, although I am not sure if they intended it to come across so clearly, or not.

Turby

[DaveInOroValley]

"Ah I see you have one those machines that go ping"

[SgtDinosaur]

I seem to recall hearing of the trick of tossing an empty clip on the rocks to get a ping, while maintaining a fully loaded weapon. Woe to the enemy who falls for that one.

[rojocorsa]

:deadhorse:

[Spiggy]

supposedly, it's been known for US soldiers to shoe-lace a set of clips and bang them around to make the ping noise. Then wait for heads to pop up during return fire.

I know this is the case in reenacting.

[tpuig]

My dad said that on Iwo Jima there would be an increase in fire after the ping, because the Japanese would hear it and know you're reloading. But then again, he said there really weren't many times when there wasn't a sh-load of bullets flying...

[Josh3239]

Firstly, I own a Garand.

Secondly, in WW2 battles firefights could be from quite a distance, to city block to city block, room to room. You guys really think you could here an audible ping over the sound of your platoon shooting, your platoon yelling, and quite possibly the sound of friendly non-small arms fire like artillery, air support, or tank cannons? And of course we cannot forget the enemy who could have been as far as several hundred yards whom are yelling, shooting, and quite possibly be dropping non-small arms fire on you like artillery, air support, or tank cannons. And if it is nighttime, do doubt there will be illumination rounds going off. You guys really believe that distance between you and the enemy, 100's of men shooting and yelling from both sides of the lines, tanks, artillery, and aircraft won't drown out a ping? Really? Really? Not to mention that Garands are not sychronized swimmers,, they don't all empty at the same time. The enemy charge when they hear one or two pings? Ah sure, and what about the rest of the platoon toting fully loaded BARs, Garands, Carbines, Thompsons, 1919s and possibly flamethrowers?

Walking a firing line of what 30 shooters who are shooting semiauto rifles and not doing much talking isn't really anything the sound of a typical WW2 battle. Maybe double or triple (possibly a lot more for a large battle) the amount of shooters, turn a few of them into machine guns. Double what you have and put them on the other side and add in some aircraft fire, tank fire, artillery fire, and maybe we'll be onto something.

[locosway]

Firstly, I own a Garand.

Secondly, in WW2 battles firefights could be from quite a distance, to city block to city block, room to room. You guys really think you could here an audible ping over the sound of your platoon shooting, your platoon yelling, and quite possibly the sound of friendly non-small arms fire like artillery, air support, or tank cannons? And of course we cannot forget the enemy who could have been as far as several hundred yards whom are yelling, shooting, and quite possibly be dropping non-small arms fire on you like artillery, air support, or tank cannons. And if it is nighttime, do doubt there will be illumination rounds going off.

You guys really believe that distance between you and the enemy, 100's of men shooting and yelling from both sides of the lines, tanks, artillery, and aircraft won't drown out a ping? Really? Really?

Not to mention that Garands are not sychronized swimmers,, they don't all empty at the same time. The enemy charge when they hear one or two pings? Ah sure, and what about the rest of the platoon toting fully loaded BARs, Garands, Carbines, Thompsons, 1919s and possibly flamethrowers?

Japanese bayonet charges did happen early in the war but that had nothing to do with "pings". That stuff was in common practice with the Japanese army for a long long time. They got mowed down do it quite a bit and quickly Japanese high command ordered stop to it.

While fighting at distance did happen, so did up close fighting. The Japanese had many caves build into a lot of islands. Not all of the fighting was done at distance.

As for if the sound of the "ping" was audible while fighting, I have no idea... I only know what I've seen and heard for myself. What I can do is ask my grandpa what he heard while fighting on Okinawa with his M1.

[IntoForever]

I remember hearing it in a couple of scenes from "Saving Private Ryan".

This was also the movie where the FNG was running around with belted ammo which clearly had the primers removed.