by Leroy Thompson. Softbound, 80 pages, 7" x 9". In 1936, the pioneering semi-automatic M1 Grand rifle was adopted by the US Army. It had taken 15 years of development and trials, but armed with the Grand, the US infantryman could now shoot faster and hit harder than the enemy armed with bolt action rifles. This semi-automatic rifle saw two decades of front line service. This is a concisely detailed history of the weapon that George S. Patton called "the greatest battle implement ever devised." Illustrated throughout.