Editing M1 Garand (section)

===Gas system===
[[File:Garandpatents.gif|thumb|Two of Garand's patents, showing the original gas trap design and revised gas port system]]

Garand's original design for the M1 used a complicated gas system involving a special muzzle extension gas trap, later dropped in mid-1940 in favor of a simpler drilled gas port. Because most of the older rifles were retrofitted, pre-1940 ''gas-trap'' M1s are very rare today and are prized collector's items.<ref name="Popenker"/> In both systems, expanding gases from a fired cartridge are diverted into the gas cylinder. Here, the gases meet a long-stroke piston attached to the operating rod, which is pushed rearward by the force of this high-pressure gas. Then, the operating rod engages a [[rotating bolt]] inside the [[Receiver (firearms)|receiver]]. The bolt is locked into the receiver via two locking lugs, which rotate, unlock, and initiate the ejection of the spent cartridge and the reloading cycle when the rifle is discharged. The operating rod (and subsequently the bolt) then returns to its original position.

The M1 Garand was one of the first self-loading rifles to use stainless steel for its gas tube, in an effort to prevent corrosion.{{Citation needed|date=January 2023}} As the stainless metal could not be [[Parkerizing|parkerized]], the gas tubes were given a stove-blackening that frequently wore off in use. Unless the gas tube could be quickly repainted, the resultant gleaming muzzle could make the M1 Garand and its user more visible to the enemy in combat.<ref name="George"/>