Garand's Competition: The Pedersen GX Rifle

When the U.S. began the search for a semi-automatic service rifle in the 1920s, Remington designer John Pedersen was an instant front-runner. With several successful Remington designs under his belt, the government gave Pedersen an office, budget, and salary to develop the new rifle.

Of course the Garand designed T1E1 would be adopted as the M1 rifle in 1936, but Pedersen never stopped working on his design. In an attempt to capitalize on problems with early M1 Garands, Pedersen designed his GX and GY rifles in 1939. Using elements of the already adopted M1 Garand, Pedersen made several improvements and elements of his own design in attempt to court favor with the Ordnance Department.

Finally tested at Springfield in 1943, these designs were also not accepted, and today remain supremely rare and fascinating glimpses into Pedersen's final Hail Mary attempt to beat the M1 Garand.