Garand Manual of Arms.

I found a new wiki, thanks to Hell in a Handbasket.

Wiki-Weapon!

It has messy code, throwing errors all over the place with some browsers. It's search function not very robust. For example, it can't find m14, but can find M14 Rifle. So the site needs some seasoning. Hopefully it's just having teething troubles.

I have high hopes.

I did notice THIS quote for the first time under its, and Wikipedia's, M1 Garand rifle entry:

In battle, the manual of arms called for the rifle to be fired until empty, and then recharged quickly. Due to the well-developed logistical system of the U.S. military at the time, this wastage of ammunition was generally not critical, though this could change in the case of units that came under intense fire or were flanked or surrounded by enemy forces.

Hmmm. Spray and pray with a Garand. I guess that's the start of it. I can see the advantages. You don't want to be caught with only one left in the clip if a human wave attack comes at you. And if EVERYONE in the squad is reloading after firing that one... Things could get bad. In WWII you certainly had a greater volume of fire against the opposition with their bolt-action rifles, so 8 rounds in a quick succession would keep the enemy's head down while another squad or fire team advances or artillery is called in on the bad guys. Shoot and manuever. Or hold and paste.

That philosophy would go forward as small units started getting armed with 20-30 round magazines and full auto capability for the ordinary riflemen.

Hollywood would also pick up on it. And full auto is more visually impressive for the movies.

Then individual gunnies would notice the flaws. The tactic falls apart if you don't think about it. The tactic was designed for small unit set piece battles like we saw in WWI and WWII. It's a reaction to the most successful tactic for small unit action for a citizen soldier force. More elite soldiers would be all sneaky and stuff, with shooting to hit, as well as shooting to suppress. Ideally you want your army's riflemen to be as elite as possible so they can use either tactic effectively depending on the circumstances. It's just that shooting and hitting is more difficult to accomplish. The skill is harder to attain.

But when you are all alone at your vacation home in the boonies and the zombies are coming, or a biker gang infected with rabies, or a drug cartel home-invasion, spray and pray won't serve you so well. You have no squad and no mortars to back you up. You have to hit. And not BE hit. Hopefully the bad guys are spray and pray types and will miss a lot.