I was talking with some one the other day who should be some what of an authority on small arms the other day and he said somthing interesting. he said that the m1 garand was around during wwI. don't get me wrong I personally don't believe him for a minute, but I am foulable, so when was it invented?

I believe it was developed in 1930 and came into service in 1932. Or maybe it was developed in 1932, I may be wrong. But it was around then.

I don't believe it was invented as much as created.  After all, you wouldn't ask the question, "did God invent man?"  No, you'd say "did God create man."z

Guns & Ammo says (may,2001) "adopted into service in 1936 after a rather torturous birthing process."  designer is John C. Garand.

The M1 was officially adopted on January 9, 1936.  As to when the rifle entered development, that's debatable.  John Garand was transfered to Springfield Armory in 1919, and began designing rifles.  Many were devloped, including the 'Semi-Automatic Rifle, .30, T1E2,' which was redesignated 'Semi-Automatic Rifle, .30, M1' in mid-1933.  If you want more info on this, you can run a search on the web.  There's quite a bit of info on this subject.

Randy