rock into place like an AK? Dont all of the Garand style mags seat like an AR?
Hi whofarted;
The original Garand clip pushed straight down into a fixed magazine.
The T20E2 experimental (used modified M1918 BAR mags & was select fire) which was hoped to be ready for the invasion of Japan in 1946 used the same rocking style of magazine insertion as the M14 and the Mini 14.
Interestingly, the Mini 14 magazine is truly a miniature version of the M14 magazine, albeit with a curved rather than straight body. If you examine the pictures carefully, you can see the essentially identical magazine catches and magazine feed lip structures. Aside from size, the biggest change is in construction technique, with Mini 14 mags having a folded rear lug and M14 magazines having a welded on rear lug. Unfortunately I don't have any T20E2 magazines available for comparison.
For the US Rifle M14 to use a "straight insertion" magazine would have involved some sort of external structure, like the magazine tunnel at the front of an AR lower. This probably would have been regarded as adding to cost and weight of a rifle that was already over-cost and at the limits of its allowable weight. Moreover, the magazines of the US Rifle M14 were not regarded as disposable, unlike the late '50's conception of the Armalite magazine (ammo comes loaded in mags, use 'em once, hit the release, shove in a fresh box and don't bother to pick up the empty). The disposable "battle pack" concept comes up from time to time in new weapons designs and always has been dropped (early AUG, etc) by the time it hits the field.
Thus any mechanism such as the "rocking" motion latch that forces the soldier to retain his magazine is a plus. Note that the AK similarly used a rocking latch for exactly this reason (which is why AKM mags are so stout - you really are not supposed to toss 'em after one use). That was also the idea behind the "heel mounted" pistol magazine catch - it forces you to retain possession of the magazine rather than dumping it on the ground. European armies tended to favor this kind of thinking since they would rather lose an occasional soldier rather than pay for lost magazines*.
Hope I didn't put you to sleep!
All the best,
Grumpy
*PS If you think that style of thinking is too callous for a European army, consider that in WW2 the British paras were not issued reserve parachutes, as the cost of "wasted" parachutes was deemed to be more than the worth of the statistical few paratroopers whose lives they would save.