reloading for the garand

[rl69]

i purchased a Lyman 311410 for my M1 carbine and was wanting to load some 06. but Lyman's 4th edition doesn't give loads for that mold in powders suitable for the garand .

i was looking at different loads in Lyman's new book and they seam to give a lot of rifle loads using pistol powders for ex 10gr of 700x for 115gr 30/06 but no where dose it say to fill the case up with something that doesn't seam right to me ???

[GrizzLeeBear]

Click on the search button and type in "garand", you will get TONS of info. on loading cast in the Garand.

You can load light loads with the pistol powders in the 30-06 with a couple caveats. With the plain base mold, you will need to stay around 1100 - 1200 fps to prevent leading. Also, light loads with fast powders will not cycle the Garand, especially with light boolits.
To get the Garand to cycle with cast boolits you will need to use 150 - 200 gr. boolits with medium - slow powders and get the velocity up around 1800+ fps. Again, use the search function and you will find of wealth of info. from those that have figured all this out.

[zomby woof]

My current match load for my M1 is;
41.5 grains IMR 4831
Lyman 311299 sized to .310
.4-.5 grains Dacron
CCI 200

[frkelly74]

I see some data for the 311410 bullet in my Lyman 44th ED. IMR 3031... 29 gr start for velocity of 1900 fps +-. Might possibly make her run. Max is 38 Gr and listed velocity is 2347 FPS. also IMR 4064... Start 32 gr for 1865 fps and max is listed at 41 gr for 2277 fps. I might reduce the start loads 4 gr and see what happens. You will need a good tight bullet fit and a hard alloy good lube and maybe a little filler.

I am using a lee 160 gr 312 bullet with a gas check sized 311 over 32 gr of accurate 2520 with a dacron filler in my Mutt 1 and it seems to be a lot of fun. almost 100% functioning and seems easy on the gun and shooter. without the filler I got unreliable function and vertical strings.



Check and verify all data. Use at your own risk. Have fun.

[frkelly74]

I wanted to bump this to see if there are other comments.

[sqlbullet]

If I had a 311410 as my only 30 mold and didn't want to buy another, I would paper patch and treat it like a jacketed bullet and see what I got.

I have had good luck and accuracy with the following loads in my M1 Garands. Both are Winchester actions from '43 with mid '50's SA barrels.

Lee 200 gr cast from 96/3/1 isotope lead, water dropped, gas checked with Hornady checks, sized .310 and lubed with felix lube + 2 blue crayons. Seat to crimp groove and crimp strong with Lee Factory Crimp Die.

42 grains H4831 + .75 gr polyfill

32 grains Varget + .75 gr polyfill

36 grains RE15 + .75 gr polyfill

I have some WC846 I got cheap to try next. So far, Varget was the most accurate of the loads I have tried.

I received a 160 grain lee mold for Christmas, which I will use for paper patch and see how close I can get to mil-spec velocities.

[rl69]

thanks for the help but after doing some more reading i have decided to hold off on loading for the garand i believe 110gr is to light a bullet .

are yall using a adjustable gas plug?
some of thees loads 42gr 4831
41.5gr 4831 seam like full charges but yet yall are still using polyfill are you having better luck with compressed loads?will i have the same results with jacketed bullets?right now my favorite load is 4505gr 4064 pushing 165gr Barnes bullet

[chris in va]

I just decided to get some pulled surplus FMJ off the 'net and call it good rather than deal with casting for it.

[sqlbullet]

are yall using a adjustable gas plug?
some of thees loads 42gr 4831
41.5gr 4831 seam like full charges but yet yall are still using polyfill are you having better luck with compressed loads?

I have a schuster plug, but don't have it installed. 42 grains of H4831 is actually a light load in 30-06 with a 200 gr. I don't have a load book in front of me, but IIRC 52 grains is near max. The Polyfill is not to compress the charge, just to keep the powder in position for more reliable, uniform ignition. This is actually a very soft shooting load and it develops a very op-rod friendly port pressure.

[zomby woof]

are yall using a adjustable gas plug?
some of thees loads 42gr 4831
41.5gr 4831 seam like full charges but yet yall are still using polyfill are you having better luck with compressed loads?

No adj plug.

Like said above with Poly, just to hold the powder in place. Not a compressed load.

This load is soooo smooth, it is a real pleasure to shoot. About 1900 fps, extremely accurate.