M 1 Carbine reloading problem

[DLCTEX]

I bought some brass online for a friend to reload his M1 Carbine. It appears that almost all of the brass has been trimmed too short. I had loaded some of it (100)when we first got it and had to make some adjustments to make it work. This past week I started to load some more and ran into problems right off. I had read that this brass was bad about stretching and checked the cases. Most measure 1.270 to 1.273. Book is 1.290 max, trim to 1.286. About 35 are 1.275-6. I chose to try loading the short ones first. I cast the Lee 309-125 and they drop .311-2, so I sized .311 and lubed with Ben's Red, hoping to headspace on the bullet in the rifling.
I always log all loads and pertinent info, but never say always, I must not have on this one. I was sure the powder was H-110, but none of my reference books or those online gave any info on it. I began searching on Cast Boolits and after digging deep I found my own post that said 12 gr. H-110 worked well with that boolit. I loaded some and tried them with no rounds fired. I found the smallest hint of the firing pin striking the primer, so assumed they were going too deep. Further checking showed they wouldn't enter the chamber far enough, so that the bolt was not locking far enough to permit the pin to work. I'm glad it didn't fire out of battery.
I then seated the boolits deeper, leaving about 1/2 the front band showing and crimped firmly. Success! With an OAL of 1.555 the round headspaces on the front band and works a treat. Seems to shoot well, but I don't know how accurate this replica (Universal, I think) can be expected to be. The barrel is clean and shiny after about 100 rounds and we are having fun plinking with it.
Thanks to whomever posted that load originally, I think it's a winner. I forgot to say, 24 of the brass were pickups from a nearby range that I had assumed were once fired. They measured 1.275, is this normal?

[Le Loup Solitaire]

Glad that you solved the problem and that things are working out well for you. H-110 works well in the 30 Carb, but if you need an alternate powder go to use 12-14 grains of 4227. It'll fill the case and may need some compression, but it works very well and can duplicate GI ball ballistics. There are also a couple of other powders that will work well, but I found that 4227 did all that I needed it to do. Pardon the pun, but its worth a shot. LLS

[cbrick]

Your right, never say never. Brass length is part of my notes also, well most of the time but it seems not for the 30 Carbine, I just checked to answer your question. I also use 32-20 brass in my 30 carbine Ruger which is just bit shorter and brass length didn't matter. The 32-20 is rimmed and with my lots of brass has 5.1% more volume by water weight.

I've been using SR4759 in my Ruger 30 Carbine, started at 8.0 gr and had mediocre accuracy, 8.5 gr was an improvement and 9.0 gr shot pretty well. Standard primer. That's as far as I got with it when I packed up and moved half way across the country & bought the house, haven't gotten back to it but I'm waiting on a group buy from Miha for a slightly modified 311410. Should be soon and I'll play with that a bunch.

Rick

[DLCTEX]

Let us know how that 311-410 modified works for you. This little rifle is fun and inexpensive to shoot.

[runfiverun]

I think just about every maker has their own idea about case length and brass thickness.
it seems to work fine when new, then is all over the place after that.

I was getting a beat down on my 30 carbine revolver for a while and finally just went to using 32-20 brass to headspace off the rim.

[cbrick]

Rimmed brass in the revolver is why I went to 32-20 brass, so much less hassle.

I have an original Lyman BB 311410 HP'd by Lyman many years ago. The Lyman pin is very long at well over half the boolit length and it has a square tip. I sent this mold Erik @ Hollow Point Bullet Mold Service and had the BB removed and a second shorter pin made with a rounded tip. With mild loads this boolit is devastating on ground squirrels. I started this group buy and the modification with the Miha version is the addition of a front driving band where the original ogive tappers right to the crimp groove. Rick likes bearing surface. :mrgreen: The Miha mold also comes with three sets of Cramer style pins, the original Lyman length, a shorter pin both with a rounded tip and pins for casting a FP boolit. I have two 4 cav in .311" diameter ordered, one plain base and one GC for testing in the 308 etc. This group buy closed last Christmas and Miha posted the third week of January that this mold was on the machine, still we wait. [smilie=6:

Rick