Musings on the #4 and Garand
I spent several hours loading some BobS-type .30-06 loads for the Garand yesterday....and then went right out and fired them, plus a few dozen I loaded for the .303 as well. I say BobS "type" because I used different bullet designs where he used 311284. Also, instead of the old H4831 I tried earlier, I loaded 39.0 grains of IMR 4831 plus a small tuft of dacron. The bullets were 311291 and 311413, the first being a roundnose which works fine in my M1, and the second a spitzer design. Both are around 170 grains, and hence a good bit lighter than Bob's 284s. Over the course of eighty rounds, I had perfect function except for a single 311291 round which the bolt failed to pick up from the clip. The cycling was rather "soft" at this level, and I can easily increase the charge to speed up the bolt travel a tad.
I ended the M1 session with a couple of groups with some leftover REAL BobS loads, using 311284 and 42.0 of old H4831. They shot a bit better than the 291 and 314 loads, and also functioned the rifle with a lot more snap.
Boolits were water-dropped WW sized .311" with Felix lube.
Since I was purposely running both charges AND bullets lighter than Bob's original load, I was tickled to get such good function. I was looking for a lower-edge starting point, and I found it.
Shooting from the bench at 50 yards, the rifle and loads were definitely showing signs of promise. On NRA pistol 50-yard centers, I often had several rounds in the 1.19" x-ring, and on one 8-round string there were six 314s in that little circle.
I like the concept, using the slow-burning powder (NOT FOR JACKETED LOADS IN THE GARAND) and adjusting the charge to get the needed pressure at the gasport.
The rifle is showing a VERY pronounced first-round-flyer syndrome with these loads. Remember, these are compressed loads, so powder positioning is NOT an issue. However, on numerous occasions the first round would impact three or four inches low, and the second and subsequent rounds would strike right in the x-ring area. Something about the bolt lockup when chambering the first round is affecting the impact point....drastically!
Firing over one hundred rounds left the bore gleamingly-brilliant. No leading of any kind was visible, and only one or two granules of 4831 were left in the barrel on inspection.
With the .303 #4, I tried the same 39.0 charge of IMR 4831 with the Lee Bator 316-220. It too showed some promise, but tended to string vertically from 50 yards. This rifle has a Parker-Hale match sight with iris aperture, but my eyes were giving me fits and some of the stringing is most likely due to my inability to resolve the top of the post. I had some similar difficulty with the M1, but not quite as badly. Maybe eye fatigue was having its effect by the time I got to the .303.
A series in the #4 with the same 316-220 bullet and Re-7 powder (20-24 grains in 1-grain increments) and dacron fill yielded enough accuracy to warrant further work. On an earlier occasion, simply adding dacron to the load of Re-7 with this bullet reduced the 50-yard group from FOUR INCHES to 1.25"....everything was precisely identical except for the dacron tuft!
I'm awaiting a Merit iris aperture from Brownell's, which will be installed in the Garand's rear sight by just drilling and tapping the existing aperture. Hole size is #11 wire, and thread is 7/32 x 40, and returning the rifle to "stock" condition only requires replacement of the moveable sight element. The new M-14 will get the same mod when it arrives (which now looks like late August...woe is me!)
I've owned scores of military rifles over many years, occasionally having over 100 different examples on-hand at one time, and I extensively fired every one of them, from Sniders to Armalites. Out of all those many types, the Garand and the #4 Mk2, along with two others, are my "pick of the litter". The others are the FN-FAL and the M-14. Once the M-14 arrives, all that I need is the FAL...and a DSA-built example will be the next priority. Four great rifles, each in perfect condition, will constitute my "military collection"...plus the SKS, of course.
I do like military rifles.
Let's slow down here a bit boys!
Dang, I was excited, but I dint think my English was that muddled. My kin/kid was the referred to "her," an my "namesake" is a him just graced with a middle name of Jethrow. He may also be an archangel,cause they gave him the first name of "Gabriel" along with my moniker as a middle. Ah, what things we do to the innocent!
Just to keep you up to date with my personal life carpetman, my youngest daughter married the son of a crazy retired Texas neurosurgeon, who likes to take the family out bushwhacking them little Texas jackrabbit deer from blinds every year on a neighbor's ranch. So, it looks like I'll be visiting Texas after all. The boy, my son-in-law, inherited a fine old 1940 vintage Model 70 from his granddad, needing a buttplate. So I brought em both a present at the hospital today---flowers for my daughter and a Winchester buttplate for him.
And jump, I'm almost as excited about that dang Sako/SK.Y 28-30 Finn(1938 vintage) I found last week. It should be good company for that M39 you put me on to a couple years ago.
If it goes anywhere, it goes to you!
Jumptrap,
First off, congrats to you. Hope you don't worry it too much; I know I did. Too much free time I guess. Anyhow, it went pretty well up until the delivery, which was a 14 hour plus marathon, and unfortunately it turns out, for the most banal of reasons. Doctor urged "inducing labor" even though there was no good medical reason; turned out to be a scheduling thing. The hospital delivers the majority of newborns in the Tucson area, and they needed the space. God, how I despise bureacracies and those who serve them.
By the way, that was a dandy idea of yours about buying Jethrow Jr. a rifle and presenting it to him on a distant birthday. Thankfully, Arizona Game and Fish has all sorts of incentives, special seasons, etc. for junior hunters, and they can hunt big game when are 12 if they have gone through the hunter safety course. Not so sure I'll make it til the boy's 18th. Think I'll go ahead and get it. Thanks.
I'm just starting to horse around with the K-31, and wont even pick up that 28-30 til next week. Unlike ole Buckshot, I still show some restraint now and then. Well, I thought it was a "steal", especially from a shop. They always have 4-6 old Mosins, but it's virtually always just Russian firewood. This one also was tagged Russian Mosin, and priced under a hun like the rest. Course, it's about as far removed from a run of the mill Rusky as you can get in the world of Mosin. If it ever leaves my hands, it will go to you, either for what I paid for it, or in trade for that M39 as you suggest. jethrow
one light has dimmed and another come on!
Let's just say it's a crazy world, c-man. even when you make a point of staying away from the left coast.
No town, the old coot has a few hectares a ways north of San Angelo. According to the boy, he just blasts Purple Martins, or was it English Sparrows, most of the year. It's amazing to me how most medical doctors are such butchers in their free time as well as at work! jethrow
So many guns, so little time!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Buckshot
.............I enjoyed reading your report very much. I have not shot my Garand much at all in the past 5-6 years and the last time was because the neighbor kid is all whacked out about Garands, so I took him to the range. Many years ago Midway had Remington 165gr C-L on sale so I bought 500 of them and using WC852, put them all into PMC brass. I remember Donna coming into the utility room as I was working the Dillon, and wanted to know if there was a riot or revolution going on somewhere :-). That 500 rounds of 30-06 was sure a pretty sight!
A bit before, this was mid 90's or so, Garands in 'shooter' condition were going for less then $300. On the weekends every other mother love'in guy coming to the range had their Garand, and 3-10 boxes of PMC ammo they'd picked up at Turners Sporting Goods. Good ole Ken the rangemaster was giving it to me by the wheelbarrow load until I begged him to stop. It was drifted up like snow against the benches.
I hate to say that I should get the thing out and excersize it some with cast, as I have way to many other rifles that fit that condition. At one time I decided that I would start with one rifle and continue with it until I had it figured out. Then I'd go to the next. That lasted for maybe a week, or it might have been less time then that.
The 1917 Enfield is a prime example. It's had the 50 rounds shot through it that I'd loaded for Winnemucca and I haven't seen it since. And that was the sum total of it's shooting, and the load was what I used for my Springfield. That garage sporter Springfield I put together is exactly the same. Fifty rounds of cast through it and it's been in the closet ever since.
What I need is a government grant or something so I can get all these rifle loose ends tied up :D
................Buckshot
I'm not looking forward t my retirement at all, I'm gonna be so busy, casting all those boolits, working out all of those loads and traipsing back and forward to the range and through the hills getting meat. Dang, I got so much stuff lined up I'm gonna be like a one armed bricklayer in Baghdad.
Mick, :)