Well, for the fist time in a long time, something happened today that hasn't happened in years: A drastically-new shooting experience for me.
Went to the range today with a buddy, and when most everyone else had left the range at one point, he sheepishly asked if we could shoot something "unusual." Now, when this guy says that, you gotta keep an open mind, because, although it usually falls into a military area, it can be virtually anything...
Well, he had his M1 Carbine laying there, and he pulled out a grenade launcher attachment, three blue (practice) rifle grenades, and a box of crimped-mouth blanks (actually grenade-launching cartridges - it's wrong to think of these as blanks per se).
So, this is something I'd never done before, and before I could say, "I don't think it's a good idea," my grin overcame my brain, and I found I couldn't even speak. All I could do was grin and slowly nod my head affirmatively.
Being the obsessive military history nut, I needed very little instruction. We took a knee, installed a grenade on the launcher, and began to install a grenade-launching cartridge, but upon noting the gravel-rockyness of the ground, a short delay ensued while my buddy grabbed some padding to protect the buttplate. (I almost didn't wait for him. )
Inserted cartridge, put butt on the padd, held rifle at 45-degree angle, and ka-boom, and watched the most beautiful seemingly-slow-motion arch of the grenade down-range to the 100m pits...
So, after I get done laughing nearly uncontrollably, we get to talking (excitedly, naturally) about this, as I already have the sight, practice grenade, and launcher, for the '03 Springfield, but had never thought of actually using them - just saw them as an interesting non-shooting display item. Now, I'm thinking of duplicating the WWII set-up of assembling everything on an 03-A3, and I found load data for 30-06 star-crimped grenade cartridges with commercially-available powder (IMR-4895 in fact) and standard (not long-neck) cases, so I'm set.
Then, my buddy informs me that the grenade cartridges are drying up fast and cost about $75 per 50. (DOH!) What I'm hoping to do is help my buddy with 30-carbine caliber grenade cartridges. Again, I can use my star crimper to close the mouth, but I'm looking for load data. Apparently, the 30 Carbine has such a small capacity that the military loads these cartidges with a mixture of black powder and a non-cannister smokeless powder. Even then, the Carbine struggles to get the heavy modern-day practice grenades to 100 yards (probably a good thing all things considered... )
So, for a caliber-30 M1 Carbine, M6 Grenade Cartridge, I'm wondering what I can do for a powder charge. Primer, dies, extra-long cases (saved his, they're boxer-primed), and star-cimper for the mouth are all in hand, but the only data I've been able to find shows the military loaded these cartridges with 21gr of powder, and it's a mixture of black powder and IMR4809 (new powder to me - I'd never heard of this even on the surplus market) and the data mentions no clue as to proportion of smokeless to black.
Any ideas?
(Edit to add: Just an apology to the Admin/Mods, but I couldn't think of a "shooting section" this would fit in!! )