30-06 Garand w 5744 powder?

[eldorablerentals]

Hi
I am trying to get a good load for a lee 200gr boolit loaded onto a 30-06 springfield brass.
I am shooting a Garand and am getting wild spreads in my circles with it. So I am searching for good alternatives...

I recently bought 5744 powder so... I was wondering if any of you shoot a garand and use this powder. Anyone have a pet load for a 200gr boolit that is fired from a Garand?

Anyone with a favorite load for a 200gr lead boolit fired from a garand?

[zomby woof]

311299, 311284 33.0 Varget with Dacron.

Do a search, more info than you can read in a night.

[avogunner]

Like Zomby said....ton of info on this very subject. I use though a 311299 over IMR-4895. Start at 32 grains and work up to reliable cycling.

[Nobade]

Lee 200gr, 36gr. IMR4895 in mine. Shoots great and 100% function.

-Nobade

[eldorablerentals]

I have been unable to buy imr 4895 or h4895 locally. That is why I bought the 5744. Anyone have any experience with that? Any recommended loads?

[jonk]

You know, I've been thinking about this myself. I find the 5744 shoots quite well out of a lot of things with 180-220 gr bullets, and for me, seems to group best with loads in the 25 gr/200 gr bullet range. Which is actually quite a fair amount of powder. Not sure if that will cycle an M1 or not, but it's going to be close; well worth a try. Think I'll load some up msyelf and see, keep us up to date. I'd start around 18 gr and work up, accepting that 18 won't cycle the action; and go for most accurate.

To throw this into the mix, Accurate lists a single charge for a 200 gr cast lead 30-06 with 5744. This is a rather anemic 22 grains; officially I will tell you 'don't pass that!' but unofficially I can state that even in a smaller 7.65 Argentine case, 25 gr runs the bullet right around 1950 fps with no pressure signs so I think that if you work up for YOUR gun, 22 gr is pretty low yet.

Personally while 4895 charges of around 32 gr do do ok for me, they don't group as well as 2400 which does NOT cycle the action; if I could find something that split the difference, well, that would be the bees knees.

[Old Ranger]

I've tried 5744 in several different "mid-bore" military calibers including 3006 in an O3A3. I found the lighter loads left a lot of unburned powder in the bore and chamber. Some loads left enough in the chamber to actually put dints in the brass of the next round chambered.
The heavier loads tended to burn cleaner although some residue remained in the bore. Mike Venturino has written a couple articles in Handloader magazine on cast bullets in bolt action milsurp rifles and 5744 is the only powder he uses. I do have a Garand but have never shot cast through it.

[Outpost75]

4895, 4064, Varget, RL15 are all good powders for cast loads in the Garand. The minimum charge which cycles reliably with #311299 is in the area around 35-36 grs. Many people load a 1 grain tuft of Dacron filler over the powder. I have found that step unnecessary as long as I was using WLR or Federal 210M primers. Remington 9-1/2 works better using the filler. No experience with current CCI primers. Military M34 primers don't require a filler.

[BruceB]

5744 is a relatively fast-burning powder. The Garand's gas port is located right at the muzzle, and 5744 is unlikely to retain sufficient gas pressure at the gas port to operate the action.

5744 DOES operate the M1A rifle rather well, but its gas port is MUCH closer to the chamber.

I'd recommend that you follow the advice above, and use a medium-speed powder in that M1.

ENJOY!

[cast367]

Many, many kilo,s Accurate no.9 have I used in my bolt action Parker Hale .30-06.
16 grs and a Lee 200 grs GC cast bullit, gives a perfect load with very small groups for 100 meters.