New Garand

[dk17hmr]

Everyone knows mom and dad got me an M1 for Christmas. The orignial stock was aresenal repaired, not very well at that, so they also gave me a spare stock with the rifle so I could refinish it and make it a good looking rifle.

Sorry I never took a pic of it before refinishing, but this is after alot of sanding, scrubing, rubbing in mulitple coats of tru-oil, removing old blueing, degreasing, and rebluing muiltiple times to get a nice dark color. I am very happy with the finished product.
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f208/dk17hmr/Image005-1.jpg
The bayonet is dads.

Here is a pick of my 2 30-06's. M1 Garand and 1903 Springfield.
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f208/dk17hmr/Image003-2.jpg

The range report isnt a very good one so far because I have only shot GI ball ammo out of it and it isnt very accurate stuff, although the group I did fire from the bench all 8 rounds hit the 8x11 paper target I was shooting at. Next step is to make a good cast load for the it.

I need to know the best powder to making a 170-200gr cast bullet run in it. I have on hand Varget, IMR 4350, IMR 4198, IMR 4227, H335, Reloader 7, Unique, and other pistol powders.

Is there any secrets to shooting cast in a Garand with the gas system?

[Frank46]

Doug, you just might want to try imr 4759powder for some of your cast bullet reloads. Bulks up well in a lot of cases, kinda difficult in powder measures so I use a regular powder scale. Charges are easy to ignite using just about any standard rifle primer. Some of the old gun digests have articles written by C.E.Harris and 4759 is one powder mentioned. I use it in my Model 27 finnish reworked moisin nagant and has given me very good accuracy. The bullet I use Is lyman's 314299 which weighs in at about 200-210 grains. Hope this helps. Frank

[garandsrus]

Doug,

A Garand should be capable of 100 yd groups much better than 8" with ball ammo, expecially the Greek ball ammo. If you don't get a good group with ball ammo I don't think you will be able to get a good group with cast loads as something other than the ammo is the problem.

Was the bayonette on the rifle when you shot the groups? I personally have never shot a Garand with a bayonette attached, but I can't imagine that it would help the accuracy any!

Did you shoot the group with the replacement stock? If you did, I would suggest that you try the old stock to see if it shoots any differently. The stock to rifle fit is critical on a Garand since the op rod moves as the gun is fired. The most common problem is that the op rod is touching the stock somewhere along it's path. One way to check for the stock touching the wood is to shoot some more ball ammo and then remove the stock and front handguard and look for "shiny" spots which would indicate that the op rod is rubbing on the stock.

Also, make sure that the gas cylinder is tight.

The CMP (http://www.civilianmarksmanship.com/) web sight has some good articles on the Garand and how to lube it.

There is also an excellent book called "Precision Shooting with The M1 Garand" by Roy Baumgardner that walks you through several accurizing steps. Keep in mind that some of his techniques will render the rifle illegal for John C Garand matches so you may want to selectively apply them.

The trigger is a two stage. Does the second stage break cleanly with minimal creep?

In the picture it doesn't look like there is any grease in the op rod channel. Did you re-grease the rifle when you re-assembled it? There are several spots that should hold grease.

John

[Ricochet]

Very nice looking rifles!

[dk17hmr]

I havent shot it with the new stock yet and it raining today so it will have to wait.

The old stock may very well have been the inaccuracy problem, it wasnt very tight. When remounting the rifle into the new stock it seemed to be very tight.

Bayonet was just for the photo, never have shot either rifle with a bayonet on it, didnt want risk hurting my bayonets. The one on my 1903 is an original and I have seen them go for $200 plus on ebay.

[garandsrus]

Doug,

You do need a tight fitting trigger guard to hold everything together and get good accuracy!

John

[Scrounger]

Doug, here is a good website with several do-it-yourself accurizing instructions, including glass bedding. About 25 years ago I was working part time in a friend's gunshop. I watched him bed some rifles and decided I wanted him to do a Rem 700 for me. His price (late 70s) was $80. After the gun set there a year (not just mine, all his customers. He preferred to sleep all day instead of work) I took it home and did it myself. I've done dozens of all kinds since then. Yeah, I had some booboos, but nothing I couldn't correct. (Either heat or cold, enough of it, will cause fiberglass to release its hold on metal) Use plenty of release agent, now I use Johnson's Paste Wax or cooking spray. Tape over things you don't want the glass to run into but keep in mind that a perfect union between the stock and metal is what you're trying to achieve. I'm not claiming to be an expert but I have been satisfied with my efforts and I figure I've save $2000 or $3000 doing it myself.

http://www.snipercountry.com/Articles/AccurizingM1Garand_I.asp

http://www.garanddata.com/owbase/default.asp?p=FrontPage

http://smartflix.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=113_122&zenid=a7aebee67320e51be67f7ebe6aad5a44

http://smartflix.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=2912

[shooterman]

when i got my garand from dcm years back, i was never impressed with the accuracy with any load. a few years ago while at a military silhouette match, i was told that the garand couldn't compete with the swedes. BS i thought. i narrowed the front sight for better sight picture and then noticed that the crown didn't look clean. after recrowning, the rifle put 5 shots into 4/10 inch at 100 with the military peeps.

as for my cast loads, i cheat and remove the gas plug and fire it with a SLED. don't forget to tighten the front sight though.

[Scrounger]

when i got my garand from dcm years back, i was never impressed with the accuracy with any load. a few years ago while at a military silhouette match, i was told that the garand couldn't compete with the swedes. BS i thought. i narrowed the front sight for better sight picture and then noticed that the crown didn't look clean. after recrowning, the rifle put 5 shots into 4/10 inch at 100 with the military peeps.

as for my cast loads, i cheat and remove the gas plug and fire it with a SLED. don't forget to tighten the front sight though.


Doug probably doesn't know that SLED is an acronym for Single Load Enbloc Device, in other words a Garand clip modified to hold one round. I am surprised that CarpetMan wasb't all over that. Guess he's still feeding his cats this morning.

[dk17hmr]

Good News!!!

It was the stock causing the bad groups, I went out yesterday with some more of that Greek ammo and the rifle sitting in the new stock, after some sight tweeking had all 8 rounds in a 4" bullseye of the bench.

THERE IS HOPE FOR CAST BULLETS!!!!

[Hunter]

Do not use IMR 4350 or slower on a M1 Garand. That slow a powder can bend the operating rod. IMR 4895 is an excellent powder for the 168gr Sierra Matchking. I would not go much heaver than that round and keep it under a 180gr from what I have heard.
My father shoots the 168gr Sierra Matchking using IMR 4895 through his Garand with excellent 100 yard groups.

[dk17hmr]

My dad told me not to use IMR 4350 in it but he couldnt remember why, only reading it on the net somewhere, guess he was right about it then...lol