First cast bullets for Garand

[sirgknight]

These bullets were cast from a borrowed mold. I resized them to .309 before slugging my barrel. Even though these did fairly well, the slugging indicated that I could size the bullets to .311. I'm already planning a casting session to stockpile some of the .311's. I really wasn't certain about whether I should use filler or not so I loaded eight rounds with and eight rounds without. As for the rounds without the filler I bottomed out the rear sight and made an adjustment on rounds 1 thru 5. Rounds 6,7 and eight were fired after the 5th adjustment. I then loaded the eight round clip with the rounds that had filler and didn't change the sight adjustment. I can't explain why, but the first two rounds seemed to be flyers, but I made one windage adjustment (2 clicks) and fired the remaining six rounds without any additional adjustments. All rounds fired at a 25 yard target. I might note that it took me some 60 rounds to finally get to the 36 grains of powder. I started out at 28 grains. My Garand started cycling at 33 grains but would miss 2 or 3 rounds in each clip. At 34 grains it would occasionally miss one cartridge in each clip. At 35 grains it only had one "hiccup". At 36 grains it worked flawlessly. This is still a work in progress......by the way, there was absolutely no leading in the barrel at all. I was very pleased to see a bright shiny barrel.


http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h241/sirgknight/DSCI0015.jpg

http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h241/sirgknight/DSCI0014.jpg

[sqlbullet]

Looks like you have a winner. I run 200 grain Lee bullets with gas check. 32 grains of Varget has been my load, although a friend recently reported that his Garands really like 36 grains, so I am going to try that load.

I use generic poly-fill for filler.

[Nobade]

Yep, the 200gr. Lee and 36gr. IMR4895 works well in mine. No filler though.

[badbob454]

These bullets were cast from a borrowed mold. I resized them to .309 before slugging my barrel. Even though these did fairly well, the slugging indicated that I could size the bullets to .311. I'm already planning a casting session to stockpile some of the .311's. I really wasn't certain about whether I should use filler or not so I loaded eight rounds with and eight rounds without. As for the rounds without the filler I bottomed out the rear sight and made an adjustment on rounds 1 thru 5. Rounds 6,7 and eight were fired after the 5th adjustment. I then loaded the eight round clip with the rounds that had filler and didn't change the sight adjustment. I can't explain why, but the first two rounds seemed to be flyers, but I made one windage adjustment (2 clicks) and fired the remaining six rounds without any additional adjustments. All rounds fired at a 25 yard target. I might note that it took me some 60 rounds to finally get to the 36 grains of powder. I started out at 28 grains. My Garand started cycling at 33 grains but would miss 2 or 3 rounds in each clip. At 34 grains it would occasionally miss one cartridge in each clip. At 35 grains it only had one "hiccup". At 36 grains it worked flawlessly. This is still a work in progress......by the way, there was absolutely no leading in the barrel at all. I was very pleased to see a bright shiny barrel.


http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h241/sirgknight/DSCI0015.jpg

http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h241/sirgknight/DSCI0014.jpg

36 grains of imr4895 , and is this a 308 or a 30-06 garand ?

[sirgknight]

Springfield 30.06

[Baja_Traveler]

I use the same 34gr of IMR4895 under a Lyman 311299 in my -06 Garand

Works awesome, I use it in the military rifle silhouette match and it knocks down the Rams with authority.

[zomby woof]

My go to loads for the M1 are;

311299 41.5 IMR 4831 with filler

311284 33.0 Varget with filler

[1Shirt]

Way back had excellent luck with 311284 sized .311 over 4895. Don't recall the charge. Do remember that it was just enough to insure that the action functioned.
1Shirt!:coffeecom

[cabezaverde]

My go to loads for the M1 are;

311299 41.5 IMR 4831 with filler

311284 33.0 Varget with filler

Oh boy, now you did it. Soon will start the posts about not using 4831 in a Garand - even though it is perfectly safe with cast.

[skeet1]

I also use 36gr. of 4895 and the Lee 312-185 sized .311. I also went through a series of loads starting around 28gr. untill I got to 36gr. and good cycling of the action.

Ken

[frkelly74]

I had pretty much the same experience. I was impressed with how the filler ended the tendency for vertical stringing. I used Accurate 2520 and will use Accurate 2495 next time I get the urge to try something. I am using the Lee 312 155 boolit sized 311