M1 garand in .308

[Bad Karma]

I was on a camping trip and brought a bunch of ammo I loaded for it. The ammo was Lee309-180. They were cast out of wheel weights. Loaded with 37.0gr IMR 3031. Cycled just fine, no leading but group size was a bit large. The alloy was Lynotype. The bullets weighed in at 173gr with a gas check. I lubed them with 50/50 alox beeswax.
My question is this. What is a good load with decent velocity (1800-2200 f/s) that shoots fairly accurately. I load cast boolits exclusively in my pistols but new to rifles. I am having issues with my Lee 309-200 as the shank is too wide on the bore ride.
I also have a RCBS 30-180 but those boolits need to be seated very deep. What loads have you used that seems to work? How does H110 do? I'd like the rifle to cycle but not push the boolits to their limits.

:Fire:

[KCSO]

A Garand in 308 is like Pam Anderson in 32 A.

[Bad Karma]

It's a Fulton Armory Peerless. It shoots better than any M1A I've owned by far. It's also easier to get ammo for too.

[mto7464]

.308 Garands are very common now days and shoot better then the 3006. What velocity are you getting with that load? I would try reducing the loads to where you just get the action to cycle and then work your way up .5 grains a load and check for accuracy. If that doesn't work change boolits or powder or both.

I just did a search and found a link. Has some good info.
http://hgmould.gunloads.com/casting/m1garandcast.htm

[NuJudge]

Garands in .308 have consistently shot much better than .30-'06.

I've shot both extensively with jacketed bullets, but not at all with cast.

CDD

[AlaskaMike]

I would skip H110. It basically needs a case-full to burn properly, and a case-full will destroy your Garand.

BruceB has posted some great stuff on just exactly what you're trying to do. Check out the "sticky" threads here, and maybe do some searches on Garand and M1A.

Basically, he found that slower powders like 4350 and 4831 under a heavy cast bullet worked best. You also might try 4895, but it's so close to 3031 that you might just skip it and try the slower powders.

Mike

[Bad Karma]

Yeah, I got several pounds of each. As of right now I think that the cast boolit in my .308 will be of primary use due to the cost of jacketed stuff. The 200gr one when I get my mould back from Lee should do the trick. My logic is a heavy boolit that is of a round nose type shape will not yaw when it goes trans sonic. So I still can reach way out there as long as I do my part by casting good boolits, inspect each one for weight and flaws. I want somethiong that I can hit the steel rams with at 500m.

[Boomer Mikey]

Try the RCBS 165 SIL bullet in your rifle, it's design is perfection for service rifle loads.

Boomer :Fire: