CB, for M1,and 03 ?

[PDshooter]

Which CB bullet would work well in M1Garand, 03 Springfield...I've been using a Lyman 31141 in 03...I also have a FN-49 in 06 been wanting to try CB in it....thanks

[jonk]

Well most any will WORK...... I like the Lee 185 gr 312 sized 1/1000 over groove diameter or the Lyman 311299.

[curator]

Try the Lymal #311299. It casts about 200 grains and the extra weight and pressure helps the M1 action function at lower velocity with the correct powder. The '03 Springfield will like to too! Make a throat cast of both rifles before you buy a mould. Many M1 rifles have large or worn throats and may require larger bullet diameter. My 1943 issue M1 has a thraot diameter of .314" I shoot the Lyman #314299 wich is the same as the 311299 except casts at .314" diameter. This combination shoots more accurately than GI ball ammo with 35 grains of IMR4895.

[sqlbullet]

BruceB will pop in hear and tell you to search for BobS load.

Check out it out here: http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showpost.php?p=312730 (http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?p=312730#post312730)

My Garand will hopefully be here in 30-60 days. Once I familiarize myself, this is the load I plan to shoot most in the gun.

[Bert2368]

I have the same pair of rifles to feed. Thanks for bringing this up-

[PDshooter]

Where to buy a Lyman 311299 mold ?...But this time I would perfer one that is 4 cavity.......Thanks

[Bert2368]

I took the Springfield back to our range today and shot a bandolier of Greek M2 to fight cabin fever and free up some cases for cast reloads. I could only keep a 4" group at 100 yards using the '03 iron sights- My fault, not the gun I'm pretty sure. Has anyone got experience with these S&K scout scope mounts?

http://www.scopemounts.com/index.html?skulppics.html

Can you still use a stripper with 'em in particular?

For moulds I've got a Lyman #311332 on the way, and a Lee 312-1602R as well as a Ranch Dog 165gr .30 allready on hand. Hope to get some cast up and loaded soon. I've been reading up here on loads, I have Red Dot, 2400, 4227, IMR 3031 and 4895 on hand. All starting load suggestion will be greatfully received-

Here's the rifle dad got from DCM back in the early 60's.

http://emob559.photobucket.com/albums/ss31/Bert2368/photo-1.jpg

http://emob559.photobucket.com/albums/ss31/Bert2368/photo.jpg

M35A2 mobile shooting bench:

http://emob559.photobucket.com/albums/ss31/Bert2368/photo-2.jpg

http://emob559.photobucket.com/albums/ss31/Bert2368/photo-3.jpg

If the weather holds on Thursday, the M1 gets to come out and play!

http://emob559.photobucket.com/albums/ss31/Bert2368/photo-4.jpg

(edit)

The M1 came out today. I cleaned it up last night- It's a loaner from a friend. The barrel was godawful. Major cleaning rod wear at the muzzle, pits, rifling worn down and rounded. Plus the gas system hadn't been cleaned in the 8 years my friend has owned it. A couple hours soaked in Kroil, 1/4" socket drive and an improvised gas system wrench were needed.

It shot 6" groups with HXP M2 ball, prone with the sling at 100 yards. And this time I DON'T think it's completely my fault. Even so, I really enjoyed shooting the M1 for the first time.

So, how's it likely to go shooting cast out of a bore like that? And how hard/expensive is a re barrel on an M1. The action and wood are quite nice

[jimb16]

I also like the 311291 for those rifles too. I get good accuracy with both.

[JKH]

Bert,

With the right tools it isnt to difficult to rebarrel and M1, however if you use a GI barrel you may have to have a few bolts handy to swap around to get proper headspace, if you buy a new commercial barrel with a short chamber you can easily finish the headspace with a pull through reamer and good gauges and a little time and patience, you can rent the reamer and HS gauges and maybe rent or borrow an action wrench and barrel vice.

Alternativley you could try countersinking the barrel (no more than an inch from the crown due to position of the gas port), this will remove the washed out muzzle threads and can make a tremendous difference in the accuracy of some barrels, if it doesnt it sure wont hurt it!

Is this Garand one of the 80's vintage imports from Korea? Or possibly a Blue Sky import? Most of the Korean imports had barrels like that and a lot of other heavily worn parts, the Blue Sky guns werent much better unless you got lucky which wasnt very likely.

I like that portable shooting bench!

HTH

Jeff

[Bert2368]

I don't know where the M1 came from, it was loaned to me by one of our pyro crew. He just said he bought it about 8 years ago, don't know any more. Receiver says Springfield Armory, SN is 4928XX. Barrel is 4 groove and says Exel, Gardner MA, it has different looking parkerizing than the rest of the metal.

There's a couple feet of snow on the ground, here in MN, the portable shooting bench is the only way to go... If you snowshoe out to the range, prone ain't much fun. Today I hung a piece of 4 mil plastic over the whole bed and shot the M1 prone in the bed. Nice and warm in the sun, cut the wind and I didn't lose a single shell case or any of the en bloc clips in the snow. Got one case down my neck though!

[Crash_Corrigan]

I expect Bruce B will soon chime in with his comments. He is a very experienced shooter with the M 14 and and the M-1. I tend to favor the 311284 Lyman mold. It puts out a 220 gr boolit. I paper patch it after I size it down to .308 and then a dab of JPW and recize down to .309. I load 29 gr of 4064 and I am getting full functions with the m-1, decent recoil and the empties pile up in front of me and I do not have to chase them down.

Accuracy is about 2 1/2 in at 100 yds and it is very nice round to shoot. You can pick up a new barrell and new wood stocks at CMP and the prices are pretty reasonable.

Once you find the groove with the M-1 it a just a blast. I have had much success with a steel target at 375 yds. Painted black it shows the hits and if you have a spotter with a decent scope behind you he can see the rounds fly downrange and tell where your rounds are hitting.

I neck size only and use Lee neck sizing collet dies and have had much success with this round. It is just so much fun to fire off a round and then hear the satisfying clang when the bullet hits the steel. Cheap to feed and alot of fun to shoot. Those empties from the HXP are dandies to reload. You might want to anneal the cases with a propane torch to keep the brass soft and workable. Some of mine have fired over 30 rounds and are still good to go. Accurate 2700, 4064 and 4985 are good powders to use and you can use large pistol primers if you need to. I did when I couldn't get LRP's and they work.

Ask Bruce B for some photos of his Schuetenzwagen (an old VW Minibus). He has it all fixed up to reload rounds inside at the range and keep him out of the wind and cold and takes him to and from home. In the summer it provides him shade and is a mite cooler than being out in the sun.

[Bert2368]

I saw the pics of das scheutzenvagen in the special projects section. One nice thing about the deuce, I didn't have to plow the route to the range. The axles left drag marks in the snow. Try THAT in a mini bus.

What's the best way to remove the primer crimp from these military cases? I haven't got the equipment to do that yet. Looks like some cut/ream and others swage the crimp out of the way.

[JKH]

SOunds like where I live in rural Western New York, we just hole up through January and February and hope we get spring by June ;^ )

I use a Jeep Grand Cherokee and drive it right down to the pavllion where our R&G club firing line is, better than hiking.

The simplest tool you might have would be a jacknife to remove te crimp, chamfer the edge f the pocket but dont go overboard, you can also use a case neck inside/outside chamfering/deburring tool, makes for a more uniform and quicker job but same caveat applies to not go to far.

I did both for years and then picked up an RCBS primer pocket swagging tool for both large & small primers, works well but some cases rquire a bit more oomph to ensure the crimp is gone, I think the tool was about $30 and will work in any press.

Jeff

[madsenshooter]

Nice 03 there Bert with an Elmer Keith proof mark.

[1874Sharps]

That is quite the shooting bench indeed! For my M1 I prefer shooting paper patch boolits because of the gas system. I do not know if shooting GBs causes any gas port or reliability problems, but it is good, I think, to have a paper jacket that eliminates contact of lead on the bore. The paper patch boolits shoot very well out of the M1, too.

[Bert2368]

Yes, the '03 is a keeper. And I'd bet this isn't the first time either rifle took a trip in an M35 either-

Would the Lee push through sizers be best if I want to try swageing paper patched?

Is Dillon's version of primer swage worth the money? I actually got the HXP from Dillon a out 10 years ago. $40.00 for a spam can of 240 rounds back then as I recall.

[skeet1]

I've be playing with the Lee 312-185 sized to 311 in my 03-A3 and it shoots well. I haven't tried it in my M1 but I think it should work good also with some 4895.

Skeet1

[Crash_Corrigan]

My most sincere apologies to Bruce b re: his Schuetzenwagen. I thought because of the name that it's parentage was a VW. I am sorry for the assumption. Benny Hill explained what happens when you assume.

Re: my M-1 Loads. I do full length size those babies with a small base die about every 3rd firing and they have not grown in length at all. I am aware of the slam firing situation with the M-1 and I keep the gun clean and well lubricated and even with the wimp loads that I am shooting the silly thing does function reliably.

My next step is to try some Accurate 2700 powder on which I recently found a bargain. I plan to bring the chrongraph and my press to the range and start off with a loading of 22 grns of powder and see what it does and work up from there. My goal is to get these 311284's to achieve about 1750 FPS or until I get reliable function with decent accuracy.

Again I apologize to Bruce B.

Dan

[hamour]

Is Dillon's version of primer swage worth the money? I actually got the HXP from Dillon a out 10 years ago. $40.00 for a spam can of 240 rounds back then as I recall.

HXP brass does not need the swager, it has 3 small tabs that are not a problem.

You can ignor them and just re-prime or use a case neck chamfering tool and remove these 3 tabs that way. I did mine both ways and settled on just re-priming the first re-load. Works fine.

Just as a side note on HXP, I took WW 150 gr PP bulk bullets, and replaced the ball projectiles in 20 rds. This tightened up groups considerably and made Garand ready hunting loads. Worked great in my 03-A3 as well. Then re-loaded the ball bullets back into the cases with 49gr IMR 4895. I just pulled the ball with a collet puller and re-seated the WW PP's to the crimp groove.

My Garand was full of copper fouling and required serious multiple cleanings to get down to bare metal.

Good luck and good shooting!

[Pirate69]

Bert,
Since the M1 is a loaner, not sure how much you want to invest in it. However, I would suggest the following. First, do a complete cleaning of the barrel to remove all copper. There are a number of copper cleaners on the market such as Sweets, etc. Look at the possibility of a recrown by yourself or another. You can buy the tool from Midway for around $50 and do it yourself. If you are careful, the tool will do a lot of muzzles before it needs to be resharpened or sold to someone else that needs it. I got 18 recrowns out of mine before I sent it back to the manufacturer to be resharpen ($25). It does not take much to remove the cleaning rod wear usually. CMD sold a lot of M1s that had Service Grade barrels as Rack Grade as a result of the wear at the bore. A recrown can do wonders.

I would try some unsized and and sized boolits (GC) with about 25 grains of IMR4895 to see how she shots. This may not be enough to cycle the action but it gives you a nice little round for 100-200 yards to start working from. Make want to try a few rounds in front of 6-8 grains of Unique or RedDot. A non-recoil round that takes it downrange a 22LR velocities. Full to shoot and should give you good information on what your barrel is capable of doing. As many have suggested in previous posts, you may want to slug the barrel before you buy a mold and sizer.

I have reloaded a many of jacketed bullet since 1971 but I am new casting and had a lot of help from fellow members. Lots of good advice hear. A fellow member send me some test rounds for the price of shipping. I you want to try some, I can return the favor.

[Shiloh]

Lyman 314299 for both the '03 and Krag.

Shiloh