Cast Boolits In The M1 Garand

Hi again guys..Dan here

Ever see that heading in a thread..http://www.artfulbullet.com/styles/d...foro/clear.pnghttp://www.artfulbullet.com/styles/d...foro/clear.png

Sorry but I got a story with no picture..(grown up type)..

So I thought it would be fun (wrong)..to take on the M1 shooting cast...well it was actually fun
but not reveling..well maybe reveling...

The gun I have is a stock HRA..all HRA...all original...manufactured 05-54

Haven't checked the TE or ME...did clean out the copper...

My first choice of bullets were the 284 and 299..my first choice of powders were H4895 and AA4064...

After prepping 50 rnds of brass..30 HXP and 20 rnds Winchester.. I set about trying to determine what bullet diameter this gun likes...no luck there.. no concernable difference between .310 and .311..h-u-u-m-m...just as a note those loads were some 314299's with 29grs h4895 and seated to 3.270..the 314299 has a .304 nose when cast with my 4-4-92 alloy...the rounds for the test were single loaded...

Not getting any clear preference on the bullet diameter I decided to move on to testing the functioning of the rifle with that loading...THERE was the surprise...all rounds functioned fine out of a five round clip...from what I've read most M1's require a bit stiffer load...but hey I'm happy 'cause that's where this bullet likes to shoot out of my other '06's..

Anyways last week we had a pretty good day for iron sight shooting so I took a few rounds (loaded with the 314299 ) with me to the range..nice bright day ..yes I could see the tree inch "shoot N see " target..

How did I do..or rather how did IT do..these were shot using the en bloc..check out the pictures..( ya I know I said I didn't have pictures)..Attachment 185090Attachment 185091Attachment 185092

Encouraged by that results I headed out again today ,armed with the M1 Garand and loads using 29.3 grs H4895 with All my 299's..the Lyman 311299 ( 314 bands-.301 nose), NOE312299 ( 312 bands-.302 nose) and a NOE 314299( 314 bands-.304nose).. I had equal numbers of bullets loaded that were sized .310 and .311....

The light was marginal but I managed to hold the target..(sort of)...of course this was at 100 yds...

OK here's the kicker...(so much for load development)...ALL GROUPS WERE 1 5/8"...NONE SMALLER.. NONE BIGGER...AND ALL SHOT TO THE SAME POI.. http://www.artfulbullet.com/styles/d...foro/clear.pnghttp://www.artfulbullet.com/styles/d...foro/clear.pnghttp://www.artfulbullet.com/styles/d...foro/clear.png ?..

Before I leave I will tell you that this rifle shot the 311284 sized .310 and pushed with 30 grs AA4064 into 1 1/8"..with 4 under 3/4"....

Not great shooting..but fun..

Question.. have you guys had a gun that didn't respond to tweaking of bullet sizes and nose diameters?

Well... off to sizing the cases and reloading some more..think I'll wait for a day that I can see the target before I try this again...http://www.artfulbullet.com/styles/d...foro/clear.png

Thanks for listening..Dan

You folks are driving me nuts !!!

Between this post and one about the Remington 788 in 30-30,
I can see I have an awful lot to do to get up to your standards.

I have both rifles and haven't spent a lot of time on boolits with them.

More molds, more casting and more shooting - - - see what I've got
myself into ?

At least I'm finalizing boolit development for the 45-70.

Good shooting,what I would do now is,load 50 rounds,put up 4or5 aiming marks on a target,load 8 rounds in 4or 5 clips and shoot 32 or 40 rounds,when finished superimpose all the shots fired onto one target,this will give you a better idea of the rifles long term accuracy.They are a military rifle and should be fired out of the enbloc clip as the designer intended.
Mike.

Hot diggity, quicksilver, that's better shooting than I do with my hoe-handle WWII Springfield M1, using Speer target j-bullets ahead of 4895 powder, ignited with CCI military primers! I'd guess your Harrington may be in better shape then my M1, but come spring I will have on my "to do!" list to do a bit of experimenting re bullet sizing. I generally size ALL of mine to .311. Thanks for your posting!
geo

Just a quick update...

Further development (Shooting) has established..(for now anyways) a standardized load for this Garand.

Using the issue sights at 100yd, shooting using 5 round enbloc clips I can maintain 1 3/8" to 1 3/4" 5 shot groups using

the NOE 314299 sized .310 (.304) nose over 29 grains of H4895 or 29.6 grs of AA4064.

The action fully cycles (again in this Garand),empties stack up at about 4' out at 1:00, the clip ejects vertically about 10" and comes to rest beside the receiver...

Now off to try some other designs besides the 299, I would like to get the 311334 or NOE 30 Hunter shooting like this but will probably focus on the 311284.


I might also try the Lee 312 185 as a friends Garand shoot superbly with that bullet and 32 grs of 4895.

That 311299 is one of the best bets for any 30/06 and it does exceedingly well in the Springfield and the M1 Garand. A couple of other good designs are Lyman's 311332 and 311334.

My Garands all need between 33 and 35 grains of 4895 for proper function. Velocity is right at 1,900 fps and accuracy is on the order of 2 MOA for 10 shot groups through 200 yards.

I believe the pictures will tell what needs to be said...except the reason the 4th and 5th shots went out was because the target turned into a faded grey mass..(old eyes)
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/atta...374104&thumb=1Attachment 186187

I'd say that you ended up with a very nice and accurate Garand. My match conditioned Garand that was rebuilt and rebarreled for accuracy will just barely keep up with that using cast bullets. It's a day in and day out 2 MOA rifle with cast.

Hello, I was just curious if either one of you guys are using any kind of fillers for either of these H4895 loads?

I don't, but some very knowledgeable reloaders do. Larry Gibson has a great thread on fillers if you do a search for it.

Air cooled or water dropped?

Hi again...my bullets are air cooled...and no I don't use fillers..I do know that Larry and others have had excellent results when using them but mine was just the opposite..and yes I followed Larry's instructions..none of my six (OK maybe more) or so 03's, 03a3's and 1917 Enfields liked them..doesn't mean it won't work for you...

As for the load data or charge it takes to get full functioning..I am sure my Garand probably has the original op rod spring...

One other note.. I have en bloc clips that I used in the mid 60's right up to todays aftermarket 5 rounders...I notice a big difference in the way that the rounds strip from the different clips so I have sorted out a couple of favorites...

I will agree that this doesn't make mine a "reliable" shooter..but it does help accuracy in the sense that I can load down some..

Anyone try slower powders with the 299..the reason I ask is because they might ; 1. slightly increase the port pressure, helping the tight Garands to function better and 2. keep the velocity down, helping accuracy...the reason I ask is because I have gotten good accuracy with powders like H4895. AA4064, Varget and now am moving on to H4831 and H380..

Before I leave I would like to note once more that with the 299 I think that the nose dia. is important for obtaining good accuracy...

If you and your gun are a day in and day out 2" ..you and your gun are doing great !!!

At 69 I have to pick my days (light conditions)..day in and day out would be 1-5/8" to 3"

Now if I put a Lyman type 17 on the front along with an adjustable rear ap...I bet this thing would really show off....:-)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by guicksylver

Anyone try slower powders with the 299..

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I tried once with 4831 under 311299 in 308, but my charge was too low so burn was incomplete. Unburned grains made a mess in the action and I got failures to chamber within five rounds. Rather than fiddle with it any more I ran the rest of that experiment through a longer barrel bolt gun without incident.

That said it was a conservative guess at the charge, not actual load development. I think there is potential with 4831, but understand you are matching power curve to function, accuracy and clean burn.

Here is my best group from last weekend. 33.5gr of H4895, Dacron Filler, 311299. 100 Yards. I had one round that would not feed, so it did not get fired on the target.

7br..that's looking good to me..