The "BobS Load" from Bob S
My M1 load was almost identical to my 03A3 load, posted below in a thread where someone was looking for a 200 or 300 yard aught-six load. The bolt gun load was 311284 with 40 grains of WW II surplus 4831, ¼ sheet of pink (very important!! :mrgreen: ) toilet paper over the powder, and the gas check seated to the base of the neck. That load shot extremely well in the 03A3. When I bought my first M1, circa 1966, I bumped the charge up to 42 grains, and seated the bullet to the crimping/dirt scraper groove to fit in the M1 magazine. All bullets were cast of straight wheelweights, no heat treating. Had not heard about heat treating at that time, but the wheel weights in the days of yore had considerably more antimony in them than today. I used Sierra or Hornady Gas Checks (crimp-on) and used the then-new Alox-beeswax lube. That first M1 had a new barrel, and I had glassed it, but it was in no way completely match-conditioned: the gas cylinder was reasonably tight, but not peened, and I removed it to clean on a regular basis. The cast loads would group about as well as M2 ball in that rifle, which is to say five-shot groups fired from the prone position into about 2-1/2” at 100 yards fired slow fire (single loading); fed from the clip, groups (8 rounds now) would open up to a bit over 3” @ 100 yards. Now at that time the five-ring of the Able target used for 200 and 300 yard firing was 12”, and the V ring was I think 4 or 5”, so you could do OK with the cast stuff at 200 yards. There were two things that made it difficult to shoot well: first, it took about 35 clicks of elevation to get centered at 200 yards, and secondly, because of the long barrel time, if everything was not absolutely perfect when I broke the shot, it would throw a wide 4, where a jacketed load might still catch a 5. In my correspondence with Col. Harrison at that time, he estimated that the muzzle velocity would be about 2000 fps, but it might have been lower than that. When we went to the decimal targets (1967, I think), the load/rifle/shooter combination wasn’t competitive anymore, but it was still OK for practice standing or sitting rapid at 200 yards. I still used the 40 grain load in the bolt gun (03A3), because it would clean the SR target at 300 yards if the nut behind the trigger was tight on that day. I got my Master classification in 1973 using this load in the 03A3 exclusively at 200 and sometimes 300 yards, but it was not up to shooting Master class scores out of the M1 on the decimal targets.
At about the time that I was doing this, Ed Harris had written an article in TAR in the old “In My Experience” column about using a cast load in a National Match M1. His load was not the same as mine; IIRC, he was using 4895 powder and a somewhat lighter bullet, but I do not recall the details. He reported an unpredictable zero shift and serious leading of the gas cylinder/piston. I didn’t experience any leading, but I did dismount the gas cylinder after every range session, and brushed a few lead flecks off of the piston with an old brass bore brush, and I cleaned the gas cylinder with a shotgun bore brush. I never had more than superficial lead flakes in either place. As for the zero shift … the 311284 load shot four minutes to the right of my zero with M2 ball. This is to be expected with a load with a heavier bullet and longer barrel time in a right hand twist. Shifting back to M2 ball, my no-wind zero went right back to where it should be. So the no-wind zero with the cast load was “different”, but predictable.
Fast-forward about 20 years, and when my stash of WW II surplus 4831 ran short, I tried substituting 4350, and got about the same results. This was fired at 100 yards prone:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v76/BobS1/M1Cast.jpg
This was fired with a guesstimate for the elevation and I didn’t touch the windage. You can see from this target the approx. 4 minutes right , and the elevation required to get “on” at 100 yards.
Cast bullets were always a means to an end for me, not the end-all. I had an unlimited supply of wheelweights, and as a poor high school and undergraduate student in the 60’s, a bunch of cast bullets meant only an investment of my time when I could not afford a box of Sierra Internationals. For some high power shooting in those days, they could be competitive at 200 and sometimes 300 yards, but for 600 yards I had to “bite the bullet” and spring for the Sierras. These days I enjoy shooting cast in the as-issued competition, where they can be very competitive, if you are allowed to shoot your own ammo.
Resp'y,
Bob S.
Garand heavy load recommendations needed
I would like to cast bullets in my Garand for milsurp silhouette, with rams out at 500 meters I think I need something with some oomph. Looking over Garand info here for two hours, a lot of good stuff already available, but not much in the upper end of the heavy range. Here's what I have; WWII 4831, WC860, AA2700, AA2230. Bullets I'm considering are a 'fat' .30 Lee GB at 180 gr., Saeco #315, Lee 309-200R, Ideal 311413 and 308334. I have COW, dacron, and poly buffer(Grex), and TP. Regular or magnum or military primers. My CMP Garand is in very good shape, a Service grade. Due to budget issues I need to work with what I already have. Thanks for your consideration. Tim EDIT: I will have the Mod. 314299 GB mold soon, but not in time for this match.