M1 Garand loads??

[madsenshooter]

He was using a Garand for those loads, and a 03A3 for comparison. The bolt gun was way more accurate. The heavy loads were only used for 600 yds., a much milder cast load for the rest. He even gave his come ups for the sight changes. Eventually I will tie this all together and have one gun, maybe two loads, and be good for 200m cb silhouette matches, John Garand matches, and up to 500m milsil matches. Lucky for me I'm not that competitive because I like to experiment a lot. Still, it's nice to win a little $ in the old Frank Marshall tradition. Got me an ar a couple years ago when I found out there was Cal. legal versions, a basic A2 type, for shooting in matches and I haven't used it yet! Don't seem right to leave the old girl at home, my M1 Garand I mean. But then I'm not a serious competitor at all, just a dabbler. The other candidate for my 'one gun' project is a 1942 Savage No. 4, mainly for the sights. What I really need is a good 03A3, it'll do it all.

I know what you mean about leaving the Garand at home. You should have heard it and the Krags muttering and calling me names when I was packing that 6mm barrel up. With the Krags part of the grumbling was because I had to stop lubing some boolits I was gonna feed them to pack up the barrel. I heard the Garand say something about a sissy gun. Rest of you guys have guns that talk to you, don't you??

[Bert2368]

Talk to you?

A Swedish Mauser tried to seduce me last Saturday at the gun show. It whispered something about wanting to get in a prone position with me, couldn't quite make it out what with her accent and all.

[madsenshooter]

I like that! My foreign guns don't talk to me, or I just don't hear the language they're speaking. Bert, your M1 loads shouldn't engrave. If they do, you're running the risk of stopping forward motion of the cartridge too soon and getting a slamfire. And, some just have too much throat wear. With the rear of those long bullets you're shooting still inside the thick necked GI brass, they're probably pretty well guided until they do hit the rifling. Try putting one of your bullets into a fired case, if you can find one without the neck dented, and see how much play you have. Probably not much.

[dualsport]

Finally got to the 100 yd. line with the Garand and the BOB S. load. Nice round 3 1/2" group(ok, 2 were a little out) for a 78 on a TQ4 100 yd. Small Bore Target, from sand bags on a bench. Got 1 X plus a 10 and 3 9s. That's about as good as I do prone shooting HXP from CMP. With a 6 o'clock hold they were just a tad high over the 10 ring, same sight setting as M2 ball! No leading, brass looks good and empties piled up about 3 ft. away. What's not to like? Thanks Bob S. Now I'll see if I can sub WC860 for similar results, if so then I'll be shooting my baby for almost nothin', cost wise. I like this load, you know you're shooting a high power rifle, but still very pleasant to shoot. I also shot a CBA postal match with my Marlin 1894C .357, what a disaster. Back to the old drawing board.

[Bob S]

Welcome. Glad it worked for you.

Resp'y,
Bob S.

[ReloaderEd]

I have one cast bullet load for the M1 Garand/30-06, however it shoots very well in the 03A3 Springfield, 1917 Enfield, Most the guys in our gun club shoot a lot of cast boolits or bullets with pretty much the same load.
I use National Match cases because I have a large quantity. They are full length sized in the sb RCBS die (sb=small base), cleaned and polished, primer pockets cleaned and primed with Large Rifle primers. Then charged with 50.0 grains of 4831 or 3100AA. I use a tuff of dacron filler on top of the powder. The bullet is a Lee 200 gr. gas check lubed with alox/beeswax 50/50 sized .309". I bell the cases for the cast bullet using an old lyman 310 tool expander die. The bullets are seated to the top edge of the sized surface and medium crimped. Typical accuracy is about 2 inches at one hundred yds. I use them alot to hit bowling pins from 50 to 200 yds and do pretty well. I have shot many rounds in the Garand and have had do ejector rod problems that I keep hearing and reading about but never seen.

[madsenshooter]

With 50grs of powder, you'll not bend the op rod. The system was designed to handle the amount of gas that 50gr of about any flavor of powder will produce (within sane chamber pressures). The 3100 load would be going around 2000fps, the IMR4831, maybe 2200-2300. Bet it knocks those pins for a loop!

[Bert2368]

Finally got to try the Garand loads. First was 41 gr IMR 4831 under an RCBS 308-200 SIL sized to .310. Got vertical stringing- The one in the bull is the first shot, litterally all down hill from there. I believe some attention to the contact points of the handguard is in order?



Same load out of the '03 Springfield.

[madsenshooter]

Seems fairly typical to me for a first shot to go high. Good group afterwards though.

[GrizzLeeBear]

Seems fairly typical to me for a first shot to go high. Good group afterwards though.

I agree with madsenshooter, but wheres the other 3 shots on the Garand target?

Also, check to make sure the screw in the center of the windage knob is tight. This holds the tension on the elevation as well. If it is not tight the sight will "creep" down under recoil.

[Bert2368]

Here is a full clip of the same load fired from a cold barrel. I'll check the site, thanks for the suggestion.

[sqlbullet]

I was going to ask if you had any dacron in there, but if your '03 doesn't string, then it isn't the load. I get groups like you have from your '03 from both my Garands at 50 yards when I do my part. I load H4831, but use 42 grains. I would guess our loads are pretty close to identical.

[madsenshooter]

I agree with madsenshooter, but wheres the other 3 shots on the Garand target?

Also, check to make sure the screw in the center of the windage knob is tight. This holds the tension on the elevation as well. If it is not tight the sight will "creep" down under recoil.

Yea, I got a problem with the sight on mine. If I tighten the screw in the right knob enough that I can't push the sight down, then the windage knob won't turn. One click looser and I can, but again, I can push the sight down with my thumb. Tried disassembling, cleaning, lubing, same thing.

[Bill D]

What Die set do you use for the M1 Garand?

[Bert2368]

I am using an RCBS #14803 small base 30-06 2 die set, with a Vickerman die for seating these long cast boolits straight.

For my '03 Springfield cast loads I full length size whatever 1x brass I get my hands on before my first reloading with the same die set, then use a Redding neck size die only for the next several reloads. I keep the brass from these two separated-

[Bill D]

Question besides the small base RCBS die set what other die set will work for reloading the M1 Garand?

[madsenshooter]

I've always used the Lee standard die. Long time ago some old highpower shooters told me Lee dies size cases less than other brands. I've got to compare many different brands over the years and that does seem to hold true.

[sqlbullet]

I have both a small base RCBS and a regular RCBS. My Garands don't care which dies I use.

The guys at the CMP forums are adamant that any full length die will work fine for reloading the Garand.

[Bert2368]

Garand chambers seem to run a bit large compared to bolt gun chambers, including the Springfield in my (limited!) experience. Some of the 1X milsurp range pickup brass fired through Garands I've got has been a BEAR to re size.

The small base die sets aren't likely needed for range shooting in a frequently cleaned Garand that doesn't get run for thousands of rounds and covered with mud and sand- It's just the set I happened to pick up used here when I started to load 30-06. I suspect it works the brass more than really needed. OTOH, I know my reloads for semi auto will chamber in just about anything.

[madsenshooter]

Yea, you're right Bert, most GI Garand chambers are spacious. I've seen the difference between a GI M-14 chamber and a NM M-14 chamber, there's a place for a small base die perhaps. I had a NM M1A at one time, I used a Lee die with it too, and my reloads were a tight fit in it. I imagine that some of those Garands with custom barrels have tight chambers too.