Damn, gonna have to eat those words!



Ok, so it's a Garand. And yes, this post could well be in the Military Surplus forum. Except...well, I just don't believe in having a rifle (or handgun for that matter) in the safe that won't actually be used in the field.

I will hunt with it at some point. In fact I'd say it might well go to Texas with me this year as a back up "Hog Rifle".



I have around 4# of IMR 4895 and enough CCI LR primers to do the job. My question is, does anyone have a decent starting load for hunting in the '06? I'm thinking 168gr. Sierra BTSP or 165gr. SST?

Any suggestions here?

(Errr, non-premium bullets please. We're talkin' Hogs here...)

A local friend just picked up a Garand to compete with.. he competed in the Marine Corp on a rifle team back during Nam....

We tried a batch of powders, loads, and bullets with it...

however the two champs seemed to be 50 grains of IMR 4064 for the best accuracy with 150, 155, 165 and 168 grain bullets...
second best load for it was 50 grain of IMR 4895 with the same bullet weights..

played with CCI, Winchester, FEderal and Remington Primers... Match grade even when available.. no difference... not primer sensitive for accuracy...

He doesn't hand load yet, so I have been doing all that for him and showing him how...

I like Remington's 165 grain "Core-lokt" bullet. Economical when purchased in bulk, it is accurate when fired from the Garand rifle. Nothing is to be gained with polymer tipped bullets when one is duplicating military ball ammo.

Try 51.5gr Varget under a 150. Burns very clean shoots accurate in a lot of rifles. Start down at 47 or so.

you should stay with the 150 range if u have a stock gun the heavier bullets will bend the op rod. dont know how may rounds but the military had the problem and went to the 150 fmj early on because of jamming.
if u want to shoot heavier bullets u need to get a national match op rod 4 it an youl be fine. i have a m-1 in 308 that i use for match shooting and have over 11,000 rounds through it. am on second barrell but op rod is fine.

brian

I love the Garand! I shoot better with one than I do with my 30-06 hunting rifle

The Grand is hightly accurate too.

Couple of years ago a good friend was in need of a rifle for hunting season, so I loaned him a Garand that had sat in my safe for many, many years.

I dragged out the old loading data and brewed up some 165 gr Sierra Gamekings. He took it out and brought home a nice black bear. He was pleased. I was pleased. He even took good care of the rifle

The next spring he was able to acquire a 30-06 bolt rifle and so does not need the loan any more.

quote:

I have around 4# of IMR 4895 and enough CCI LR primers to do the job. My question is, does anyone have a decent starting load for hunting in the '06? I'm thinking 168gr. Sierra BTSP or 165gr. SST?

Any suggestions here?

(Errr, non-premium bullets please. We're talkin' Hogs here...)

47 gr. 4895 behind any good 165 gr. bullet duplicates Cal. 30 M72 match ammo which was issued for the Garand. M72 used a 173 gr. BT bullet @ 2640 fps.

Slow burning powder is what damages the op rod due to higher gas port pressures. Stick w/4895 (and similar burn rate) powder & you'll be fine.

The Garand has a floating firing pin that strikes the primer each time a round slams home and soft or high primers can result in slam fire. Checking each round for high primer is a prudent safety measure. The CCI #34 military primers have a hard cup to duplicate GI primer.

Anything that can cause the round to "stop short" of full chambering can result in the firing pin hitting the primer with sufficient force to set it off. If this occurs before the bolt is in battery, it can be disastrous!

Enjoy your "new" Garand.

Regards,
hm

I have played around with various bullets weights and the infamous McCann plugs and resorted to the original gas plug. IMR4064 and 168's is my choice as well.

I picked up the AGI Armorers Course DVD and a book "Precision Shooting with the M1 Garand" by Roy Baumgardner. This helped me out considerably as a M1 Garand rookie.

You could not of found a better off-hand shooting .30-06!

May be obsolete but what a rifle!

I have also found that with a 168 Match bullet, 47.0 grains IMR 4895 or 48.0 grains IMR 4064 is an excellent load and not hard on the rifle.

I have chronographed 150 SMK with 47.5 grains IMR 4895 and the velocities were 2722 fps in a 26" bolt rifle. Same day and same rifle 150 gr TW56 ball was 2680 fps.

Your Garand was used with ammunition that is significantally slower and lower pressure than commerically loaded 150 grain bullets. The gas system was set up for the lower pressure ammunition.

Some other suggestions for reloading a Garand

1. Full length resize all ammunition.

2. Set up your dies with a cartridge headspace gage and size the cases to gage minimum. You do not want the slightest of delay to bolt closure.

3. Do not use Federal primers, too sensitive, use the least sensitive primers around, I recommend CCI#34's.

4. Seat all primers by hand and verify that they are below the case head.

5. Use powders in the IMR 4895 burn rate. That includes H4895, AA2495, and AA2520(ball). IMR 4064 is just at the slow end for Garands. I have used IMR 3031 in a M1a and that worked fine. That might be the fastest powder.

6. Seat bullets to less than magazine length. Which is LT 3.300" Seat them as deep as you want, there is no advantage to in attempting to seat to the lands. Your lands are probably 3 inches ahead of the chamber anyway.

quote:

Ok, so it's a Garand

Not only did you buy a fine cartridge but you also got one of the finest rifles ever designed to shoot it.


It wont be long and you will be slapping your forehead in a Wow I could have had a v8 moment.




Cal30

Let me add one thing to Slamfire's excellent post and advice above.

Buy one of the 30-06 cartridge gauges and drop each finished round in the gauge. If it drops in slick, you know it should chamber without difficulty.

If it does not, look at the extractor grove/case rim. The extractor can create burrs on the rim which prevent full seating. I keep an old sandpaper drum on my dremel tool and sand off any burrs on rounds that fail to seat fully. Kudude

I have to seriously wonder about anyone who swears to never own an 06, but obviously your not that stupid. The 30--06 is the greatest round ever invented, and if it wasnt for the spring and the internal mag the Garand would be the "finest battle implement ever developed"...

quote:

Originally posted by fgulla:
I have to seriously wonder about anyone who swears to never own an 06, but obviously your not that stupid. The 30--06 is the greatest round ever invented, and if it wasnt for the spring and the internal mag the Garand would be the "finest battle implement ever developed"...

fgulla,

I have never once denied that the '06 is a great cartridge. It is, without doubt, one of the top 5 cartridges of the world - and may well be No. 1.

Having said that, everyone and their brother has one in the safe...and I like to be different. Which is why I never wanted to own one. I just like being different...

Anyway, I had a chance to play at the range a bit. Taking a quick look at the target: I see two groups: one 5-shot group and one 3-shot group. The lower three shot group were three rounds I know I pulled a hair low.



Ammo is Greek HXP Surplus.

So, taken as a whole, it's a roughly 4" group, with iron sights off a sand bag. Also the first time with the Garand trigger and my first real time with irons.

In my thoughts, if I rule out the lower three rounds then I end up with a nice, tidy group! I think I should spend some more time learning how to use Irons!

Anyway I slice it, it's one helluva rifle!

(ps: I have no idea why this pic came out black and white!)

Nothing wrong with those groups



Cal30