Recent hunting ammo in a Garand?
- Thread starter TheCanuck
- Start date
No Light Magnums and keep the bullet weight under 180 grains.
Long before there was an internet, commercial hunting ammo was the only ammo available. There was no milsurp .30-06. I've never seen nor heard of any rifle being damaged by the ammo prior to seeing it on the net.
Long before there was an internet, commercial hunting ammo was the only ammo available. There was no milsurp .30-06. I've never seen nor heard of any rifle being damaged by the ammo prior to seeing it on the net.
I respect your opinion; I'm just curious how you arrived at this? The Garand has a bit of a rep for being able to stomach the strong stuff.
Slower commercial powders used with the heavier bullet weights can cause some op rod damage if shot alot. There is no gas bleed on the M1, it takes the full pressure of the cartridge firing and only drops off once the bullet leaves the muzzle. Too much port pressure can bend or break the op-rod.
The action is sufficiently strong for just about anything you could load.
In my Sierra handload book it warns against using anything other than medium burning rate powders (ie. IMR4895) and velocities over 2700 fps. I'm quite sure most commercial hunting ammo is loaded much hotter than that in 30-06.
Most experienced Garand owners I've talked to say to go with a heavier bullet than 150 grain (go with 165 to 175) and the rifle will like it. IMR 4064 is another powder people are mentioning to me, though I haven't tried it. I think the key is to stay away from slow burning powders like Hitzy said.
Having said that, I have fired some commercial ammo in my Garand with no damage to the rifle, but I plan on sticking with the handloads under 2700 fps, just because I love my rifle too much to risk it.
Most experienced Garand owners I've talked to say to go with a heavier bullet than 150 grain (go with 165 to 175) and the rifle will like it. IMR 4064 is another powder people are mentioning to me, though I haven't tried it. I think the key is to stay away from slow burning powders like Hitzy said.
Having said that, I have fired some commercial ammo in my Garand with no damage to the rifle, but I plan on sticking with the handloads under 2700 fps, just because I love my rifle too much to risk it.
Commercial ammo tends to be loaded with slower burning powders to achieve higher velocity.The Garand gas system was optimized to use faster burning powders like IMR 4895 (MILSPEC for the Garand) and IMR 4064.Military bullets were 152 gr ball,165gr AP and 173gr Match. Using a heavier bullet or a slow burning powder generates the wrong gas port pressure for the M1 which can damage the rifle.While you can easily locate 150 and 165gr commercial ammo,the issue is that the burning rate of the propellant is unknown.At present it appears that the only commercial ammo specifically certified for use in the Garand is Federal American Eagle 150gr.If you plan to shoot the rifle extensively it is worth handloading for it using either IMR 4895 or 4064.The other bonus with handloading is that you can realize a quantum gain in accuracy by using match grade bullets.There are some unique handloading precautions associated with the M1/M14 types which should be adhered to in the interests of safety and reliability.
I've been firing Federal Power-Shok (150gr) out of my M1. Its soft point and it feeds fine and fire reasonably accurately. It also fire with sufficient power that I was obliterating cardboard targets from about 75 yards. My 150gr was firing with enough power to drive wet sand through a full pop can and when rapid firing on a target I could see pieces of cardboard flying up in the air.
NB.nagantsniper
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- northern nb
i have a scanned article on m-1 garand ammo /reloads please remember powder burning rate must be within certain limits.............bullet weight isnt as important as keeping powder specs within that range .
article is from american rifle magazine dated 1986. if anyone wants it just ASK. ive emailed it out to many cgn members/..............
article is from american rifle magazine dated 1986. if anyone wants it just ASK. ive emailed it out to many cgn members/..............
.30/06 FTW
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Thunder Bay, Ontario
I read in my book that you can fire the heavier loads, but you must lube up the oprod with HEAVY grease before firing. If you don't it wont take long b4 the oprod will bend or break.
You must lube the op rod at specific points before firing ANY ammo.Lubing has nothing to do with alleviating damage caused by improper gas port pressure from slow burning propellants or by firing too heavy bullets.Any Garand shooter should become familiar with all lube points on the rifle and apply grease before firing.There are greases specifically for this,but ordinary axle grease is better than nothing.
If you can handload the 180gr to low pressures and moderate bullet velocity you're probably OK. However if you're going to use factory ammo I would stick within the 150gr to 168gr range.
Factory 180gr is a little too hot for the M1. You end up battering the components a little too much for comfort. I pretty much agree with everyone else's comments here on this subject.
Factory 180gr is a little too hot for the M1. You end up battering the components a little too much for comfort. I pretty much agree with everyone else's comments here on this subject.
That's an excellent website for maintenance of the M1. I use it all the time-- you can't go wrong listening to those guys.
Don't be afraid to start reloading, it's well worth the time and money spent learning how to do it. I was really intimidated when I first started, but now after several hundred rounds of reloads behind me I wonder what I was nervous about.
I'm actually about to try loading some rounds with Varget powder to see how they do in comparison to the 4895. Read an article that said it works beautifully in the M1.
"...how you arrived at this?..." 30 odd years of shooting one. In all that time I have never seen case lots of milsurp .30-06. Including while working in a gun shop that sold cases of milsurp ammo.
There was nothing but commercial ammo and nothing in writing about not using any .30-06 ammo in an M1. Never saw nor heard anything about it until seeing it on the Internet. The box or two of 220 grain Silvertips did nothing to my rifle. 165 grain hunting bullets and 168 or 175 grain match bullets shoot better though. All of 'em with IMR4064, IMR4895 or Varget. IMR4064 gives more consistent accuracy than IMR4895. Never used Varget myself, but it is proven to give excellent accuracy too.
"...Garand was designed to function at approx 2700 fps..." The rifle was designed to use .30 M1 ammo with its 174.5 grain BT bullet at 2640fps using IMR4895. When the W.W. I vintage supplies of ammo was used up, in about 1936, the M1 ammo was issued and found to have too much range for U.S. National Guard ranges. The bullet weight was dropped to 152 grains at 2700fps(also with IMR4895) and the new .30 M2 ammo was standardized in 1939. In 1940, the MV of the ball round was raised to 2800fps to match the ballistics of the .30 AP's 168 grain bullet. This was the ammo used in W.W. II.
There was nothing but commercial ammo and nothing in writing about not using any .30-06 ammo in an M1. Never saw nor heard anything about it until seeing it on the Internet. The box or two of 220 grain Silvertips did nothing to my rifle. 165 grain hunting bullets and 168 or 175 grain match bullets shoot better though. All of 'em with IMR4064, IMR4895 or Varget. IMR4064 gives more consistent accuracy than IMR4895. Never used Varget myself, but it is proven to give excellent accuracy too.
"...Garand was designed to function at approx 2700 fps..." The rifle was designed to use .30 M1 ammo with its 174.5 grain BT bullet at 2640fps using IMR4895. When the W.W. I vintage supplies of ammo was used up, in about 1936, the M1 ammo was issued and found to have too much range for U.S. National Guard ranges. The bullet weight was dropped to 152 grains at 2700fps(also with IMR4895) and the new .30 M2 ammo was standardized in 1939. In 1940, the MV of the ball round was raised to 2800fps to match the ballistics of the .30 AP's 168 grain bullet. This was the ammo used in W.W. II.
