Adjustable gas plug M1 Garand

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Bruce H Cook

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Hi all;
I live in southwestern Ontario and am interested in picking up an adjustable gas plug for the M1 Garand and my question is this; can anyone lead me to a supplier of such article in Ontario? I have not contacted any business yet in Ontario, or Canada or in the USA.

A second question here is what type of ammunition is safe to shoot in an M1 Rifle with the fixed, GI plug in place? I have read that the specifications for the M2 Ball was 2740 fps @ 78 feet. I also invite anyones experience or knowledge with using Remingtons UMC 150gr .30'06 loading in the Garand.

New times 2 M1 owner
Bruce
 
I bought a Schuster gas plug along with other Garand stuff from Creedmore Sports in California. Good service, fast and reasonable shipping with no problems sending it north. I think Brownell's carries the McCann gas plug if you prefer that one.

As far as ammo goes, the only commercial ammo that is safe for the M1 is the American Eagle stuff meant expressly for the M1. The M2 ball ammo was a 150gr. bullet @ 2750fps or so, but it also used a fast burning powder that peaked early and gave lower pressures at the gas port near the muzzle. If you reload, it is easy to duplicate the M2 load with IMR 4064 or IMR 4895 powder and a 150gr. FMJ bullet. Reloading keeps the price semi-reasonable, too.

Edit - I shouldn't say that other ammo isn't safe in the Garand, but vitually all commercial ammo uses slower burning powders than the M2 load and this develops higher pressures at the gas port that beat up the operating rod and action more than necessary.

Mark
 
All those billions of World War Two rounds were loaded with IMR-4895 and a 152-grain flatbase pointed bullet with recycled scrap-lead cores that were less dense than pure lead. Once the Garand was in service, they even loaded the Match ammo with the 173-grain bullet with the same powder.

One thing to remember: the actual DEVELOPMENT of the Garand was with ammunition using 173-grain bullets! Joh Garand, who just might have known something about the things, was worried that the M2 Ball loading might not produce sufficient gas pressure for reliable function.

We get the idea of a 168-grain bullet from the AP loading (black tip) which had a steel core and a relatively-long bullet shank which contributes to pressure problems.... and the US military fired just zillions of those with little harm.

The thing to avoid, I believe, is a HEAVY BULLET LOAD with a SLOW POWDER. Faster bullets will tend to use faster powders, anyway: they don't want the stuff burning out in the daylight, creating crashing thund'rouns booms and great fireballs that you can see at 40 miles at night. Powder costs money and factories buy powders many tons at a crack. I really think they use the powder that gives the best velocity for the lightest load, which means the quickest powder they can get away with.

Premium loads are something else, and you WILL find heavy bullets and slow powders in some of them, but I rather think that just about any normal 150-grain load should be safe in a Garand.

My own Garand was unfired when I got it, showed a decided preference for Partizan 180s in the most gawdawful heavy loads you could think of. Took me some time, but I finally worked out a load with a 150 and a fast powder (good ol' 4895) that it liked. Didn't bend the op-rod, either.

Really good reading on this topic is Julian S. Hatcher's "Hatcher's BOOK OF THE GARAND" (Stackpole, Harrisburg PA, USA) which details the design and development of the rifle. Hatcher did the book in collaboration with John C. Garand, who was a personal friend as well as a co-worker.

I would tend to take John Garand's word on these matters. After all, he DID know a bit about them.
 
"...was worried that the M2 Ball..." No such thing until 1939.
The rifle was designed to use .30 M1 ammo with its 174.5 grain BT bullet at 2640 fps because it was the official U.S. military ammo. However, it was found to have too much range for National Guard ranges of the time. So the U.S. Ordnance Board approved ammo with the lighter 152 grain bullet at 2700 fps(upped to 2800 fps, in 1940, to match the ballistics of the .30 AP's 168 grain bullet), that was eventually desinated .30 M1 ammo.
 
History aside for a moment.

My old Dad, who was nobody's fool, once said that you should listen carefully to advice which is offered by somebody who isn't trying to sell you something.

Have fun!
 
Brownells has both the Shuster and McCann gas plugs. I just placed an order with Brownells for a McCann plug and it's not considered a gun part (I know!) so is fine to ship north even though McCann is not registered with the State Dept.

The Shuster plug is fully-adjustable so is more flexible, but I don't know how easy it is to record and return to a particular setting. For this reason, I went with the McCann plug --- once you figure out the right port for each load you want to use, it's a simple case of swapping port screws and you're back to the correct setting. I've also read of people buying threaded bolts and drilling their own custom port sizes.
 
I used a schuster gas plus in my 7.62 Garand, and by the time I was able to get the rifle to cycle- about 8 rounds, I found out that the Schuster was fully closed... In the end I wasted the ~$70 or so by the time it showed up, just to realize the standard gas plug worked fine!!! Guess the 7.62s and the bigger gas port don't need it. With two 7.62 Garands, and the 30.06 not on the radar anytime soon, I will likely post it on the EE, sad as I only shot 1 enbloc through it. Can't speak for the 30.06 though.

BTW. I was using Rem. UMC .308- 150gr., works good for me.
 
if you reload specifically for m1 garand ammo............i have an old but very good article from an old issue of american rifleman wich helps explain and discuss varios powder and bullets .
send me yr email ill send it.
 
Everyone;
I want to thank you for your valuable input. I am as yet undecided on the adjustable gas plug or shooting available factory ammunition in light bullets. I have 1 case of Remington UMC which is a 150gr bullet loaded to 2800 fps and this loading seems to fit into the criteria noted above. I do not re-load and not sold on re-loading due to the small amount of shooting I do. I also shoot 30-30 Win & 303 British rifles and the factory loads are fairly inexpensive, so I do not see foraying into re-loading. I am thankful for the knowledge that cross boarder sales of a gas plug seem to be uneventful.

I can see the safest way to go might be re-loading or the use of an adjustable gas plug but what do people shoot from the Big 3 Factories?

Bruce
 
I was told that if you use ammo designed for the M1 Garand, then you don't need the schuster gas plug.
But if you use modern ammo (wrong bullet weight, wrong pressure), then you do need the schuster gas plug.
Once you get the schuster set, don't change ammo. (well, you can, but then you need to adjust the schuster again)

I have
Federal Power Shock 30-06 150grain softpoint.
Federal Power Shock 30-06 180grain softpoint.
but I haven't put a round through it yet.
I figure I'll set it for the 150grain -- unless somebody tells me I'm out of my mind. :)
 
Another vote for the plugs. Even with proper ammo , the Garand action is designed to operate under truly horrible conditions - harder than it needs to for reliable function during normal civilian hobby shooting . The 4 plugs at my house are there to help reduce wear on historic guns. I think the adjustable can pay for themselves in the long run.
YMMV.
 
I especially like the McCann plugs, because when you shoot the Garand after removing the plug, the automatic system is disabled, and one can shoot in the Garand, and cycle the clip manually, which I find comes handy at the shooting range.
 
I bought the McCann plug from Ellwood Epps in Orillia, and am very happy with it. I shoot only PMC M2 ball, specifically loaded to Garand specs and no longer available, with the GI gas plug. This load will not cycle the action when the McCann plug is used with the largest-aperture (least amount of gas) Allen screw. Commercial 150-gr. ammo will cycle the action with this largest screw fitted on the McCann plug, thus when using the least amount of gas, and the recoil here feels identical to that from the M2 ammo/GI plug configuration.

I will use the McCann plug from now on with any commercial ammo, and will stick to 150-grain regular loads-no heavy bullets nor light magnum loads.
 
so forgive my ignorance as I dont know much about gas plugs and whatnot, (on top of resurrecting this thread), i bought a adjustable plug and adjusted it to what the company says to, and the action feels and looks sluggish when shooting, i kind of preffered the feel of the rifle with the original plug in it.

What are peoples thoughts on this? do your actions feel sluggish when you are shooting them when they have the adjustable plug in them?

thanks,

J
 
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