m1 Garand 30.06 ammo questions

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loki_81

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I just picked up a new (to me) m1 garand (springfield with breda parts) in 30.06 from 1945 that's now on it's way. Now I've been reading up on these lovely rifles and have discovered that you shouldn't shoot too hot of loads with them or risk damaging their internals.

It'll be a little bit until I'm up and running able to reload for this rifle, and of course I'll be wanting to unbox and get some rounds down range ASAP.

What off the shelf ammo is safe for the M1 that wont damage it's internals? I don't want to be the dumbass that ruins a 66 year old rifle's internals.

My apologies if this is a common topic. Yes I did a search and checked the stickies.

I can't wait to fire 8 rounds out of a rifle and then hear the "ping". Good times. :D
 
The military load for these was plenty hot enough: a 152-grain slug at 2800 ft/sec is nothing to sneeze at. They got this with a FMJ flatbase, spitzer-type bullet ahead of a charge of IMR-4895 suficient to produce the velocity they wanted at a pressure within limits. Generally, this was 48 to 50 grains of powder.

Note that IMR-4895 powder was developed specially FOR the .30-'06 round and that the US military specs for the round (as listed in COTW6) ALL specify this powder.

What you stay away from with the Garand is heavy charges of slow powder; it can give too high port pressure (some trick with the gas-port right at the muzzle) which will slam the op od back far too fast. The current fad seems to be spending money and getting an adjustable gas plug. A waste of money IMHO. The rifle itself is very tolerant of ammunition variations.... and the rifle was developed using a 173-grain bullet. John Garand actually felt that the switch to the 150 bullet could be detrimental to the rifle's reliability but the rifle proved versatile enough to handle the 173 M-1, 152 M-2 and 168AP loads interchangeably.

Stay with loads developing peformance conforming ith the military specs and you should be okay. Commercial ammo generally uses fairly quick powders....... but everybody wants more powerrrrrrr. Stay away from the increasingly-popular "pocket magnum" loadings..... or just get the dedicated ammo for the Garand rifle.

Handloading this round for the Garand is very easy. There are NO tricks.

Feed the rifle what it wants and you CAN get MOA out of a Garand.

Have fun.
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I shoot a lot of cast bullets in mine and the addage about slow powders not being suitable does not apply to cast bullets. 180-200 gr gas check'd bullets over about 37-40gr of 4831 works beautifully. Easy on the action, piles the empties in a neat pile 4 ft away and as accurate as FMJ's. I like to use Winchester lrg rifle primers just cus they are supposedly a little harder than Federals. I find myself going back to the Garand more and more often these days, just because it is so enjoyable to shoot and it has some cool history behind it.
 
You want a or the Garand M2 Ball ammo load. It's a 150gr bullet with 50gr of IMR 4895 as it was designed. 50 gr is meant to fill the case up.
 
Hi, Hornady as many M1 specific load under M1 Garand cartridge name. Recommended bullet weight are from 150gr to 178gr.
In testing best performance was obtained with VIHT N-150.
Good result obtained with VIHT N-140 and H 4895.

Lyman state that gas system was designed for 152gr and 173gr bullet and that Garand shooters should stick to spitzer bullets 150gr to 168gr.
The best powder for loading Garand are IMR-4895 or IMR-4064

In short, shot 150gr to 168gr spizter and get either/both Lyman and Hornady reloading manual.
 
OP, congrats on the M1, they are a great rifle.

American Eagle has a Garand specific load available, #AE3006M1:

http://www.federalpremium.com/products/details/rifle.aspx?id=810

They also have another round, #AE3006N that is acceptable for the Garand, but not specifically made for it:

http://www.federalpremium.com/products/details/rifle.aspx?id=73

I put 4 boxes of #AE3006N through my Garand before I tooled up to reload for it and had no problems with it.

Reloading is really the only way to go, both to get the ammo you want and to keep costs down. I load 150gr FMJ over 47.0gr of IMR4064 for a light target load and 168gr Amax's over 48.0gr of 4064 for hunting. I took a mulie doe last year with this combo. OAL was 3.280" for the 150gr and 3.330" for the 168gr. I was getting ~1.5MOA at 200yds off a rest with National Match sights, the 168gr load and my fuzzy eyes. A better shooter could likely get very close to 1 MOA with this combo.

Mark
 
If you reload then the options are many. For fun shooting and about 1.5 moa try 47gr Varget (or 4064) and a 150 FMJ BT (about the cheapest .30 cal bullet out there). Just works real nice.
 
May I suggest purchasing one of the reloading manuals? They will have proper loads for the M1. I don't doubt there are many safe handloads suggested by folks here but I would rather go by the book.
 
Thanks everyone for the replies. I'm now confident on what to ask the store for when looking for off the shelf ammo.

Pics will follow when it's here. I don't like posting sellers pics, more prefer posting it in my own possession.

AlexF said:
Lyman state that gas system was designed for 152gr and 173gr bullet and that Garand shooters should stick to spitzer bullets 150gr to 168gr.
The best powder for loading Garand are IMR-4895 or IMR-4064
Click to expand...

Yup, that's actually where I got the information from, also browsing around the net and CGN. Made me wonder if off the shelf ammo was going to be ok.

John Sukey said:
May I suggest purchasing one of the reloading manuals? They will have proper loads for the M1. I don't doubt there are many safe handloads suggested by folks here but I would rather go by the book.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice. I've got the Lyman 49th manual, and although it's not the be-all-end-all it's helping me stay safe for now. I'll probably pick up another book or two for other formulas as I continue with load development.

Thanks again for the replies.
 
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