Has anyone shot plated 155gr bullets .308 out of a M1 garand or any other semi auto or bolt gun? the bullets im looking at are made by Frontier bullets. Brass ill be using is 90% once fired PPU brass. varget powder. ill be using these mostly for plinking at the range with the garand. ill also be loading match ammo later on for F class but ill be using hornady or other match ammo brands.
Plated 30 Cal bullets in Garand
- Thread starter serbinator
- Start date
I shoot lots of cast bullets in my Garand. Just enough to cycle the action works brilliantly. Nice neat pile of empties all in the same place to pick up. I will add that I am shooting pretty heavy cast (220gr) loads.
what powder do you use and how much of a charge? Does your barrel have a lot of lead fouling? Did you ever chrono your rounds?
please explain.
Plated bullets should generally be treated like cast bullets as far as speed goes. For handgun stuff like 357mag, 9mm or 45acp won't really get enough speed to be an issue, I load plated as hot as the cartridge will let me. I also do that with cast bullets without much issues. If I had plated bullets for my 500mag I would do the same.
I think I read to much into your post thinking you were worried about shooting anything but jacketed in it. Being a caster I would only feed it lead and the odd jacketed round.
I think I read to much into your post thinking you were worried about shooting anything but jacketed in it. Being a caster I would only feed it lead and the odd jacketed round.
28 gr of W748 behind a 217 gr cast gas chek'd bullet. Never chrony'd but it was just enough to cycle the action and groups were right around the 3" range. Zero lead fouling. Just really nice to shoot. Never tried them in the winter (cold) and you might need more umph to cycle the action when it is real cold.
another question i just bought hornady .308 full length dies. should i be using full length or small base dies? I will be isolating the brass that will be shot with my garand and with my future F class bolt gun. I will be using PPU brass only for my bolt gun and the rest of my ppu/win/federal brass with my M1 Garand.
A regular FL die will do nicely. SB's size about 5 thou more and aren't necessary for an M1.
Haven't ever used cast bullets out of mine, but I'd re-think the Varget for plated bullets. Plated bullets are not jacketed. Hodgdon shows the pressures are relatively low with 155 jacketed bullets, compared to IMR4895(that starts higher). 44,600 to 48,800 CUP with 2822 to 2958 fps, so it might be too high for a plated bullet.
The cast bullet .30-06 data I have gives no rifle powders at all. Unique and Red or Green Dot.
If it gets out that you use a 220 out of an M1, there'll be riots on the Internet. snicker. Blew a ground hog into the next year with a factory 220 Silvertip, long ago.
Haven't ever used cast bullets out of mine, but I'd re-think the Varget for plated bullets. Plated bullets are not jacketed. Hodgdon shows the pressures are relatively low with 155 jacketed bullets, compared to IMR4895(that starts higher). 44,600 to 48,800 CUP with 2822 to 2958 fps, so it might be too high for a plated bullet.
The cast bullet .30-06 data I have gives no rifle powders at all. Unique and Red or Green Dot.
If it gets out that you use a 220 out of an M1, there'll be riots on the Internet. snicker. Blew a ground hog into the next year with a factory 220 Silvertip, long ago.
the rounds i want to use for the m1 are plated 155gr for plinking with the occasional hornady 150gr or 168gr amax for ORA matches. I emailed the manufacturer and distributor and they said the bullet is capable of handling the normal 150gr loads.
I know that the .223 frontier bullets have heavy enough plating to run full velocity loads, and I've already shot a few hundred through my AR, running up towards max jacketed loads in my manual.
I probably won't get to try the .30 cals till spring
As for cast bullets, I was loading an RCBS 160-SIL bullet at .311 over, I think, 29 grains of reloader 7 and that made a nice accurate load in my M-305.
It hasn't got enough oomph to fully cycle a .308 M1, however, no doubt due to the location of the gas port. An extra grain or two and I wager it would function.
And, no, despite a gunsmith basically telling me that my #### would fall off, there was no perceptible leading in the gas system when I tore it down for the drill bit cleaning method after 500-700 rounds. Just carbon.
There is a document on castpics (?) about reloading cast in a .30-06 Garand, but not for .308.
I'm going to try H4895 with those Frontiers, because that's what I've got, and I'm not going to be too afraid to push them, within the proper envelope for the rifle. M1 loads are not exactly on the hot side anyway, compared to what the bolt throwers run in their rifles. I doubt that either of us will have issues with them.
I probably won't get to try the .30 cals till spring
As for cast bullets, I was loading an RCBS 160-SIL bullet at .311 over, I think, 29 grains of reloader 7 and that made a nice accurate load in my M-305.
It hasn't got enough oomph to fully cycle a .308 M1, however, no doubt due to the location of the gas port. An extra grain or two and I wager it would function.
And, no, despite a gunsmith basically telling me that my #### would fall off, there was no perceptible leading in the gas system when I tore it down for the drill bit cleaning method after 500-700 rounds. Just carbon.
There is a document on castpics (?) about reloading cast in a .30-06 Garand, but not for .308.
I'm going to try H4895 with those Frontiers, because that's what I've got, and I'm not going to be too afraid to push them, within the proper envelope for the rifle. M1 loads are not exactly on the hot side anyway, compared to what the bolt throwers run in their rifles. I doubt that either of us will have issues with them.
