Some Garands to show off.
- Thread starter L.Parratt
- Start date
CMP (who appears to be THE authority on the Garand) has recently updated their ammo guidelines. They put the limits at 50,000 CUP (which I believe is the SAAMI limit for 30-06 anyway), and 172-174gr. Based on this, I believe any commercial ammo below 180gr should be fine.
But maybe 180gr is OK anyway? Not sure that firing pin - primer warning is applicable, the design of the Garand bolt/firing pin/receiver prevents the fireing pin from moving forward until the bolt rotates into battery. At that point, I don't believe the firing pin would have any forward momentum left, having momentarily stopped its forward movement during the time the bolt is rotating into battery. But I could be completely wrong.
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That's good news, thanks for sharing.
CMP (who appears to be THE authority on the Garand) has recently updated their ammo guidelines. They put the limits at 50,000 CUP (which I believe is the SAAMI limit for 30-06 anyway), and 172-174gr. Based on this, I believe any commercial ammo below 180gr should be fine.
But maybe 180gr is OK anyway? Not sure that firing pin - primer warning is applicable, the design of the Garand bolt/firing pin/receiver prevents the fireing pin from moving forward until the bolt rotates into battery. At that point, I don't believe the firing pin would have any forward momentum left, having momentarily stopped its forward movement during the time the bolt is rotating forward. But I could be completely wrong.
I have on request of a buyer, but i do not think they are required at all to run "full pressure ammo" and by that i bet you mean off the shelf ammo.
To my understanding, if the op rod spring is in spec, the Garand is properly lubricated the Garand will run flawlessly with near any 3006 ammo you can buy. keep in mind the M2 Ball myth is just that, the Rifle was designed around M1 Ball, was used with M1 Ball, seeing as the Garand was adopted in 1936~ and the M2 Ball round was not in service until 42, Also there was M2 AP.
Of the dozens of Garands i have built now, i have yet to see a single 3006 get damaged by ammo, in fact the only Garand that got damaged was a .308 the user had removed all grease and shot dry. this bent the follower rod, not the op rod. i have yet to see a bent op rod. well other than the dog leg designed into the garand.
as Andronicus mentioned the CMP states use below 180, and you can do that to be safe.
im in the works of making a 8mm Mauser garand as a final nail in the coffin on the Garand ammo myth, but its a at the bottom of my priority list as far as projects go at this time.
