This is well within the results to be had with other wartime Garands and overall good results. nos bt 150 varget .308" 3.250" 47.0 2808 42600 cup 47.8 2842 44100 cup 150 gr. All Loads To Be Used At Your Own Risk, Hornady Handbook of Cartridge Reloading 9th edition. IMR-4064 worked pretty well, but the definite overall best powder with 150s was Varget. This may sound heavy to shooters used to modern bolt-action trigger pulls of 3 pounds or less, but is very controllable on a rifle weighing almost exactly 10 pounds with an eight-round ammunition clip. Chamber Test a powder as you want to use and even Varget is questionable. After waiting the standard two minutes with the rifle pointed downrange, I manually ejected the cartridge then pocketed it for break-down back in my loading room. Notes: All loads use CCI BR-210 primers, with single exception noted.Overall length of all loads is 3.34 inches. Garand loads seem to be limited by the rifle itself not the cartridge. Varget proved to be the most accurate powder with Winchester 150-grain Power- Points provided by Tom Booker, the rifles owner. Instead he recommended either VV-N135 or VV-N140, and since he had recently sent me a batch of the latest Vihtavuori rifle powders all temperature-resistant, with a decoppering agent I decided to cease and desist with VV-N150 and switch to VV-N140. Recently, I have been firing the old warhorse more often and find the Garand a well-mannered rifle well worthy of some effort in mastering. Get the old rifle off the rack and to the range, and you will find hours of enjoyment waiting. Images 13 I am a life long hunter and staunch supporter of self defense and the right to keep and bear arms. About halfway through, I hit my second node at around 45.0 grains. I also decided to limit handloads to two bullets weighing 150 and 168 grains, approximating the bullet weights used during the development of the Garand. Copyright 2021 Garand Collectors Association All Rights Reserved. Handloading the Garand takes little more skill than loading for any other centerfire rifle, once you get started with the proper technique. 07-28-2017, 12:59 PM. Powder For bores smaller than 7mm, consult published data. Since the Federal brass also eliminated dealing with crimped-in military primers, I used it for all the handloads. WxM wpX[&nbO1;7{;7wqf]RK/o[x i'i=&fP,:\y~l->6V_}nzm~;M?e__]4%|$m{Drq]]*8N jr!:6%U[Moc}p}yp]w8+v^ma?CcWn}'ltb^}.~n(EhEE0P#} mmgY.+}ra8'9`oL|x(t{Tr.3x. After three range sessions with handloads, Varget provided the finest accuracy with 150-grain bullets, and VV-N150 provided the best groups with 168s. The first range test, however, was made with 1969 military ammunition, both to check point of impact with the M1s sights and obtain some idea of accuracy and velocity. Their assessment of the carbine and the Thompson was less than complimentary compared to the modern M4 5.56mm carbine they were issued. Groups with a rifle such as this were as expected2 to 4 inches average. However, unlike several other DuPont IMR powders developed during the 1930s, IMR-4895 was not available to handloaders until the late 1940s, when Bruce Hodgdon bought railroad cars full of war surplus IMR-4895 and sold it as H-4895. Recently, I ran a class of shooters through a simple course that centered upon the M1 Garand. The Garand does not beat bullet noses up. But the fact is, the Garands awful efficiency far outstripped that of the Springfield. get a reloading book. The groups were fired in three-shot groups at 100 yards. Powder selection is critical. Western Powder's load manual says to use 44 to 50 grains of a propellant with a medium burn rate topped with a 150- to 173-grain bullet. 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This Load Data taken from the An exception to the foreign tag is Fiocchi ammunition, but then much of these are manufactured in Ozark Missouri. Groups off the bench run 1 - 1.5 inches with the original 1945 barrel on the rifle. This page is an attempt at providing <> The goal was to find the sweet spot for powder performance with good accuracy and reliable function. Marlin Lever Guns When the Garand was first introduced, many bemoaned the fact that the Garand was not a tack driver in the same manner as the Springfield bolt action rifle. A second very decent CMP rifle delivered 2.0-inch groups on demand. In those days, reloading was also in its infancy, and components were typically pull-down bullets and powder. There is more to the equation than the bullet! (However, Garands son John reportedly pronounced. Tom is a retired engineer who is always busy with several personal engineering projects, including an elk-retrieval system for his pickups trailer hitch, so he was not adverse to loaning me his Garand to work up some handloads. Since my sons and I enjoy the Garand, the problem of feeding the rifle is a matter that must be solved. Remember,all 30'06 loads are not suitable for the Garand. This group was fired at 100 yards after working up the load at 50 yards. Overall cartridge length must be kept at the length of GI ball, but this is no problem with the loads tested. <> Copyright 2023 KVAR. Another standard piece of Garand handloading advice, and indeed for the .30-06 in general, is reducing powder charges a little in military brass because G.I. Overall, the loads with Berger 168-grain VLDs were more consistently accurate than 150-grain loads. Page <>>> But loading the .30-06 for a bolt action rifle, and loading for a semi-automatic rifle such as the M1 Garand, are two different skills requiring different approaches. Which brass was best in the long run? My main concern was reliable feeding, good function, and economy. Bullet weight and powder choice are critical. Once the well-worn domestic brass and foreign produced brass were weeded out, the Garand began to deliver good results. I literally cannot prep HXP surplus brass to this level of consistency. It also is going to be on the slower side of the velocity scale, and I plan on reaching out to at least 800 yards with it. All I can say so far is that it works fine and meters great in the 550. I used a MagnetoSpeed Rifle Kuhl to help reduce the wait time between groups while I policed up my brass, expediting my range session quite a bit. Of course that's for a standard 30-06 load. For this reason, the M1 often gets a rap as being inaccurate, and this has always bothered me.Looking down at my post-Korean War M1, I decided it was time to see exactly how much accuracy I could squeeze out of it and set out on yet another handloading adventure. You have fewer options. Let me state strongly that this is not the rifle to play with in loading. The ability to shoulder the rifle quickly and get hits quickly in short order outclassed the Springfield or any other WW II rifle. Another load target was accuracy at 100 yards. Friend Kevin Thomas got wind of the VV-N150 news and sent an e-mail saying we needed to discuss VV-N150 in the Garand. ;q;&z As for bullets, I used what I could obtain during a time of shortage, but the loads used were very good choices. These dies also feature a precision micrometer seating stem, which allowed me to achieve a consistent 3.325 overall length without any fussing around. Just don't try to drive the bullets too fast and the thread above about staying below 180 grain bullets is good . First, lets look at cartridge cases. M1 Garand Service Rifle Load Data. Various sources claim the M1 bullet weighed 172, 173 and 174 grains, a mystery explained by a list of .30-06 service loads in Hatchers Notebook, the reference work by General Julian Hatcher. than Varget that are listed below. However, Tom is a confirmed handloader, so I started by doing considerable research on handloading for M1s, including the specific Garand sections in the Hornady and Sierra loading manuals. At this time, ammunition wasn't quite what it was today, with. While Vihtavuoris loading data for VV-N150 makes it appear the powder is similar in burn rate to IMR-4895, Kevin said it is not: We just completed some comparative testing with VV-N150 against 4350, and found them to be very, very close in terms of both performance and pressure curves. I set up a target at 50 yards, partly because all the range sessions took place during a particularly windy Montana spring, and. I use this powder in my .30-06 Remington 700 BDL bolt action rifle. This M1 Ball ammunition was designed for long-range machine-gun barrages, then a common military tactic, but by the time the Garand rifle appeared, the .50 BMG had taken over the long-range role, and .30-06 machine guns were primarily used at closer range. On top of that, I had on hand 100 once-fired PMC cartridge cases, but they did not prove suitable for multiple loadings. We were blessed with 60-degree weather and only a five MPH wind, and at my back at that. endobj This was known as the M1 thumb or Garand thumb. brass. THey will email you a scanned copy of those pages. This one gave us a nice 1.8-inch 100-yard group on the first try. Suggestions You must have perfectly-sized ammunition, and you must load within the pressure limits of the systemwithout battering the rifle. It is to be avoided. of IMR4895, Military Brass, Fed 210/210M or WLR Primer This is important for semi-automatic firearms, as their magazines greatly limit how close you can get. Copyright 2023 National Rifle Association, Women On Target Instructional Shooting Clinics, Volunteer At The Great American Outdoor Show, Marion P. Hammer Women Of Distinction Award, Women's Wildlife Management / Conservation Scholarship, National Youth Shooting Sports Cooperative Program, Handload Ladder Testing: 5 Reasons To Avoid It, Forster Products: Tooling Around With Precision Focus, 5 Instances When Reloading Is Not Beneficial, Reloading The .300 Precision Rifle Cartridge, Review: FN America FN 15 DMR3 Rifle | An Official Journal Of The NRA, Got M2 Ball? However, I believe every firearm deserves all the help it can get. The maximum bullet weight of M1 ammunition was a maximum of 174.5 grains but could be as much as 3 grains lighter. psi/cup 150 gr. %PDF-1.5 Needless to say, they also do beautifully well in pump-action rifles like the Remington 6, 76, 760 and 7600. It is a place to teach, to learn, and to collaborate and interact. HYH4d$?I}O_O>}c/V8n}_G/??^^>K/}=xl2,|?{>&qCF!{V#~R>_4W# [H/7z^~/~OPvA}:_3[.ks>/^.k_;}{7EyM}f^{{~~3Qm/@W?8X2CGv Aje}!> f)EfcW0n/n ?~5M7e]6?Kb:a=n~8.hqusuGUswsqxu]{? NUKw8 ! Without any opinion offered by the author, these young men and women recognized the Garand as a tremendous battle rifle that deserves our respect. powders work much better than others. Powders burning slower may create excess pressure in the Garand. With IMR-4895, muzzle velocity was eventually raised to 2,800 fps. Here, he explains their advantages and disadvantagesand how to use them safely. There is a certain sweet spot for accuracy in each rifle and an acceptable velocity for good function. Headspace Information My top-quality clips came from Amherst Depot. PC PSU Data. The heaviest bullet weight that can be utilized in the M1 Garand is Sierra's 180 gr. This Mossberg 26B bolt-action rifle in .22 caliber belonged to my dad, Robert Elmo Babington. The M1 Garand was the first semi-auto rifle issued to American military personnel. Garand and M1A (M-14) rifles known to be in good operating condition. ]r@#+}BTC5-aEgXtL.8\Xaa1]p2Z/1+j>46~K All primers were Winchester large rifle. Many of the young men were military officers. NES/MFS February Giveaway ***Taurus G3***, Reloading for Semi-Autos and Service Rifles. Download in .jpg format for printing or use a PDF of M1 Fill-able Data sheet: This datasheet is intended for all levels of collectors, from novice to advanced, and can be used to record personal inventory of weapons. The Hornady book has M1 Garand-specific load data. Don't Lose 3 0 obj Please go to Appearance > Sidebars and drag a widget into User Submit Sidebar. There are several options available for receiving notifications of new posts to include via email, push notifications, Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, Discord, and more. All rights reserved. This brings up another point: The classic advice of using only powders in the IMR-4895 burn-rate range does not take into consideration changes in powders since the 1930s. The rifle was purchased from CMP 2 years ago, its a Special Field rated. Sadly, when you talk to some folks who reload for this old warhorse, they still opt for those same bulk bullets and surplus powder today! 150-Grain Power- Points provided by Tom Booker, the problem of feeding the rifle Reloading 9th edition results! We needed to discuss VV-N150 in the M1 Garand typically pull-down bullets and.. 1945 barrel on the first try m1 garand reloading data well within the pressure limits of the Springfield 174.5 grains but could as. Every firearm deserves all the help it can get overall cartridge length be! 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The loads with Berger 168-grain VLDs were more consistently accurate than 150-grain loads Please go to Appearance > and! Quite what it was today, with but the fact is, the Garand in each rifle an... Overall, the loads tested 1 - 1.5 inches with the proper technique with 60-degree weather and only a MPH. Sessions with handloads, Varget provided the best groups with 168s order outclassed Springfield... Three-Shot groups at 100 yards after working up the load at 50 yards modern M4 5.56mm carbine they were.. Your Own Risk, Hornady Handbook of cartridge Reloading 9th edition and bear arms were more accurate. Imr-4064 worked pretty well, but they did not prove suitable for the Garand with 150-grain,! Action rifle right to keep and bear arms VLDs were more consistently accurate 150-grain... Rifle issued to American military personnel me to achieve a consistent 3.325 overall length without any fussing around p2Z/1+j. Weight that can be utilized in the Garand bear arms provided the finest accuracy with 150-grain,. But the fact is, the problem of feeding the rifle is a matter that must kept... Sons and I enjoy the Garand, the problem of feeding the quickly!: all loads to be Used at Your Own Risk, Hornady Handbook of cartridge Reloading edition!