Reloading ideas for the M1 Garand

[grayfox]

Not knowing where else to turn and I know some of you guys have experience with this venerable rifle...
So hoping this will be on-topic for here.
Buddy of mine just got in his CMP, 30-06 Garand, service grade.
We were talking and he is open to doing some load workups.
He wants to stay with the 150 gr class, for general plinking, some targets and he even says he could see a hunting trip or 2, so I thought maybe the 150 sst, but the bullet topic is open to other choices.
He and I will do the reloads at my bench b/c I have the gear, but which components to get, that's the question:

My first guess, 150 gr, sst or maybe another decent BT like Nosler, Sierra.
Hornady brass, (edited) [cci] or Wlr primers.

Powders? I was thinking H4895 or I4895 but I'm reading also that Varget might work... the temp-stable ones would allow him to use at the range and in the field I figure.

Intended MV I think would be in the 2700-2750 max, range, we'll develop over my chrony to be sure. Maintaining operating rod health is obviously a constraint here as well.

Anyway, what suggestions/advice would the Garand-shooters have on this?

Thanks.

[FLshooter]

I have a factory Springfield M1A.Has a 1/11 twist.It shoots 150g Sierra MK and GK well.I would start w/46g Varget and work up.I put 155gn Sierra MK w/Varget through it on a reg basis.Likes those best.

[Texas]

The go to powder for 30/06 when I was shooting military match early 70s was IMR4831 T then IMR4895. For target and hunting I used 165gr sierra HPBT.

[grayfox]

Initially he was having a hard time finding any military M2 ball, but now when I got him into ammoseek they have turned up. I think we'll try some reloading after holidays.

[lazyengineer]

The M1 Garand was designed to shoot M1 Ball, and also work with M2 ball. The guy I know who wins Garand matches, runs 4064 powder; but many will work. I actually run ARComp in my Garand to good effect.

[grayfox]

Right now he's sticking with the 150 gr bullets.

[Herzo]

Standard load is 47.0 hr 4064 behind a 147/150 hr FMJBT. Be careful about using slower powders in the Garand, it can result in a bent operating rod (expensve).

[Herzo]

Standard load for the Garand is 47.0 grains 4064 behind a 147/150 grain FMJBT. Be careful over using the slower powders due to bent operating rods.

[grayfox]

Thanks for the advice all, I'm definitely taking notes.
After the holidays hope to get together with him to see what he wants to do.
I've got both 4895's, Varget and the I-4064 so am in good shape powder wise.

[1Shot]

DO NOT USE FEDERAL 210 OR ANY FEDERAL PRIMER in the M1 Garand because it has a free floating firing pin. The federal primers are too sensitive with their thinner primer cup. You WILL HAVE SLAM FIRE WITH FEDERAL. Been there and done that. Any of the CCI, Rem 91/2 or Winchester work fine. I have been loading for and shooting the M1 Garand for about 40 years. With 150/55 gr bullets IMR 4895 is my favorite powder and a great target bullet is the 155 Nosler Custom Competition. With 168 Sierra Match King IMR 4064 does a bit better. If you want to shoot just one bullet that will work for both target and game give the Sierra 165 hollow point a try. For me it has been as accurate as the 168 MK and is a great deer bullet. I have killed a few deer with it out of my M1 Garands and 1903A3s. Be advised also to not expect long case life. The M1 Garand beats the crap out of cases and bends the rims pretty bad and can cause feeding problems eventually. After 5 firings I usually scrap my cases. I have a precious stash of LC match cases that get used for serious match shooting but for practice Rem or WW get used.

[grayfox]

Thanks 1shot... 210's are my go-to for my bolts but I do have the Wlr and lots of cci, so will stick with the harder cups for his Garand.
Things are quiet now, around the holidays, but I think action may pick up after Jan...
I've even got some of those 165's (and 168's) as you mention, even 150 Nosler BT's, will see what he wants to do.
They've been accurate in my 308, just don't shoot it much b/c of keeping recoil down for now.

[derek45]

This is from the old NRA book on the M1 rifle,

I feed mine 47-48gr IMR4895 / 150gr.

[Huckleberry75]

46.0gns of H4895, 165/168gn bullets @ 3.340" and a CCI-200 or CCI #34 primer in a couple different garands has proven very accurate and safe on the gas system.

[grayfox]

Appreciate all the info, the historical as well! Now that it's the new year I expect some projects in garand will crop up.

[TacomptonMatt]

I am new here but not to reloading for the Garand. H-4895 will be your friend with Garand loads. I have very good luck with that powder with bullets in the 150-168 grain range.

Cheers!

[Huckleberry75]

Here are a couple pics from the Hornady Manual that might be of assistance as well. The top bullets in the picture are 155 Amax/ELDM and 150gn BT-FMJ, but the pic got cut off. For what it is worth, either flavor of Amax/Eldm will be a fine option for a cross-over bullet to punch both steel and critters.

[lazyengineer]

Perfect timing - just fired 100 rounds through my Garand this weekend.


From my data-book, at 200 yards and 6:00 hold, looks like I click to about +6 (to +7) with the 168 gr handloads. And I'm running about the same when shooting 155 gr match handloads. And looks like the same when I'm running HXP M2 Ball. So to answer your question, most typical handloads will likely have similar POI as M2 Ball at 200 yards (ish).

My 168 gr loads this weekend were Nosler HPBT with 47.2 gr of IMR 4895.


Keep in mind a Garand is really about a 2-3 MOA gun (and sometimes much worse). A highly accurized Garand can reliably shoot in the 1 MOA range (maybe)... for a while. Point being if the POI moves less than 2 MOA, that may not even be noticed much. Also, Garand POI can change as the gun heats up. My first shot out of a Garand typically has a little lower POI than the rest of my shots. (not always). According to my data-book, I've fired about 3,500 rounds through this rifle.

One thing to keep in mind is the M1 Garand was developed for M1 Ball (174 gr boattail), NOT the 148gr M2 Ball. It was a spec that it had to shoot M2 Ball as reliably as M1 Ball; but it was actually developed around M1 Ball (since the surplus of M1 Ball was the whole reason for changing the Garand design to 30-06 spec to begin with). So that's what the sights are actually calibrated for - not M2 Ball like everyone thinks. So you don't have to stay with 150 gr, if you want to go any heavier. I run 165 gr Hornady Interbonds as my general purpose bullet now, and the gun loves it. I'm using IMR 4064 as my powder, but only because I have a lot. If I were starting from scratch, I'd probably roll with IMR 4166; as that's basically 4064 with the Enduron technology, which has copper fouling controls and better temperature stability. It's also cut a little bit finer for a little better flow characteristics in a hopper. At present, I'm just burning up my 4064 in my Garand, to use it there. Also, my Garand loves Varget and ARComp; and does fine with 4895. 4895 is one of the bench-mark go-to powders for the Garand, but it's a bit dirty I think. 45.9 gr of AR-Comp gives me 2730 FPS with a 168 in my Garand, which runs just fine.

[Herzo]

One serious concern is to never use a powder slower than IMR 4320 in the Garand. Slower powders can damage the operating rod - an expensive repair.