Hunting ammo for Garand

Schuster Adjustable Gas Plug so you can use all sorts of commercial hunting ammo.

Nathan,

What do you think of the Garand Gear ported plug? I'm considering buying one so I can shoot commercial ammo, and I'll be following this thread closely.

Shafter, take a look at the Hornady 30-06 M1 Garand offering( P/N 81170). It utilizes the most excellent A-Max bullet, in the 168gr. flavor.
If you can stay this side of 250 yards (because of impact velocity), the A-Max will do an excellent job on whitetail.

I havent heard of this , just now. If it works, then go for it. ANother is the McCann , you only find the plug that works for that particular load.

Uncle Mike said:

Shafter, take a look at the Hornady 30-06 M1 Garand offering( P/N 81170). It utilizes the most excellent A-Max bullet, in the 168gr. flavor.
If you can stay this side of 250 yards (because of impact velocity), the A-Max will do an excellent job on whitetail.

Click to expand...

Is that the JHP bullets that Hornady loads in their Vintage Match series? If so, Hornady really does do a great job with matching their ballistics to the surplus guns they're meant for. I often find my handloads are just trying to meet the accuracy level of the Hornady loads.

Don't know how those loads would do on deer.

While I can't speak of the 168gr Amax, the 178gr Amax in a .30-06 is good deer round.

Don

Since the days are getting numbered before hunting season and apparently the ammunition available to you is limited and you can't special order ammunition in your state I would run with as others suggested Schuster Adjustable Gas Plug. Either the Shuster or similar gas solution anyway. You also want to move on this so you can get things setup and do several target rounds to see how the rifle behaves and where it is hitting.

Eventually you may want to consider rolling your own so you can make your own M1 Garand hunting ammunition. For now the $36 investment in a Shuster plug plus S&H is a good move.

Ron

Short clip too

Most states do not allow more than a 5 round mag/clip to be carried in the field when hunting.

Loading up a 8 round clip with only 5 rounds is likely to get you a ticket and poosible loss of hunting rights & the rifle too.

Check VERY carefully before tempting fate.

I have a 2 round clip for the M-1 Garand just for hunting,they do make a 5 rounder but I have not found it yet.

I think Brownells has the 5 rounders, I picked some up last year. If not there, it was Midway USA.

Any of the "standard" .30/06 loads with 150gr bullets will work well. Most are loaded with faster burning powders to keep mfg. costs down and are therefore Garand friendly.

I'd suggest either the Remington 150gr "Corlokt" or the Federal "Game-shok". These are some of the least expensive factory loads, typically "hunting" accurate (or better), and are loaded to "standard" .30/06 pressures and velocities.
Besides that, they are the "standard" by which all other "deer" loads/cartridges are measured against. (The Winchester, PMC, Hornady, ect are similar, but not as widely available at this time.).

Just avoid any "extended range", or bullet/loads over 165gr and you'll be "ok" with the Garand. The Hornady "SuperFormance" is an example of what you should avoid.
The Monarch brand as sold by Academy Sports would also be a decent choice. I've shot deer with the PPU (manuf. of "Monarch" ammo) 150gr Soft Points over 48.0-50gr of IMR4064 (Garand safe loads) and got acceptable results.

The CMP garand forum at one time had a list of commercial hunting ammo that was safe in a Garand with a USGI gas plug. I believe plain old Remington 150 grain Cor-Lokt was on the list.

I'd love to see that list, if somebody's google-fu is up to finding it and posting it here (or sending a link).

Good to know that 150 grain core lokt is acceptable.


Thanks,l

This may be a little more detailed then what you need but I think it'll help:

http://www.garandgear.com/index.php...mercial-ammunition-in-your-m1-garand&catid=39

Is that the JHP bullets that Hornady loads in their Vintage Match series? If so, Hornady really does do a great job with matching their ballistics to the surplus guns they're meant for. I often find my handloads are just trying to meet the accuracy level of the Hornady loads.

Click to expand...

Yup-

shafter said:

I will definitely be buying a 5 round clip or two to keep legal in my state.

About the Schuster adjustable plug - how difficult is it to install? Will I need any gunsmithing or is it something simple like removing the current one and installing the adjustable?

Click to expand...

No gun smithing required and very easy to install. If you look back to the link I provided everything you need is included with the plug. While it is not absolutely needed as other members have posted ammunition (hunting) you can use it is certainly a nice to have.

Ron

With the adjustable plug, wouldn't it still be possible to create too much pressure on the op rod? Do they come with instructions for starting settings to be used with normal 30-06 ammo?

TxBobS said:

...wouldn't it still be possible to create too much pressure on the op rod?

Click to expand...

Well, yes. A lot of things are possible.

However, the instructions for the Schuster state to start with the insert screw backed out all the way, shoot and observe, then adjust for less gas venting until you get proper action cycling.

And the instructions for the McCann state to start with the largest orifice size, shoot and observe, then try smaller ones until you get proper action cycling.

The idea is shoot and adjust. Every time you change ammunition type.

If you start small and work larger, you are doing it backwards and risk bending the op-rod.

I have both the Schuster and McCann and I prefer the McCann because I can swap between two different orifice sizes to match two different (but known) ammo types without repeating the somewhat time-consuming and ammo burning adjustment procedure.

I don't know how I would adjust the Schuster with any repeatability without going through the procedure again from wide open.

(Of course, now that I've settled on the McCann, I find I mostly shoot one load, anyway... )

I think commercial M-1 loads are few and far between. You could pull bullets and put in a soft point of the same weight.

I have the SChuster and i tailored the adjustment to the Winchester SUper X 150 gr SP load. For
I was planning to use the Garand when hunting hog .

When not hunting , i just remove it and put the regular gas plug to shoot surplus .3006. Simple as that.

Garand Gears Ported plug is a simple solution to the problem. There is no messing around with vents, or adjustment screws to block the gas port. I bought a bunch, and they work as advertised with anything I have gotten my hands on. Also works fine with surplus m-2 ball. I really like these plugs. You just run whatever you come across, and as long as your using the plug, your good to go.

GooseGestapo said:

Any of the "standard" .30/06 loads with 150gr bullets will work well. Most are loaded with faster burning powders to keep mfg. costs down and are therefore Garand friendly.

I'd suggest either the Remington 150gr "Corlokt" or the Federal "Game-shok". These are some of the least expensive factory loads, typically "hunting" accurate (or better), and are loaded to "standard" .30/06 pressures and velocities.
Besides that, they are the "standard" by which all other "deer" loads/cartridges are measured against. (The Winchester, PMC, Hornady, ect are similar, but not as widely available at this time.).

Just avoid any "extended range", or bullet/loads over 165gr and you'll be "ok" with the Garand. The Hornady "SuperFormance" is an example of what you should avoid.
The Monarch brand as sold by Academy Sports would also be a decent choice. I've shot deer with the PPU (manuf. of "Monarch" ammo) 150gr Soft Points over 48.0-50gr of IMR4064 (Garand safe loads) and got acceptable results.

Click to expand...

In my travels up and down the East Coast this summer, I kept my eye out for 150 gr 30-06 for one of my brothers for just this very rifle.

150 gr should work just fine.