Bullet length...

[Hardtarget]

I'm gathering supplies to load for my M1 garand. Picked up primer, powder, and bullets today. They had 150 gr, fmj, boat tail. Is that O.K....or must I use flat base?
When I got home, I compared to the Greek HXP and they don't look like they are as long as the projectile used in the HXP ammo. (I'm just holding the bullet next to a loaded round.)
Also, this new bullet has a crimping groove, the Greek does not.
So, I'm wondering, is the flat base bullet longer than the boat tail...even when they are the same weight?
If I seat to the crimp groove it will make the ammo shorter than the Greek ammo. That seems like a bad situation to me. Will the ammo feed? Will the shorter ammo be accurate? Is the shorter over all length even safe? If I leave the bullet out further, to get length close to the same, there isn't much bullet for the case to grip.

Maybe I'm making a mountain of a mole hill.

If you have insight on this, I'd appreciate the info.

Thanks...in advance.

Mark

 

[dmazur]

I'm no Garand expert, but I have done quite a bit of reloading for one.

I've had good results with Hornady 150gr FMJBT's. I noticed (as did you) that these aren't as long as military ammo when seated to the cannelure. They seem to feed and shoot just fine.

With my limited experience, and not worrying about competition accuracy, I just seat to the cannelure and use a slight crimp to guarantee the bullet doesn't move.

I've read that you don't have to seat to the cannelure and also that crimping is unnecessary.

I don't have any hard data to support the last two items, but I do remember some really good photos that show bullet damage from trying to crimp where there is no cannelure (!) so I'm not about to do that.

Someone else probably has more on this than I can offer...

 

[USSR]

Hardtarget,

Here's what you do: Disregard the bullet cannelure. Measure up from where the bullet boattail ends (where the bullet becomes full diameter) about .300" and mark the bullet there. Then, seat your bullet to that point. This ensures that you have enough of the bullet in the case to grip it properly. The Garand is not fussy about OAL. With good reloading practices, it should outshoot your HXP ammo.

Don

 

[Sport45]

As Don mentioned set OAL to case length plus bullet length minus bullet diameter and you're good to go. Don't worry if your OAL varies by +/- 0.005" or so. It will.

I don't crimp for my M1 and mostly disregard the bullet cannelure. If you are more comfortable crimping then let the cannelure determine the seating depth.

 

[Hardtarget]

Thanks, guys! This is my first attempt to reload for my M1 and I wanted to double check on this...didn't want to damage the gun (or me ). I knew several of the "High Road" group could lead me correctly. That difference in length kind of spooked me.

Thanks again!

Mark