CMP Garand and Greek ammo

[BullRunBear]

I'm seriously thinking about ordering a CMP Garand, most likely Service grade. It would be used for fun target shooting out to 200 yards at most. (Can't see much farther with iron sights, anyway.) Since I'm not shooting in competition I figured I would save $300 with the Service grade instead of the Special grade and put the savings into ammo.

Is the 30-06 Greek surplus ammo a decent value? I read it is reloadable and I'm set up to reload for the caliber at the proper M1 pressures. Also, can the en bloc clips be reused? Was looking at the 192 rounds in en bloc for $115.

Thanks for any help.

Jeff

 

[mtlucas0311]

You won't be disappointed in your choice of the service grade, I personally think it's the way to go. I would recommend shooting a few Garand matches at a local club or up at Perry in July, a nice service grade will do just fine and the entire match is shot at 200. It's an incredibly fun match to shoot and is much better than just shooting casually at open shooting.

Yes, the Greek (HXP head stamp) is very good ammo to use with your Garand, and is the best value I'm aware of. Accuracy is decent but not great, but the brass is pretty darn good and can be reloaded several times as long as you don't go crazy with the load. Take a look at some of the new manufacture ammo they have as well, some of it is almost worth the price of the brass alone. Get as much of the Greek surplus as you can, once it's gone you'll wish you had bought more and it isn't getting any cheaper. Enbloc clips can be used just about forever it seems, lol.

 

[carbine85]

The ammo is pretty good and clean burning. I have 500 - 600 rounds left. I was surprised with the variations in velocity from the ammo. It was as high as 200 FPS.

 

[cfullgraf]

Besides being good to shoot, Greek HXP ammunition has good brass and reloads very well. Save your brass even if you do not reload, it can be used for bargaining for other stuff or even some cash.

For a first Garand, as a minimum, a service grade is a good choice.

 

[1KPerDay]

Good choice, good ammo, yes you can reload it, and clips can be reused. You may or may not have minor problems using greek clips with GI cases or vise versa. I haven't had trouble and use them interchangeably (HXP brass is kind of a hybrid rim; .30-06 case dimensions but the rim cutout is the same as 7.62 nato).

 

[Orlando]

There is no such thing as Greek enblocs. HXP comes loaded on USGI, French and German enblocs
There is a issue with some of the foreign enblocs not working with all years of HXP. The bevelled cut at the rim changed in later HXP and caused someissues

 

[BullRunBear]

Guys, Thanks for the good info. All my mil-surp guns are bolt actions from before WW II. Figure it's time to 'modernize' the collection with a semi-auto. And the CMP Garands won't be available forever.

Jeff

 

[Hardtarget]

I've shot and reloaded a good amount of the Greek ammo. You'll be glad you've got an M1 as time goes on.
There's just something about those old rifles that makes you grin!

Mark

 

[captmoto]

This a good resource for reloading your M1. There is not much need to mess with it as these loads are tried and true. Remember to start at 10% under and take it from there.
http://masterpostemple.bravepages.com/M1load.htm