Commercial ammo usable in a new SA garand?

[outdoorman63]

picked up a SA Garand in 30-06 a couple of weeks ago,one of the new ones....and was wondering what commercial ammo can be shot out of these...i know there are a couple "black hills" but off the top of my head i cant remember.....wanted to buy a few boxes of misc to do some comparison shooting...have a can of the korean corrosive and a little of the non corrosive...any help appreciated..thanks

 

[MuzzleBlast]

As a general rule, stay with 150gr bullets and stay away from ammo that is loaded to enhanced velocity, and you should be okay. Also, you might consider getting an adjustable gas plug. These let you open up the gas system to keep the pressure under the level where gas system damage can occur.

 

[4v50 Gary]

Concur. Keep it milspec as the Garand is designed to operate within those limits. I wonder if we plugged the gas cylinder and made it a straight pull bolt if we can then use hotter handloads? The candidate of course would be a worn out gas cylinder.

 

[AZ Jeff]

Actually, MOST commercial "hunting loads" for .30/06, as loaded nowadays, are probably a little "hot" for the M1.

The gas system for the M1 was tailored for a very narrow range of propellant burn rates, and lots of modern ammo have burn rates that put to much pressure at the gas port, which, in turn, can play havoc on the gas piston/op rod.

I would stick with the generic "white box" type ball ammo if it was MY M-1. (I personally use either my own handloads or the commercial copies of ball ammo sold by Federal, PMC, etc.)

 

[B27]

I really can't see much point in buying commercial ammo for a Garand while the excellent Danish milsurp M2 already loaded in clips is still available.

www.ammoman.com

 

[VG]

Federal American Eagle FMJ
PMC Bronze Line

 

[762x51]

Georgia Arms also offers a Garand safe 150gr load.

http://www.georgia-arms.com/canned.htm

 

[Publicola]

Black Hills Gold & Federal Gold Match. Those are the only two commercial loads you should think about running through your Garand. & considering they both cost $1+ per round the key word is think.

I stick with mil-surp & very careful handloads. The mil-surp is good for plinking & the short range match & how can you turn your nose up at anything under $0.30 a round?

My handloads are closer to $0.57 per round but the quality is a whole lot closer to the Fed & Black Hills match ammo.

Here's something I wrote to kinda sum up the proper feeding of a Garand.



Firing in Eights; Things you should know about the proper feeding of an M1 Garand

& you will hear a lot of people say they've been using x-brand of commercial ammo for years & they've never had any problems. A lot of people load over the top of published recipes for hamdloads & have no problems either. I prefer to play it safe as I'm really not losing anything. Mil-surp is cheaper than any factory load in '06 & I know I won't have to buy a new op rod. My handloads run about the same or a little bit more than the bargain '06 commercial ammo but the overall quality is better w/ my handloads & I'm still certain that they're safe for the Garand.

 

[Publicola]

I wouldn't use the American Eagle or any other commercial ammo even if it's supposed to be a copy of mil-surp ammo. First of all most have MV's a little faster than M2 ball so that would make me think they are possibly using a powder with an incorrect burn rate. Second is that even if the MV is dead on with M2 ball that doesn't mean they're using a powder with the correct burn rate. If you really want to use commercial ammo then either get an adjustable gas system or writ ethe manufacturer & see if they'll tell you what the powder's burn rate is.

762x51,

I just e-mailed GA asking what the burn rate is for their '06 ammo. The velocity looks right but it's the port pressure that matters & that's directly related to burn rate. So when I get a reply I'll let ya know.

4v50 Gary,

actually if you modified the gas cylinder lock screw valve so it would vent all the gasses from the gas cylinder then you could have a straight pull Garand that would handle any commercial '06 ammo. No need to mess with a perfectly good gas cylinder at all. Or just get one of the adjustable gas kits from Schuster or McCann & adjust it to achive the same effect.

 

[outdoorman63]

one thing

well from what i keep reading is that a garand is going to be shot very little in the future unless you reload....supplies of mil surp is not going to last forever...i do plan on reloading for mine in the near future..but my goal is to find out what will shoot safely in them...cost wasnt a option..just trying to get a good refrence point for the future...

 

[Publicola]

After the Mil-surp stuff is gone we won't see really cheap '06. But have a little faith in the market. That whole supply & demand thing will kick in. After the mil-surp is gone some company (if not several) will start making Garand-safe loads for something not too unreasonable. I'd assume between 50 & 75 cents per round as well as the $1+ per round stuff.

& keep in mind Garand-safe loads are usually not at the top of the velocity pile, so commercial ammo makers don't really see how they'd break even let alone profit when the mil-surp stuff is half the price & the other ammo lines offer 100 to 200 fps more than the Garand-safe ammo. Most gun owners are velocity obsessed. if ya doubt me just ask Roy Weatherby.

A commercial outfit simply couldn't compete w/ the mil-surp stuff that's available now. 50 cents a round new v. 25 cents a round mil-surp? Only Congress would try something that foolish. But when the mil-surp is gone or its price shoots up due to scarcity then you'll see some commercial outfits trying to fill the breech.

When the commercial makers see a demand they'll create the supply. But handloading is something to get into if you like Garands.

& keep in mind all of this is dependent on keeping more gun &/or ammo control laws from being passed. The market will take care of your ammo needs as long as you keep congress from outlawing more guns &/or ammo.

 

[762x51]

I just e-mailed GA asking what the burn rate is for their '06 ammo. The velocity looks right but it's the port pressure that matters & that's directly related to burn rate. So when I get a reply I'll let ya know.

Please do. I was told by them a while back that they tailored the load to M2 specs. Have heard the same thing from many on battlerifles.com also.

 

[VG]

I wouldn't use the American Eagle or any other commercial ammo even if it's supposed to be a copy of mil-surp ammo. First of all most have MV's a little faster than M2 ball so that would make me think they are possibly using a powder with an incorrect burn rate. Second is that even if the MV is dead on with M2 ball that doesn't mean they're using a powder with the correct burn rate. If you really want to use commercial ammo then either get an adjustable gas system or writ ethe manufacturer & see if they'll tell you what the powder's burn rate is.

I based the suggestion on AE on the fact that Gus Fisher, a former USMC Rifle Team Armorer and noted Garandsmith has used AE for 20 years or so. His recommendation is good enough for me and I've used it extensively, especially at 600 yards in lieu of Federal Match. It is boat-tailed and chronos nearly identically with the Federal commercial ammo sold by CMP, leading many to conclude that they're identical.

I base the PMC Bronze line suggestion on the fact that PMC made the military 30.06 for the Korean Army and their customer service dept. told me it was Garand safe. They make several other 30.06 loads as well, which they do not recommend.

YMMV