First Powder Used In M1 Loads?

[ACP230]

I am almost sure I read that 4895 was the first, or one of the first, powders used for ball ammo for the M1 Garand.
Of course, I can't find the reference anywhere.
Can anyone point me to one?

It doesn't help that two of my reloading manuals have disappeared in the last week or two.

 

[Jim Watson]

IMR 4895 did not come out until 1940, so the 1936 Garand had to start out with ammo being loaded then. Probably with IMR 16, but I can't be sure from what Hatcher and Sharpe say.

 

[Paul "Fitz" Jones]

Garand Powder

When I competed with my issue Garand and was given thousands of rounds while in high school I started my first reloading business with the help of my school welding and gunsmithing instructor and I converted some of the GI 06 ammo to 7.7 jap to sell for reloading tools. In pulling the bullets I found 50 grains of 4895 that moved a 150 gr ball bullet at 1,700fps.

I fire formed the cases to 7.7 Jap with 45 grains and loaded the finished cases with .311 bullets with 45 grains of 4895 or 3031 which ever I got the best price on if my memory serves me from 50 years ago.

My team captain General felt that later issuing me AP ammo was more accurate for the 600 and 1,000 yard ranges.

Between my High School Cadet Corps and the Guard I was given at least 30 wood cases holding 1,500 rounds of cardboard boxes of 20 rounds. They would be collectable now.

Fitz

 

[Grump]

From what I dimly remember (no, it as NOT in my lifetime! Just reliable DOD/NRA/Phil Sharpe type sources), the original powder for new M2 Ball ammo for the Garand is something quite unfamiliar to us these days, which is also no longer made.

eClancy can clue us in a bit. There were some testy memos exchanged between various players regarding how the existing ammo functioned, how the current-production stuff was working, and how hot to load the rounds. For new production, I believe one of the powders was NOT used because it was associated with extractors cutting into the caseheads on the bolt rotation part of the unlocking cycle.