Garand accuracy discovery

[jr_roosa]

So, I took a collection of different reloads out with my Garand the other day to see what works the best. Nothing scientific, just whatever I had on the shelf from the mix-and-match that came from the recent component shortage.

I'm shooting a CMP Special Grade prone with a sling. 10 round groups. 600yd reduced target shot at 100yds.

Hornady 150gr FMJBT with Win 748
Hornady 150gr FMJBT with 4064
SMK 175 with VV N150
SMK 168 with VV N150
CMP HXP

Basically with any of my reloads I can keep 10 rounds in the black and HXP throws a few outside of the black. Basically 4 inch groups or so.

The big discovery...I can stop messing around with fine tuning my reloads and spend more time fine tuning the shooter!

I think that I'll go with the chapest recipe and in a few months try the experiment again and see what I get. Time to buy some 4064 and some hornady bullets.

-J.

 

[dc.fireman]

You know - I've always had a question concerning the 'reduced' target(s):

Are they effective? The reason I ask, is because although you're essentially 'fooling' your eyes, by having a smaller target at a shorter distance, the bullet still travels on the same trajectory - it doesn't care if the target is 10 ft or 1000 ft. from the muzzle.

I have some of the military 25 yard sight in targets, which are based on the same idea, and always wondered how they really work...?

-tc

 

[jr_roosa]

Sure, they are effective with a couple of shortcomings...

They're good for getting an idea of score...the aiming black on a 200 yard target intended for standing rapid fire looks just as big as the 600 yard prone slow fire target from the firing line, and on the reduced targets the blacks are the same size, but the slow fire target has only the 9 and 10 ring in the aiming black, but the prone target black covers 7-10 rings.

They are good for having the same sight picture no matter what range you shoot at. I have a super small reduced target for dry fire practice in the back yard.

The main shortcoming is that at 600 yards you have to take wind and other factors into account much more than at 100, so shooting a 600yd reduced target at 100yards doesn't completely replicate the difficulty of long range shooting.

Of course, you shoot the reduced targets at 100yards with your 100yard sight setting, and it doesn't help you figure out what your drop will be at 600 yards.

I mainly use the 100 yard targets because that's about as far as I can see bullet holes reliably with my el Cheapo spotting scope.

-J.

 

[dc.fireman]

Gotcha. I kinda figured that was the case - you can fool your eyes, but not gravity.

 

[Slamfire]

Basically with any of my reloads I can keep 10 rounds in the black and HXP throws a few outside of the black. Basically 4 inch groups or so

.

The accuracy criteria for a new 1950's NM Garand was 3.5 MOA. The military tested about 700 new NM rifles and decided that was the acceptable criteria.

This is a 200/300 yard 5V target. This is what you shot on in competition, and also qualifying. All you had to do was hit the black and you got the highest score. Today’s NRA decimal target has a X ring, a ten ring, and a nine ring inside a similar diameter black.

This target was perfectly adequate for rack grade Garands. Only later was the 5V retired when better shooting rifles needed a more difficult target to discriminate between shooters.




This is one of my rack grade Garands shot prone, 19 shots at 100 yards. This is not exceptional, it is just what you would expect from a decent rack grade rifle.



When you qualified, you were issued a rifle that had been fired some god awful amount of times. One shooter I know, the rifle he was issued to shoot for qualification, he could stick a bullet up to the case neck in the end of the barrel. He pointed this out to the Range Officer, who shook his head, and handed the rifle back to him. Needless to say, he did not score Expert that day.


The "real question": With your Garand, offhand at 200 yards, can you beat Lee Harvey Oswald?