Garands and Boat Tails?

[DamnedDirtyApe]

My son gave me a box of Sierra 150gr HPBT's for Christmas to load for my Garand.

A reloader I trust recently told me boat tail bullets don't work well out of a Garand...something to do with the way it leaves the muzzle.

Anybody ever heard of this?

 

[riverdog]

Sounds like BS. USGI 150 FMJBT is a boat-tail.

 

[HankL]

Quite a few old time High Power shooters will tell you that a Sierra 168 gr HPBT will leave the muzzle just fine. The 150s should be no problem at all.

There have been many discussions over the years about boat tails vs flat base. Most of them have been pretty far out there in my oppinion.

 

[Blackcloud6]

>>Sounds like BS. USGI 150 FMJBT is a boat-tail<<

This is not correct. US M2 ball, 150 gr. is flat based. 147 gr, M80 ball (used in 7.62x51mm) is boat tailed.

The M1 Ball .30-06 was boat tailed but supposedly was discontinued for use because by the army as it flew to far for range saftey fans.

Thios problem cropped up again last year at Camp Custer, Michigan. The Army now does not allow M80 to be fired at the Custer ranges as it may fly far enough to impact on I-94. So. for Garand matches at Custer, they will only allow M2 ball to be fired.

My attached photo shows pulled M2 ball on the left and pulled M80 on the right.

But, you can use boat tails in the M1 Garand with no problem.

 

[Captal_de_Buch]

The 173 grain M72 Match round for the Garand (30-06) is a boat tail round.

 

[Dogsoldier]

NO STOP>>>DON"T USE THEM IN YOUR GARAND!!!!


They are too dangerous, send them to me for safe keeping!

 

[DamnedDirtyApe]

I thought the idea sounded like a lot of hooey...sorry, Dogsoldier, you're outaluck.

I do have some pulldown machine gun M-2's that mic all the way from .304 to .311 that I'll pay you to take!

Thanks for the replies, all.

 

[Mike Irwin]

"The M1 Ball .30-06 was boat tailed but supposedly was discontinued for use because by the army as it flew to far for range saftey fans."

No supposedly about it. The M1 ball ammo made firing ranges at a number of military ranges obsolete.

In one case at, IIRC, Ft. AP Hill in Virginia, the mess hall and several other buildings were ventilated by rounds that left the machine gun range.

M1 ball ammo had a maximum range of almost 3,000 yards more than the M1906/M2.

The M1 ball stayed in production until 1940, but only for aircraft machine gun use.

 

[Bottom Gun]

Accuracy wise, the boat tails work just fine in mine.
I use 147 and 165 gr.

 

[GooseGestapo]

My brother and I have experienced some difference in accuracy between '06's using boat-tail bullets and may explain the advice you got against using them from a Garand. Has to do mostly with chamber throats and muzzle crowns.

I have two '06's, both with 4-groove 24" barrels -same as Garand (both are Commercial Mausers with european mfg. barrels). My brother has a Rem 700ADL and a M1 Garand.
We have found that all except the Remington, shoot better with flat base bullets, all other things being the same. The Remington makes an exception for the Hornady SST 165 gr- the most accurate bullet through it, with a load of 58.5gr of H4350. My guns are hunting rifles and the flat base bullets shoot 3/8" to 1/2" better @100yds.(Sometimes one hole-1/2" vs. 3/4" groups) The Garand dosen't show a difference until you get on the 600yd line where the Boat-tails kick butt over the flat-base on windage and a little bit on drop......exactly what they were meant to do !!!!
BTW; the Garand is a converted mil-spec gun to National Match configuration that usually shoots 1.25 to 1.5 MOA with any decent load, for any decent #of shots !
My other brother is a .308wcf man- he see's the same situation from his pre'64 Win.mod70 fw, but since he only hunts, he uses 150gr Nosler Partitions for everything except rare occasion Pararie Dog hunts where he uses 110gr Sierra HP's. Still can't get him to try 125 Noslers- says there too expensive for shooting Rats !
He has a point !!!!