hows my garand load sound (my starting load)

[FlyinBryan]

just finished loading my first batch with hodgdon h4895.

according to the burn rate chart i have, its a little different than imr, but both are a little faster than varget.

my beginning load is 46.5g of h4895 with a 150g fmjbt. my o.a.l. is 3.320 with once fired brass trimmed to 5 thousanths shorter than max.

does this sound like im in the ballpark for my starting point?

i wouldnt bother posting this but i am seeing such wide ranges for starting points, i figured maybe someone here is loading for a garand already, and with the oprod problems that folks talk about with powders on the slow end, i figured the more opinions the better.

 

[Riss]

Use whatever Hodgdon states for a starting point and work up the load from there according to their rules and you should be ok. Not sure about the oal or trimming though.

 

[dmazur]

Here's one I got off of Handloads.com -

150gr FMJ 46.0 gr H4895 2,600 fps 3.18" LR guest
I built this load for the M1 Garand. Hodgdon or IMR 4895 have pretty much the same burn rate and were developed for the M1. This load is very accurate and works the action of the rifle just fine. My main concern here was not over power the op rod and get good performance. I used LR #34 Nato primers.

I use 46.0 gr of Varget, Winchester LR primers, COL 3.200" Hornady 150gr FMJBT, but I use a McCann adjustable gas nut to provide minimum reliable action cycling.

IMO, as you're not shooting in battle conditions where reliability is life or death, I would use an adjustable gas nut even if you're using an "approved Garand powder". While it's not required to save the op rod, it does let you reduce the battering of the receiver heel.

Edit - (from another site)

Some of the IMR & Hodgdon powders started out as the same (DuPont made them for the military in WW2, Hodgdon bought them as surplus after the war). Today the IMR powders are made in Canada, the Hodgdon powders are made in Australia. To confuse things a little more the Accurate powders (many item by item copies) are made in the Czech Republic. They are all different attempts to make the same product - but the data, while close, is not interchangeable.

I just caught that the data I quoted inferred that H4895 and IMR4895 are "pretty much the same"... Use the manuals -- they aren't interchangeable (though they might have been many years ago.)

 

[skidooman603]

Same as I use Bryan