Primers for the M1 Garand

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NotSoFast

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I can't find CCI #34 mil. spec. primers anywhere.

What primers have worked for you in reloading for the M1 Garand? And more important, have they ever caused slamfires for you? That is the one thing I am trying to avoid if at all possible.

I'm loading 44 grains of H 4895 behind a 150 grain Speer BT-SP bullet.
 
I've only used Remington 9 1/2 in Garands and never a problem. Just make sure every primer is seated slightly below flush. A primer pocket uniformer is a good tool for uniforming pocket depths plus a quick twist removes carbon after uniforming the 1st time.
 
I agree with rg, and the primer pocket uniformer but I have used standard CCI large rifle primers for M-1 use for 20 some plus years without problems. I also use a couple of M-1 Garands as part of my brace for High Power competition. One is a tuned 308, the other is CMP legal.

I tried some Rem 9 1/2's but found the CCI large rifle primer works a little better. The primer pocket uniformer was $ well spent and gave me the best bang for the buck when looking for a few more points.
 
*1 on using a primer pocket uniformer for autoloading rifles with a floating firing pin. I use Winchester primers for my Garand loads that use IMR4895 powder. If I were to use a ball powder, then I would use a CCI #34 primer or some other magnum primer for the harder to ignite ball powder.

Don
 
I've loaded several thousand rounds for my Garand, all with the regular CCI 200 large rifle primers.

44grs seems a little light, as my load for the 150gr FMJ's is 47.0gr, but if yours work...........
 
I also use 44gr of H4895 in my '55 Garand w/ CCI LR primers.
Pretty darn accurate @100yds.
 
Had a slam-fire a long time ago with an M1A (same bolt design as Garand's) when loaded with Federal GM primers. Switched to CCI 200, never had another.

Have to tell you - having a semi-auto double on you is a disconcerting experience, and attracts all kinds of attention on a firing line.

All floating-firing-pin guns need to use extra-hard primers.
I use CCI#34 nowadays. With the recent election-induced panic, reloading components are harder to find. Just wait, they will be available again (I hope I am not proven wrong this time).
LT
 
NSF,

In the last 8 years I have loaded and fired some 20k+ rounds for the M1 rifle without a problem. Approx. 80% of those were loaded with CCI 200's. The rest with WLR.

Best,
Swampy

Garands forever
 
"Had a slam-fire a long time ago with an M1A (same bolt design as Garand's) when loaded with Federal GM primers. Switched to CCI 200, never had another.

Have to tell you - having a semi-auto double on you is a disconcerting experience, and attracts all kinds of attention on a firing line."

So was it a double, or a true slam-fire? Doubling is often caused by not having a firm grip on the stock with the trigger hand. The first (and only) time this happened to me, shooting an M1, it certainly *was* most disconcerting.

I have never had a slam-fire, but my understanding is that seating the primers well below flush goes a long way toward solving the problem. FWIW, I have used Winchester primers for thousands of rounds of M1 and M1A ammo without incident.

Tim
 
Tim - it was a slamfire, not a limp-wrist / bump fire.
Happened during a HP match, I remember it well, scared the bejeebers out of me.

I would never seat primers below flush (.003+- below flush to be precise) - you need to feel the anvil's feet bottoming out in a primer pocket, and go no further. This sensitizes the primer pellet. You could crush the priming compound pellet if you do go further, happened to me more than once when I was learning reloading by trial-and-error. After getting a few duds, I called CCI folks who advised me of the correct procedure. Never had a dud afterwards.

Some reloaders tell me not to worry about it, they never had a problem mashing the primer until it won't seat any further. Poor reloading practice IMHO.
LT
 
I would never seat primers below flush (.003+- below flush to be precise) - you need to feel the anvil's feet bottoming out in a primer pocket, and go no further.

Huh? After you have uniformed a primer pocket to the proper depth, a properly seated LR primer cannot help but be seated below flush.

Don
 
"Huh? After you have uniformed a primer pocket to the proper depth, a properly seated LR primer cannot help but be seated below flush."

I'm with Don. Primers on military-style gas guns must be seated below flush for safety. Here is a good article on loading for the M1A (much of the info is applicable to M1):

http://www.zediker.com/downloads/14_loading.pdf

From the article:

"A uniformed pocket is assurance of consistent and adequate depth to get the primer the necessary 0.004 or more under the plane of the case head (0.008 isn’t too much)."

Tim
 
Tim, Don - you are quite correct. I did not compose my post properly.

My objection was to "seating the primers well below flush goes a long way toward solving the problem" statement, which sounded like mashing the primer into the pocket. My point was - the primer seating needs to be done with care, so that the pellet is sensitized properly.

After the primer pocket is uniformed (I use Midway carbide adjustable cutter), the primer will always be seated below flush - my cutter is adjusted for -.003

Thanks for the correction!
LT
 
I have never had a slam-fire, but my understanding is that seating the primers well below flush goes a long way toward solving the problem. FWIW, I have used Winchester primers for thousands of rounds of M1 and M1A ammo without incident.

You would think deep seating primers would make a difference, and maybe it does, but it does not totally prevent slamfires.

Current wisdom used to be as long as the primers were seated below the case head, nothing was going to slamfire. I found out that current wisdom was all bunk.

My second slamfire, and one that blew the back of a Garand receiver off, was with Federal primers. The cases were sized in a Bonaza match die, but that die was not a small base die, and the cases were a little fat. I had reamed all the LC Match primer pockets to depth, and primed by hand, but the rifle still slamfired out of battery as I fired rounds from the clip.

It is my considered opinion that overly sensitive primers are the primary cause of slamfires. And anything that delays bolt closure, like over long, or "fat" cases, just increases the chance of an out of battery slamfire.

Federal primers are the most sensitive primer around. I will never use Federal primers in a M1a or a M1 Garand again. And I would never ever recommend them for a gas gun.

Federals shoot just great in bolt guns. For coil cutting types, Federals are often the only primer that will ignite in their guns. (And these types then blame the primer manufacturer's for their problems!)

What you want is the "least" sensitive primer. Unfortunately #34's are hard to find at times. In my experience CCI200 are less senstive than the brass finish Winchesters. I have never used Remington's.

The best primers were the old nickel plated WLR, but Winchester stopped making those in 1999.
 
I use nickel plated WLR's for my M1 Garand loads, managed to luckily acquire a bunch before Winchester discontinued them.

I use the newer "brass" WLR's for my manually operated long guns.
 
Have to tell you - having a semi-auto double on you is a disconcerting experience, and attracts all kinds of attention on a firing line."

M-1's and M-14/M-1A's will double if you milk the trigger. It's really like a bump fire. I went through a priod of doubles after shooting my Smith 41 for BE.
 
Many years ago I used Federal primers. About 15 years ago I started having trouble finding Federals, so I switched to Winchester, which I am still using. I've never had any trouble with either.

CDD
 
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