Recipes for Garand ammo

[Mr White]

Last week I loaded my first ever 30-06 ammo for my Garand using 45 gr of H4895, and Hornady 165 gr BTSPs. It shot terrible. Not nearly as accurate as the Greek surplus from the CMP. My buddy recommended I go to 46-47 gr for a more accurate load. I have 46.0, 46.5 and 47.0 loaded up to test, just haven't got out to test it yet.

Yesterday, I bought some Varget to try loading some .223 for my AR. Is Varget too fast or slow for a Garand? If its a good powder for the Garand, What's your favorite Varget load for your M1?

I'm starting to get bit hard by this reloading bug. I loaded some .223 for a match last weekend. 25.0 gr of H4895, Sierra 60 gr HP Varmiter, CCI primers. My score jumped 20 points for no reason I could see other than better ammo. SF Prone stage, I hammered 8-X and 5-10, unheard of for me. Good ammo rocks!!

 

[BsChoy]

Varget will work it is a touch slower than 4895 but still very close to same burn rate...should be able to do 46-47 grains without issue. Try IMR 4064 as well it is a staple for the garand

 

[USSR]

Your buddy is correct, you need to use more powder. About 46.5gr of 4895 would be good. Varget is fine; 47.0gr will work.

Don

 

[Deanimator]

Hornady 165 gr BTSPs.

Unless you're planning to hunt, you'll want to use a more appropriate bullet.

Try the Sierra or Hornady 168gr. BTHP.

I used IMR4895 and AA2495BR with these bullets in my Garand with decent results. The latter was VERY accurate, but had a HUGE muzzle flash. The first match I shot using AA2495BR, the guy next to me thought my gun had blown up.

 

[Mr White]

Yeah, I know they aren't the best bullets to use. They are what the local store had and they were on sale fairly cheap. I bought 200. I have to get some BTHPs w/o a cannelure.

Sounds like one of the the loads I have w/ 46-47gr should work. I'll try the Varget next. Should I start at 47.0 or work up to 47.0? I'll pick up a pound of 4064 and play with that too.

Thanks for the advice. I Since I started shooting, I've been drawn more to accuracy than I have to maximum volume of downrange lead. I was just amazed by the .223 I loaded last week and have similar hopes for my other guns.

 

[TimT]

I use h4895, trimmed, cci m-34 primers, Nosler partition 180PP @2640fps and 8240psi muzzle pressure per quickload. just took out a nice blue wolf here a couple of days back with that load at a running shot approx. 150yds or so in the shoulder. I'd say this powder works out just fine.

 

[Deanimator]

A lot of people seem to like CCI primers for the M-1 and M-1A because they're harder and less prone to slam fires.

That's certainly not a bad thing, although I've shot hundreds [thousands?] of Federal 210Ms without a single problem.

 

[TimT]

are the cups of the Fed. primers soft or hard in normal comparisons? I have heard from a few Garand shooters/reloaders mention they too use 210's-it was all about "slam-fires" when I began to search this rifle out to reload. sounds like a nightmare.

 

[USSR]

Sounds like one of the the loads I have w/ 46-47gr should work. I'll try the Varget next. Should I start at 47.0 or work up to 47.0? I'll pick up a pound of 4064 and play with that too.

Like all new loads, start a bit lower and work up to it.

I have heard from a few Garand shooters/reloaders mention they too use 210's-it was all about "slam-fires" when I began to search this rifle out to reload.

If you don't seat your primer below the base of the case, no matter what primer you use, you are liable to have a slam fire. Use a primer pocket uniformer and always make sure you have no "high" primers. If you are using a ball powder, then the #34 is a good primer to use as it is hot like a magnum primer, and ball powders need a hot primer. I use surplus IMR4895, which is an extruded powder, and the Winchester WLR primers work fine.

Don

 

[Deanimator]

are the cups of the Fed. primers soft or hard in normal comparisons? I have heard from a few Garand shooters/reloaders mention they too use 210's-it was all about "slam-fires" when I began to search this rifle out to reload. sounds like a nightmare.

I no longer load for the Garand, but all of the .30-06 and .308 I've loaded recently, I uniformed the primer pockets and deburred the flash holes on each case before the first loading. I've never had a slamfire in a lot of .30-06 loaded for the Garand.

 

[Happyshooter]

I get very good accuracy in both my Garands with Sierra 150gr SptBt, CCI Mil primers, and 44.8gr of Varget.

This is not even close to a warm load, but it keeps the impacts close to each other.