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M1 Garand Reloading Book or data source

I reload 30-06 for Benchrest... don't laugh, people did until I started placing regularly at club shoots. ;D I also reload other calibers for benchrest such as 30BR and 223. Anyways... I, like many others, have a collection of the fun rifles like the M1 etc. 8)

I want to start a chapter in my reloading book to feed my Korea era Garand I recently acquired. Does anyone have a good source they would recommend buying or accessing to start reloading for my Garand.

I have Varget, H4895, Benchmark, and RL15 at my fingertips. Comments welcome.
 
I run 46gn H4895, 168SMK, Winchester primer in HXP brass at 3.285" OAL for my M1 XTC load. It shoots as good as I can hold with the somewhat shifty non-bedded M1.
There is load dats for this combo that says 47.5gn is max, I wouldn't go over 46 though with current lot H4895 as primers start to show high PSI above that for me in 2 Garands. (one is same as yours, CMP Service Grade Special)

This link http://web.archive.org/web/20000620055732/home.att.net/~Masterpo/M1load.htmhas a bunch of NRA load data and is what many I know use as a starting guide for Garand PSI type loading. Start a few grains lower than listed max loads as always.
 
same you cant go wrong with 46gr h4895 has been my grand load for years,I have been getting good results using 155 matchkings and last time I took her out i tried 3 on paper at 600yards and they were just over 6 inches, that was prone with a good sling
 
the long shot,

You're on the right track here with the materials you've already got on hand. Nothing slower than the 4895/4064/RL-15 range, and no bullets heavier than the 175s and you're likely good to go. Remember, the Garands can be damaged by loads that are perfectly safe in terms of chamber pressure, if the port pressures are too high. That's caused by using too slow a powder, and is simple enough to remedy. The issue here is bending the op rods, which are getting ever harder to replace these days.

Also, the Garands were designed around bullets no heavier than 175 grains, and will perform best if you stick within those parameters. I've seen a few that were set up for heavier bullets, but that's the key right there; "set up for." Smaller gas ports, and other changes of that nature, to mitigate the battering that otherwise results. Besides, there's precious little you'd ever want to do with an M1 that a 175 won't accomplish with ease.

Lastly, in any semi-auto, the choice between F/L and N/S is no choice at all; Full Length size, always, without fail. The only exception to this is if you choose to use Small Base dies, which is a perfectly good choice for the Garand. Just a little added insurance there, and that's never a bad thing. You may also want to get used to the idea of three firings, and toss, on a case. Like it or not, the Garands (as well as the M14s that followed them), are brutally, mercilessly and horribly hard on brass. Just the way it is, and there's not a bunch you can do about it, short of converting it to a straight-pull bolt design by disabling the gas system. Great rifles and quite a history to them, but they do have some quirks when it comes to loading.
 
+1 for what Kevin says. The thing that I did for over 40 years of shooting "Man Guns" was to check my fired cases with the wire test for incipient head separations. If the case feels even a wee rough--do not reload it! Another powder that these guns like is N140.
Craig
 
You can't forget the classic, definitive article on loading for the M1 by John Clarke in the American Rifleman.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/40852596/Reloading-for-the-M1-Rifle-J-Clarke

BTW, it's gas volume & port pressure, not bullet weight that matters.
 
Bullet weight does matter, albeit not quite so much in relation to port pressure issues which could be adjusted for, but for the added recoil. Maybe not so much for a rack-grade gun, but if it's bedded, the heavier weights will put a beating on them and make for frequent trips to the bench to be touched up or surface bedded.

Ah, the joys of a "real rifle."
 

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