Reloading for M1 Garand

[hardlyworking]

I'm trying to get a light load, trying to keep recoil low.

What I have now is Sierra 125gr TMK flat base bullet sitting on 50.0 grains of H4895. This will pretty much lock the bolt back and give me a PING when I put one on the follower, push the clip down and single load with the clip in.

When I load a full 8 rounds in the clip, and fire, the bolt does not pick up the first 2 rounds from the clip. My guess is that there is too much drag on the bottom of the bolt as it rides over the cases?

But its hard to know for sure without some kind of high-speed camera.

Give it a bit more powder and try again?

[the_tunaman]

Do you have a gas plug? I’d suggest getting a Garand Gear gas plug if you don’t have one already.

I’ll grab my load data and post it up in a few - never had a problem with my reloads cycling any of mine.

[sofbak]

Short stroking from insufficient gas pressure with a reduced load. The cartridge feeding system starts with the follower, connected to the follower arm, connected to the follower rod, connected to the op rod spring inside the op rod. (Whew!).

With a full clip that system compresses the op rod, so it is under load. As cartridges are fired and ejected the whole system moves reducing the compression on the op rod spring, thus reducing resistive force necessary to cycle the gun.

If it cycles normally with six or fewer cartridges, you are very close to the critical minimum pressure needed to cycle the gun with a full clip.

Boost your load by half a grain and see what results.

Edit: I googled it and saw that most garand drivers using your load combination are somewhere between 47 and 50 gr of IMR4895. So before you boost your load weight, ensure your garand is sufficiently lubricated in all these areas that need grease:

The op rod pocket that the right bolt lug rides in.
The grooves in the receiver that the follower slides in.
The groove in the receiver that the left bolt lug slides in
The groove on the right side of the receiver that the op rod tab slides in.
Inside the heel of the receiver where the back end of the bolt slides during cycling.
The grooves in the bottom of the follower that the follower arm slides in.
The pins on the back of the follower that connects to the forks in the follower rod.
The exterior of the op rod spring.
The op rod surface that slides between the bottom of the barrel and the op rod catch.

Then do the tilt test......

If it doesn't pass the tilt test, then you may have a gas leak, worn op rod piston, or some mild interference between a couple of these moving parts-most likely the op rod rubbing somewhere it shouldn't-like the op rod in the metal channel in the front handguard, the front ferrule on the front handguard, or some other area the op rod is rubbing against. Good luck tuning the op rod-it is an art form.

Gas leaks are typically from a loose gas cylinder, worn gas cylinder bore, or worn op rod piston.

HTH

[hardlyworking]

Great, great info!

I broke everything down, cleaned and lubed when I got it from CMP, but then it sat for a year in the safe standing up on its but plate. At the time I did the tilt-test but for the life of me I can't remember what it consists of now. A quick youtube will fix that.

At the time I bought powder IMR4895 was what lots of internet searches led me to, but only thing available locally was Hodgedon 4895, which many people said was "real close", and almost all my other powders are Hodgedon so I've been using that because they publish vastly reduced load data (or at least tell you how safely).

I tested all the way down to 35 grains, gun went bang every time, no bullets stuck in the barrel, but I wouldn't get a PING below 45, and not reliably until 50, even 50 is probably on the ragged edge of reliability for single loads with the clip. I wouldn't be surprised if I need to bump it up to 52+

[sofbak]

H4895!? My bad I read it as IMR4895. True they are very close cousins in burn rate.

Chech the gas cylinder-if it moves with a twisting motion between thumb and forefinger, you might be losing sone pressure there.

If the gun is adequately lubed and functional, try some ladder loads in half grain increments-50.5, 51, 51.5 and 52.

Again if it feeds and functions ok with 6 or fewer rounds in the clip, you're very close to the minimum pressure needed.

[Mac Attack]

[OpenSightsOnly]

I'm trying to get a light load, trying to keep recoil low.

What I have now is Sierra 125gr TMK flat base bullet sitting on 50.0 grains of H4895. This will pretty much lock the bolt back and give me a PING when I put one on the follower, push the clip down and single load with the clip in.

When I load a full 8 rounds in the clip, and fire, the bolt does not pick up the first 2 rounds from the clip. My guess is that there is too much drag on the bottom of the bolt as it rides over the cases?

But its hard to know for sure without some kind of high-speed camera.

Give it a bit more powder and try again?

So with your 8-round clip, the 1st round chambers, ignites, and finally ejects but the 2nd or 3rd round from the clip does not chamber, yes?

Assuming that the gas cylinder and op rod piston of your rifle are in-spec, the problem could be your 8-round clip. Have you tried another clip?

Also, if you are firing the rifle standing, without any support, then you could be flinching.

I use 47 grains of H4895, IMR 4895, or 8208XBR with the M1 along with the 125 grain flat base SMK. No issues.

[highpower790]

Use a bullet no heavier than 175gr,a medium burn rate powder.Myself,when a reduced charge is used Im usually 4-5grs below max,and may use a bullet as light as 125gr.
Loaded correctly/properly the M1 doesnt need a special plug!