what loads for WW2 Garand

[Fireguy]

What loads can be fired a WW2 Winchester Garand ? It is not my gun it belong to a friends ww2 vet. My 92 yr old Dad wants to shoot a M1 again. He is a WW2 Marine.

I want to find some ammo to shoot and give a box to my friends Dad for sharing the old vet experience .

Thanks for the help.

[IronsightsRifleman]

There are two schools of thought.
Winchester, Hornady, S&B, PPU, and many others make .30-06 Garand-safe ammo. Good luck finding any of it in today's market. The other school of thought is that the Garand is a beast and the bent oprod stories are exaggerated (ref. the controversial article in GCA magazine about a year ago) . For myself, I feel that any 150 - 167 grain ammo with a muzzle velocity under 2900-2800 fps respectively should be OK.

[BajaJames83]

My hornady reloading manual has some M1 Garand specific load data if you are interested I can send you some pictures.

[Rover]

I'd have to look for it, but somewhere I have a .308 & 30-06 specific manual that had a while section for Garands, there's a lot of recipes. That said, I've shot a lot of factory ammo out of my Garands and never bent an OP rod.

[Sailormilan2]

If you’re going to load some ammo, 45-49 gr IMR4895 with a 150 gr bullet.
43-47 with a 168 gr bullet.
IMR 4064 would be within a grain of that:

I believe that the following is from Master Po's Garand data.

Recommended .30 caliber M1 loadings from the NRA

147 - 155 grain FMJ or HPBT bullets
IMR 3031 - 48.0 grains
IMR 4895 - 49.0 grains
IMR 4064 - 50.0 grains
W748 - 48.0 grains
AA2460 - 49.0 grains
AA2520 - 51.0 grains
AA2495 - 50.5 grains
H4895 - 49.0 grains
BLC-2 - 49.0 grains
H335 - 49.0 grains
RL-12 - 48.0 grains


165/168 grain FMJ, HP or SP bullets
IMR 4895 - 47.0 grains
IMR 4094 - 48.0 grains
AA2520 - 47.5 grains
AA2495 - 47.0 grains
H4895 - 47.5 grains
BLC-2 - 49.0 grains
H335 - 47.0 grains
RL-12 - 44.5 grains


173/175 grain FMJ or HPBT bullets

IMR 4895 - 46.0 grains
IMR 4064 - 47.0 grains
AA2460 - 46.0 grains
AA2495 - 46.0 grains
H4895 - 47.0 grains
BLC-2 - 48.0 grains

180 grain FMJ, SP or HPBT bullets
IMR 4895 - 43.0 grains
AA2460 - 46.5 grains
AA2495 - 45.5 grains
H4895 - 44.0 grains
BLC-2 - 47.5 grains
RL-12 - 41.5 grains
Cases:
*The loads listed above use comerical cases* WW seems to be the best cases.

Primers:
I also recommend the use of WW large rifle primers due the fact that they are almost as hard as mil spec. The CCI #34 is a mil spec primer but, it's a MAG primer as well and should be used with ball powder. Federal Gold Medal Match primers are very good primers but, some say they are are very soft and should not be used in a "M" gun due to the fact of SLAM FIRES!

Powders:
As far as powders go IMR 4895,H4895 and IMR 4064 are great powders to use with the M1 in .30 cal. Some use Varget and VV140 but, your results may vary. A word to the wise: The old rule of thumb on powder is nothing faster than 4895 and nothing slower than 4064. Good words to load by.


Bullets: The 168 Sierra Match King and the 175 Sierra Match King are the two bullets I would look to if I was looking to make "Match" ammo for a 1-10 twist GI rifle. The 168 is a 300 meter bullet with a older designed boat tail. It still works great but, the 175 MK is the way to fly. The BC is something like 19% better and that translates to less knob twisting at 600 yards or so. The 175 Mk is basically a redesigned 173 gr GI match bullet built to stabilize in a 1-12 twist barrel. I would not shoot bullets any heavier than a 175gr in a GI gun that I really cared about. People used to shoot the 180 gr MK but, thats before the 175mk came out.


Match Loads:
The old standard "M72" LC match ammo shoots pretty good in GI rifles and Federal Gold Medal Match shoots really good in some rifles but, if you want to come up with a load that shoots like a house a fire try these out for size. * I can not profess to be the guy who came up with these super duty match loads. The M1 has been around a long time now and there really is nothing new as far as loads go. Sure the VLD bullets and new designer powders have come out and made things better? Right?.......Right. For my money these will work all day every day.*

175gr MK
WW large Pri
WW case
47gr 4064
3.340 OaL MAX

168 MK
WW Large Pri
WW case
48 4064
3.340 OAL MAX

4895 works just as well in these loads just adjust the charge per the chart above. H4895 never hurt a thing either.

_________________

[M1NM]

If you reload for M1 find old military brass. It's harder on the head to stand up to the beating the extractor gives it.

[sofbak]

OP, if you and your dad were in the San Diego area, I'd gladly fix him up with a bandolier of really good milsurp garand food. Only thing I'd ask in return is the opportunity to have a look at this Winchester Garand you mentioned!

[someoneeasy]

Where are you located OP? Do you have components already? I might have some to spare, only because he's a Marine.

[sofbak]

OP, if you and your dad were in the San Diego area, I'd gladly fix him up with a bandolier of really good milsurp garand food. Only thing I'd ask in return is the opportunity to have a look at this Winchester Garand you mentioned!

Oooops. I thought you had the rifle. But no worries.

So, if you and your dad are in the San Diego area, I will fix him up with both a Garand of his year/manufacturers choosing, AND a bandolier of milsurp ammo.

You can pay his range fee!