Garand Reloading recipe request

[Citadelgrad87]

The garand bug hit me hard. I have almost 2K of the Greek stuff, but as I shoot it, I find myself picking up the spent casings out of habit.

Anyone reload for the Garand?

I understand that there are separate charts for Garands re their dislike for hot/fast powders.

Thanks for any recipes and other tips.

[Timberwolf]

Here's a link to a discussion on it. Its been years since I reloaded for a Garand but IIRC my recipe was LC Match Brass, CCI primer, 47.9 IMR 4064 and 150 or 168 SMK

http://www.odcmp.org/new_forum/topic.asp?ARCHIVE=true&TOPIC_ID=8645

[NRAhighpowershooter]

For general plinking and such I load 47.0 gr of either IMR4064, IMR4895, H4895 with a M2 150gr FMJ.

For 'match' loads.. I use 46.0gr Varget and a 168gr SMK. I use either Greek or LC brass and a CCI400 primer with primer pockets uniformed and all brass trimmed from 2.484" - 2.487" and bullets seated .020" off the lands.

[SDJim]

Guns & Ammo Magazine did a little work on this topic here:

http://www.gunsandammomag.com/reloads/0507/index.html

[Paratus et Vigilans]

For general plinking and such I load 47.0 gr of either IMR4064, IMR4895, H4895 with a M2 150gr FMJ.

For 'match' loads.. I use 46.0gr Varget and a 168gr SMK. I use either Greek or LC brass and a CCI400 primer with primer pockets uniformed and all brass trimmed from 2.484" - 2.487" and bullets seated .020" off the lands.

Pardon my total ignorance, but how do you go about determining an "off the lands" distance for seating a bullet? I need to learn this! Up until now, I've been making my match loads by using a commercial match round and a comparator on my calipers to copy the commercial match round with my hand loads.

Thanks in advance!

[ar15barrels]

how do you go about determining an "off the lands" distance for seating a bullet?

There are several methods.
You can neck size a case for about 0.020" of the neck and seat a bullet long.
Then drop this in the chamber and close the bolt.
The lands will slightly engrave the bullet as the bullet gets deep seated into the case.
Measure the OAL of that dummy after removing it from the chamber with a dowel down the barrel and then subtract the length of the engravings on the bullet to determine where the lands start on that bullet.

Another method is a stony point, hornady or RCBS tool specifically for the job.

Yet another method is to close the bolt on an empty chamber and drop a rod down the bore.
Mark the rod right AT the muzzle.
Now drop a bullet into the chamber/throat and hold it up into the throat while dropping the rod down the bore again and making a 2nd mark.
Measure the distance between the two marks and that will be the OAL for that bullet.

Every bullet design is different so what you find on sierra bullets will probably not interchange with winchester, hornady or remington etc...

[Paratus et Vigilans]

There are several methods.
You can neck size a case for about 0.020" of the neck and seat a bullet long.
Then drop this in the chamber and close the bolt.
The lands will slightly engrave the bullet as the bullet gets deep seated into the case.
Measure the OAL of that dummy after removing it from the chamber with a dowel down the barrel and then subtract the length of the engravings on the bullet to determine where the lands start on that bullet.

Another method is a stony point, hornady or RCBS tool specifically for the job.

Yet another method is to close the bolt on an empty chamber and drop a rod down the bore.
Mark the rod right AT the muzzle.
Now drop a bullet into the chamber/throat and hold it up into the throat while dropping the rod down the bore again and making a 2nd mark.
Measure the distance between the two marks and that will be the OAL for that bullet.

Every bullet design is different so what you find on sierra bullets will probably not interchange with winchester, hornady or remington etc...

The first method described sounds good to me! Thanks, Randall!