Ordered Feb 7th, the CMP stopped taking orders for service grade Springfields on 2/5. They're great people over there so when I asked 2 days late if I could get one, they did it for me. Hopefully here's some pics...
Your Garand looks very acceptable and much better than some I've seen at guns shows but...
My son-in-law got two Service grade Garands a couple of years ago that did look less used than yours. Is CMP scraping the bottom of the barrel?
My CMP Garand is a Special and it looks like a new gun. And it should as the barrel is new, the stock is new, the internals appear lightly used then refinished, and the receiver (Springfield WWII manufacture) looks great and is of course refinished. To top it off it operates 100% (I did buy it for shooting, not collecting).
Congradulations on a very nice Garand! I'd like to add a caution about ammo for it. I have one, and have learned to only use GI M2 Ball or Match grade ammo in it, or at least loads equal to those. Even some of the Korean surplus M2 Ball ammo is suspect in my mind. A friend of mine nearlly wrecked his with KE headstamped Korean ammo at our Gun Club range.
I load my loads to mil spec with M2 bullets and IMR-4895 powder. I went that way after reading John Clark's papers on M1 Match rifles. There are other powders that people have used for the Garand, but after reading about the M1 gas system and pressure curves generated by various powders, I'm sticking to the old recipe.
Congradulations on a very nice Garand! I'd like to add a caution about ammo for it. I have one, and have learned to only use GI M2 Ball or Match grade ammo in it, or at least loads equal to those. Even some of the Korean surplus M2 Ball ammo is suspect in my mind. A friend of mine nearlly wrecked his with KE headstamped Korean ammo at our Gun Club range.
I load my loads to mil spec with M2 bullets and IMR-4895 powder. I went that way after reading John Clark's papers on M1 Match rifles. There are other powders that people have used for the Garand, but after reading about the M1 gas system and pressure curves generated by various powders, I'm sticking to the old recipe.
I tried those adjustable gas plugs in two of my Garands and they now reside in my tool box. At the time I was fighting gas pressure leaks on the gas piston of one of the guns and no setting of the plug would allow the gun to work reliably. That is not the fault of the adj. plug but in the process I determined the build of the plug was a bit crude in its adjustment. Once I fixed the gas piston sizing and went to the non-adjustable gas plug, the gun operated perfectly. So I tossed the adj. gas plug in the tool box to almost be forgotten.
As for the proper loads for the Garand, I refer you to the Hornady Reloading Manual (in the 8th and other editions) to the section dedicated to the M1 Garand loads. If any of these loads were a problem I am sure Hornady would have found it.
Powders there for 150-155 grain bullets are H335 (my choice), A2495, A2520, VIHT N-135, RL-12, VARGET, and lastly H4895. the velocity range is from 2400 fps to 2750 fps but I doubt the lower velocity loads would reliably operate the gun.
For 168 gr bullets all of the above plus W748, IMR4895, IMR4064,VIHT N-140, RL-15, VIHT N-150, and BL-C2. So we are not limited to just IMR4895. the velocity for these loads vary between 2300 fps and 2700 fps. I doubt the lower velocity loads would reliably operate the gun.
There are also loads for 178 gr bullets. If interested then look them up.
So we have many choices other than IMR4895 for our Garands. My choice is 45 gr of H335 behind a 147 gr FMJ Winchester bulk bullet. Works for me.
i do have varget and imr 4895 on hand.. no h4895 though. my favorite laods for 30-06 are 150 and 180gr
i'm at work now.. but looking at the hodgdon(win)(imr) powder data site.. it unfortunately just lists 3006 and does not break out springfield/garrand. I do recall my nornady 7th? haveing a seperate page though.. hmm.. will have to investigate that. I have also looked into some tame 3006 loads using trailboss in 3006 just to get my wofe shooting.. not really the same thing though.. I'm sure a semi auto will hate those loads...
I've used blc(2) powder, and it worked OK. I'm sure the others, especially the W748, are very well suited. I listed the IMR-4895 because it was what they used way back, and I personally have gotten excellant results with it and both the M1 and the M2 bullet.
Not knowing CC already has considerable experiance with the M1, my advice was aimed mostly at someone who may not have as much gray in their whiskers. I don't think too many young shooters know not to use slow burning powder in reloads in a Garand, or a steady diet of commercial hunting 180 grain ammo, either.
My most accurate 180 grain hunting load uses IMR-4350, but I don't let that stuff near my Garand.
I tried those adjustable gas plugs in two of my Garands and they now reside in my tool box. At the time I was fighting gas pressure leaks on the gas piston of one of the guns and no setting of the plug would allow the gun to work reliably. That is not the fault of the adj. plug but in the process I determined the build of the plug was a bit crude in its adjustment. Once I fixed the gas piston sizing and went to the non-adjustable gas plug, the gun operated perfectly. So I tossed the adj. gas plug in the tool box to almost be forgotten.
As for the proper loads for the Garand, I refer you to the Hornady Reloading Manual (in the 8th and other editions) to the section dedicated to the M1 Garand loads. If any of these loads were a problem I am sure Hornady would have found it.
Powders there for 150-155 grain bullets are H335 (my choice), A2495, A2520, VIHT N-135, RL-12, VARGET, and lastly H4895. the velocity range is from 2400 fps to 2750 fps but I doubt the lower velocity loads would reliably operate the gun.
For 168 gr bullets all of the above plus W748, IMR4895, IMR4064,VIHT N-140, RL-15, VIHT N-150, and BL-C2. So we are not limited to just IMR4895. the velocity for these loads vary between 2300 fps and 2700 fps. I doubt the lower velocity loads would reliably operate the gun.
There are also loads for 178 gr bullets. If interested then look them up.
So we have many choices other than IMR4895 for our Garands. My choice is 45 gr of H335 behind a 147 gr FMJ Winchester bulk bullet. Works for me.
I agree about the adjustable ones, not good. Have you looked at the one I linked? This is a small time guy and he has it figured out. I read your posts and always learn something, I think you'd be interested in the extensive actual test data he has. The plug he sells is basically just a gi plug that has been hollowed out (ported). Lot's of graphs on actual port pressures, in dozens of ammunition configurations.
I use the Garand Gear ported plugs. They are fantastic. If your gas system is within spec it will still cycle with std M2 loads, but the ported plug almost triples the gas systems starting volume which delays op rod movement another millisecond or so which allows the use of slower powders that would otherwise cause high port pressures and bend a perfectly good op rod. With the Ported plug from Garand Gear I can safely run my fav load of 57 gr IMR4350 under a 168 gr SMK and not worry about damaging my precious rifle.
Yes, that is a very different design from the adj. gas plug I bought. It actually looks very good. I had looked at that link but it did not look any different than the one I bought. I failed to read the text and the text spelled out the big difference.
My always on hand H335 is on the Hornady list as is my load so I think the adjustable gas plug is not necessary for me. Someone who is shooting in competition or for extreme accuracy might gain something using powder not on the list if they do enough testing and use the linked gas plug. My loads are accurate enough for me and go bang when they are suppose to. To me the charm of the Garand is what it represents: The gun that won WWII for America. I have many bolt guns that are for high accuracy shooting. The Garand is one of my fun guns.
Ii have used the adjustable gas screws and never had any issues with them.
I dont buy into the one size fits all screw that Garand Gear sells. I do know it will not work on Tanker and Mini G Garands
Just my opinion
Sorry but the Mini-G Garand and the Tanker Garand are not "real" Garands. They are short barreled modified Garands. The short barrel means the gas port is closer to the chamber and the gas pressures and timing of the gun may be wrong. It can be made to work but a part intended for a real Garand can not be expected to work well on a shortened barrel modified Garand. For every Tanker or Mini-G Garand there are thousands and thousands of real Garands. I question why there is even a Tanker or a Mini-G Garand? They are anomalies of the real thing and never existed in real life during the military use of the Garand rifle.
One size fits all when the overwhelming and vast majority of Garands are one barrel length and that is full length. I sure would not put Garand Gear down for not supporting a totally abnormal Garand.
I am not putting them down becuase they dont work for modified Garands just giving the info so no one would buy one for their Mini G or Tanker
I still dont buy into the one size fits all
Just my opinion yours may vary
I am with the jealous crowd, I want one badly. I Just can't decide between that an a M1a standard. I am leaning towards the Garand simply because it is what it is, a historical beauty.
When I was shooting off the self ammo, before I got the adj plug, I tweaked my Op Rod
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