[soundguy]

I generally like to load m2 ball specs.. and have a bunch of surplus 150 jacketed projectiles ( IIRC.. probably PULLED from m2 ball.. ). I havn't loaded up any in a while.. but it looks like the earmarked page and data card I was using was mostly imr 4895 loads to get close as possible as factory. I know I also made up varget and 4064 loads.. but stopped making varget as it was harder to get.. and the same with the 4895.. . though i do have a GOOD amount of 4064 on hand. I understand the 4064 isn't a direct correlation to the original loading.. but it should fall into the safe zone pretty good... as of now.. my varget and 4895 supply is so low I am saving the last pound of each that I have for other dedicated loads that need it... and continuing on with 4064. I was looking at the burn rate chart for other powders slightly faster and slower...

Question for those also loading for garands... how fast / slow do you feel safe going? And yes.. I know book data appears for a range of powders for garand specific loads.. but some of them are old manuals.. and I know some onlder manuals sometimes have hotter loads from days of less liability and less transducer pressure testing and more copper crush disk testing.

How do you feel about imr 3031 on the fast side? 4350 on the slow side?

I have a few pounds of each with not many other things loading out of them.. In fact.. I don't think I load ANY short magnums ( 4350 ).. not sure why I have it.. but I do.

Just curious. And yes.. I am sticking to book loadings.. but.. I like opinions on them book loadings (wink)

One last question.. On my powder burn rate chart from 1mr dated 2019.. I don't see imr 4320.. where is it at? slower I think.. but how slow.

thanks

 

[gdmoody]

In the Hornady #10 manual, the burn rate chart has IMR 4320 at #98, four under Varget, so it is slower

The only powder I used for the first 40 or so years loaded for 30.06 was Varget and I always kept them at the minimum loads. A couple of years ago, I started using IMR 4895 for M1 loads. I use the data that comes from the Army TM on small arms ammo.

I know that is probably not what you are looking for, sorry!

 

[TRAP55]

It's not the speed to be concerned with, it's chamber pressure. What ever comes the closest to duplicating the M2 ball load is what you're after.

 

[Venom6]

Brian Pearce (IMHO the best gun/reloading writer currently) article in the Aug. Sept. 2021 issue of Handloader magazine lists 46.0-49.0 gr. A4064 with a 150 gr. Nosler Accubond at 2,548-2,683 fps. He and most other writers familiar with the Garand (e.g. Venturino) prefer Varget or IMR4895 (which was developed for the .30-06 in the Garand). Bullet weights outside the parameter of 150-173 grains, and powders faster than BL-(2) or slower than Viht. N150 can damage the rifle, specifically the op rod. Yeah, I know, lots of guys have done so without ill effect. Yet. I would not be comfortable loading either 3031 (too fast) or 4350 (too slow) in my 1943 Springfield M1, even with its post-war radius-cut op rod. CCI 34s if you got 'em. However, having just beaten up IMR 3031, John Clarke writing in Handloader 114 (March April 1985. Yeah, I've got them all. Just a pack rat) lists 48.0 grains under a 150 Sierra HPBT match (FC case) for 2,785 fps (and a superb standard deviation of 15). He also lists 50.0 IMR 4320 (2,761 fps) up to 51.5 gr. (2,862 fps) out of his Garand.
Handloader 316 (Oct. 2018) has an article by John Barsness (also highly knowledgeable) which lists 49.5 gr. of IMR-4064 under a 150 Power-Point for 2,753 out of his Garand. HTH.

 

[GBertolet]

Stay away from the slow burning powders, unless you have a vented gas plug. High port pressures from slow burning powders, can and will, bend your operating rod, which will be very expensive to replace. Stick with powders in the 4895 range. That's what that rifle was designed for.

 

[soundguy]

Brian Pearce (IMHO the best gun/reloading writer currently) article in the Aug. Sept. 2021 issue of Handloader magazine lists 46.0-49.0 gr. A4064 with a 150 gr. Nosler Accubond at 2,548-2,683 fps. He and most other writers familiar with the Garand (e.g. Venturino) prefer Varget or IMR4895 (which was developed for the .30-06 in the Garand). Bullet weights outside the parameter of 150-173 grains, and powders faster than BL-(2) or slower than Viht. N150 can damage the rifle, specifically the op rod. Yeah, I know, lots of guys have done so without ill effect. Yet. I would not be comfortable loading either 3031 (too fast) or 4350 (too slow) in my 1943 Springfield M1, even with its post-war radius-cut op rod. CCI 34s if you got 'em. However, having just beaten up IMR 3031, John Clarke writing in Handloader 114 (March April 1985. Yeah, I've got them all. Just a pack rat) lists 48.0 grains under a 150 Sierra HPBT match (FC case) for 2,785 fps (and a superb standard deviation of 15). He also lists 50.0 IMR 4320 (2,761 fps) up to 51.5 gr. (2,862 fps) out of his Garand.
Handloader 316 (Oct. 2018) has an article by John Barsness (also highly knowledgeable) which lists 49.5 gr. of IMR-4064 under a 150 Power-Point for 2,753 out of his Garand. HTH.

Exactly what I was getting at!. I too have a bookcase of old handloader..and I too saw garand loading for 3031 and 4350 and it made me wonder.

Imr 4064 is my go to general rifle powder right now..as I have more on hand than any other rifle powder. ( in fact..tite group and imr 4064 by themselves is probably a quarter of all my powder... Good general handgun and rifle powders ).

 

[mathews691]

I load 4895 or varget for almost all my old war horses, I don't remember the weights of the garand off the top of my head.

I will say however I don't load to service specs, I see zero point in it. In automatics I load past minimum to the point where the gun will run, after that I will work up slowly to the point where I get good numbers and good groups, and stop there, usually several .x under the max load. I seen no reason to run them this hard. On my garand I don't have the adjustable plug, but on others like the G43, and SVT that do, I want to run them as soft as I can for function....they are not the strongest things on the planet, and the G43 has already shed parts even with the apfeltor kit....and parts (in my case everything to do with the extractor) are getting hard to find...and even on a nice outside concrete range I found no trace of said parts.

So I run all my "old rifles" as soft as I can and have them still shoot well, and generally this is from even 1 grain down to a couple .x

 

[soundguy]

I once tried downloading for the garand.. even using powders like trailboss... had poor mixed results with getting it to cycle reliably.

 

[jim brady]

Just two little pennies here: use that 4064 in something that will digest it and put the brakes on shooting that Garand for a while. Not worth risking your rifle just to shoot something thru it. Your rifle and your decision. Another of those "Just because you can doesn't mean you should".

 

[mathews691]

I once tried downloading for the garand.. even using powders like trailboss... had poor mixed results with getting it to cycle reliably.

I never understood or got a reason that held water to use that powder in rifle cartridges. It is very popular in the 45-70 side of things. The only thing I could get back was basically I am a cheap bastage and don't want to use that much rifle powder.......really if that is all you have you should pick up another hobby.

 

[PRR1957]

Just a FYI. IMR 4320 is longer offered.

These are two pages from the Hodgdon 2021 Annual Manual RELOADING. This data for 30-06. I compared this data to my older load data manuals from Sierra(1989), Hornady(1991), Nosler(1989),(1996),(2002), Speer(1987,88,89), Hodgdon(1993), Accurate(2002). The new data from 2021Hodgdon data from the yearly supplement and from their website;
hodgdonreloading.com
is considerably more conservative then all the older data I have.

 

[Navy Corpsman]

I own 3 M1 Garands, 1 H&R, 1Springfield, and 1 Special. Since the Special is nearly all new I bought a Schuster gas plug and installed so I can just buy factory 30-06 to hunt with. Took a few rounds to dial it in so it would function properly and reliable.

 

[soundguy]

Just a FYI. IMR 4320 is longer offered.

These are two pages from the Hodgdon 2021 Annual Manual RELOADING. This data for 30-06. I compared this data to my older load data manuals from Sierra(1989), Hornady(1991), Nosler(1989),(1996),(2002), Speer(1987,88,89), Hodgdon(1993), Accurate(2002). The new data from 2021Hodgdon data from the yearly supplement and from their website;
hodgdonreloading.com
is considerably more conservative then all the older data I have. View attachment 277364 View attachment 277365 View attachment 277366

Yes I have found that most new data that comes out is much more conservative than older data

Just two little pennies here: use that 4064 in something that will digest it and put the brakes on shooting that Garand for a while. Not worth risking your rifle just to shoot something thru it. Your rifle and your decision. Another of those "Just because you can doesn't mean you should".

Really? 4064 appears in a lot of garand specific load data I know it's not 4895 but it's close compared to a lot of the other powders

I never understood or got a reason that held water to use that powder in rifle cartridges. It is very popular in the 45-70 side of things. The only thing I could get back was basically I am a cheap bastage and don't want to use that much rifle powder.......really if that is all you have you should pick up another hobby.

Mathews691 : Trail Boss is great for making reduced recoil loads that's a main reason why people use it. As for picking another hobby no no it's much easier just to put you on ignore. Done.

 

[C3Shooter]

I recently acquired a very nice HRA Garand from a widow, The following week she sent me 2 ammo cans of this to go with the rifle-

Yes, I am still grinning.

 

[jim brady]

I recently acquired a very nice HRA Garand from a widow, The following week she sent me 2 ammo cans of this to go with the rifle-
View attachment 277505
Yes, I am still grinning.

Two cans of M72 Match ammo? You, Sir, have a Gold Mine. Don't waste that ammo! Those 173 grain bullets are really, really scarce. That is the very best best ammo you can fire thru that Garand. I had a 1942 1903 (Remington) that I traded along with a couple hundred rounds of that M72 ammo for a Model 70 Winchester. Even though that Model 70 is a great rifle (I've taken elk and deer with it) - that was one trade I've never felt really good about. I've got only one can of it left, and they are all loaded on M1 clips.