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Reloading for a Garand
- Thread starter mannydog
- Start date
Just shy of max? I thought you said less than min charge would cycle the action fine? Or is it differet when using the 168s? So they can hang up if the action doesn't cycle fast enough to load the next round?
I'm thinking he meant shy of min. You'd want to stay away from max charge in garand.
The COL issue I mentioned was specifically with 168gr bullets and it absolutely made a difference in pressure. Load long and you can always push them deeper if you want to but its hard to go the other way.
The COL issue I mentioned was specifically with 168gr bullets and it absolutely made a difference in pressure. Load long and you can always push them deeper if you want to but its hard to go the other way.
He meant load them to just shy of min COL (just shy of max depth).
If the rounds are a bit on the longer side then they'll sometimes get hung up loading the en bloc into the rifle. It can be a real pain in the butt to get them loose when they're jammed up.
Look up the COL for M2 Ball and seat the bullets for that length.
Also, PM me your email and I'll send you a PDF copy of the American Rifleman article written specifically on Reloading for the M1. It is basically the original standard load info for match shooting.
Ahh that makes sense. I measured a bunch of my hxp ammo and they were all consistently at least 3.32" COL. I figured if those rounds at that length functioned fine in my Garand then my reloads at that length should work too? My loads were about ~3.28-3.30" so I think I should be good to go.
Mac just sent me a bunch of articles and load data earlier not sure if it's the same but I'll take all the info I can get. Thanks!
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sorry for the confussion and thanks for those who caught the lack of my detail.
so yes I ment COL. I basically run 3.3 Col.
As for powder charges. never go below min powder charge for your data.
as you can see in the hornady Garand section imr 4064 is not even listed for 150s
the argument is there are better powders for the lighter bullets than 4064.
all though go to Hodgdon web site load data for 30-06 section and you will see different 4064 min charges than your Lyman book.
John Clark reloading for the M1 is a good read up and IMHO has some stout load data but is also written at a time when guys where regularly shooting out to 600 yards. They are very few shooters doing that these days. most are now shooting the 200 yd as issued events.
home.comcast.net/~jlemons01/ReloadingForTheM1Rifle_JohnR
this is the article I think from AR....
just axnote all my garands will function 100% with the min loads listed in the hornady section with 4895,varget, VHT, . Hornady is on the conservative side of powder charges vs those in the NRA info I sent you that master po data is MAX loads from a nra publication.
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I just noticed this last night when I was looking at my reloads. There were a couple that had burrs/chips on the rim which made them not go all the way into the case gauge unless I forced them in. This is probably the cause.
Is it worth getting one of these Hornady Headspace Kits/Comparators to set up my sizing die? The only other rifle caliber I'd be reloading soon is 30 carbine so it might be worth getting?
http://www.amazon.com/Hornady-Lock-Load-Headspace-Gauge/dp/B000PD5VN8
http://www.amazon.com/Hornady-Lock-Load-Headspace-Gauge/dp/B000PD5VN8
When you have a rimless cartridge that doesn't go into your gage all the way, the first thing you do is turn it over to see if that fits. There are a few other reasons though. Not sized properly or far enough, bullet seated improperly or my personal favorite, the banana case. It's the reason I prefer gages over the various micrometer gages. A good cartridge gage checks the entire envelope of the round.
Informative thread, love it. A question from someone who has no experience at all in reloading...
What are you guys cost averaging per round?
I know this depends on a lot of variables, but lets say you bought powder, bullets, primers in bulk and the brass you already have. What are we talking for cost at today's prices?
What are you guys cost averaging per round?
I know this depends on a lot of variables, but lets say you bought powder, bullets, primers in bulk and the brass you already have. What are we talking for cost at today's prices?
It cost me about 45.00 per hundered of 30-06 for the Garand. Thats using brass I already have, bulk purchsed 150gr FMJ's. The costliest for me is powder, I can buy bullets and take advantage of free shipping, but i never order enough powder in bulk to justify the shipping and hazmat. Figure 150rds per pound of powder at 25.00 a pound, it starts to ad up. Still way ahead by reloading though, any way you slice it.
Brass I consider free for the most part. So my powder (IMR-4064) was $25 at Riley's, Winchester Large Rifle Primers were $34.95/1000, 500 Hornady 150 gr FMJBT bullets ($105) and 500 Hornady 168gr BTHP match bullets ($127) total cost me $232 shipped (you can save more on bullets if you buy thousands but I wasn't ready to drop that kind of money quite yet).
So the cost:
Powder cost per round: 1 lb powder = 7,000 grains. $25/7000 x 48 grains of IMR-4064 powder = 17 cents
Bullets: 23 cents
Primer: 3.5 cents
Total = ~44 cents
Greek HXP ammo costs 65 cents so I'm saving roughly 20-21 cents per round. I could save more if I bought bullets in bulk and bought the cheaper Hornady 150 gr bullets only, not the 168 match bullets. If I only bought the 150 gr bullets, that would have brought the cost down to ~42 cents per round. Hope this helps.
Also, my reloads will HOPEFULLY outshoot the Greek HXP ammo once I hit the range to test my first reloads this weekend. So you're saving money and making more consistent ammo...so I hope lol.
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Its good to have the tools... needed for M1 no. 30 carbine I trim to min over all case length every time.
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With my recent restock im at .42 cents per round. with nosler CC 155s. up from 37 cents per round from 2012 prices.
It really is sickening how quickly a pound of powder dissappears when relaoding rifle. Its seems to last forever when loading 9mms.![[thinking]](/xen/styles/default/xenforo/smilies.vb/010.gif "Thinking [thinking]")
Yeah it is. I bought 4 pounds of 4064 thinking that's quite a bit then realized that's only 600 rounds. With my 9mm loads using 4 pounds of Titegroup that'd be almost 7000 rounds
Thanks for the info, guys. I'll probably be picking your brains a whole lot when I decide to jump into reloading. If you didn't get a rep point from me it's because it says I need to spread it around before I can give more! Appreciate it.
Ive started casting a gas checked 308 bullet for all my 30 cal needs (except my service rifles) everything from 30-30's in a contender pistol to 308 and 30-06 for my bolt guns. For plinking fun and punching paper, those cast bullets and using 13 gr of unique keeps me shooting at about 1/3 the cost of traditional loads. That 170gr bullet is chrono'd at 1800 fps, I wouldn't hesitate to use it for hunting in these tight woods.
Old North, I'll give you typical costs w/ jacketed bullets including once fired brass. If you search bargain tables, you can do better. Bulk lowers cost. 2nd reload cost would be less if you retrieve your brass.
9MM........23 cents.....22 cents for the next 10
.45 Auto..34 cents.....28 cents for the next 10
.223........34 cents.....33 cents for the next 5
.308........62 cents.....58 cents for the next 5
You can beat those prices easily by getting free brass. Wolf, Fiocchi and S&B primers can drop the price by a penny a round. Bulk bullets can save at least a couple of cents easily. Lead bullets can save 5 cents apiece on the 9MM and .45. Plated bullets could save a few cents each on the 9 and .45 also.
Additionally, most, truly common calibers, will be right in the same ballpark, especially in rifles. Within reason, compare the physical size. Most of the variation in cost would be the powder. For example, cost wise, the difference between .308 and .300 Winchester Magnum would be about 25 grains of powder. At $28 a pound, the .300 Winchester Magnum would cost about 10 cents more to reload than the .308.
If you watch sites like (STOP NAMEDROPPING, dammit) sale prices for a very decent reloading set up, including a set of dies and shell holder, would be around $300.
9MM........23 cents.....22 cents for the next 10
.45 Auto..34 cents.....28 cents for the next 10
.223........34 cents.....33 cents for the next 5
.308........62 cents.....58 cents for the next 5
You can beat those prices easily by getting free brass. Wolf, Fiocchi and S&B primers can drop the price by a penny a round. Bulk bullets can save at least a couple of cents easily. Lead bullets can save 5 cents apiece on the 9MM and .45. Plated bullets could save a few cents each on the 9 and .45 also.
Additionally, most, truly common calibers, will be right in the same ballpark, especially in rifles. Within reason, compare the physical size. Most of the variation in cost would be the powder. For example, cost wise, the difference between .308 and .300 Winchester Magnum would be about 25 grains of powder. At $28 a pound, the .300 Winchester Magnum would cost about 10 cents more to reload than the .308.
If you watch sites like (STOP NAMEDROPPING, dammit) sale prices for a very decent reloading set up, including a set of dies and shell holder, would be around $300.
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Yeah it is. I bought 4 pounds of 4064 thinking that's quite a bit then realized that's only 600 rounds. With my 9mm loads using 4 pounds of Titegroup that'd be almost 7000 rounds
I found my garand really likes 4064 for 150gr, better than 4895. Just as much as Varget. Varget seemed better for 168gr tho
casting is a different animal ........ need to be a super scrounger almost everything I have for the casting end of reloading I got for free or close to it.
the molds are the only thing I have real money into.
everything else was free or close to it.
my 30 Cal reloads with brass I consider free cost me 12 cents per round.
I have a local scrap yard where I get lead for .70 a pound. Scrap lead cleaned up is fine for just about any of my pistol loads where pressure isn't so high. I order a certified alloy from rotometals ( their alloy identical to the Lyman #2) for my higher stuff, 44 mag and all cast rifle bullets that I drive pretty hard. Alloy gets to be pretty important for those applications so I want to know exactly what I'm working with.
this is true but a 2$ plus a pound from roto metals its no longer cheap....still cheaper than factory ammo by far.
If ihad to buy scrap lead i wouldnt bother.... finding deals on stuff like 60/40 or 30/70 bars of solder thats different.
Depends on the scrap. My favorite is roof flashing, clean, very predictable, and readily found and easy to harden up. About the dirtiest I'll go is wheel weights, which is still a great alloy but they are getting harder and harder to find with everyone switching to zink weights.
Personally, I don't push my plinking rounds very fast at all. Most of my shooting is with the 6.5x55mm and the Lyman #266469, which is a gas-checked bullet, but sometimes I just use them w/o the gas checks. Usually 6 to 7 grains of W452AA or Unique suffices.
Same in the 7.5 Swiss and FR-7... the little plain-based #311410 makes an economical plinker round. Just love a thousand rounds per pound of powder and they still print better than I can shoot!
Of course, none of this helps the OP with an M1 Garand, I suppose...
Same in the 7.5 Swiss and FR-7... the little plain-based #311410 makes an economical plinker round. Just love a thousand rounds per pound of powder and they still print better than I can shoot!
Of course, none of this helps the OP with an M1 Garand, I suppose...
Ive been researching shooting cast out of the Garand. Jury is still out. I've read many instances where it was done with favorable results and no ill-effects, despite the gas system. Still researching it though. If anyone want to loan me a Garand, I'd be happy to put her through such tests for the benifit of science and the shooting community of course.
