M1 Garand Ammo...What Should You Shoot in Your M1

[Annihilator]

M1 Garand Ammo: What Should You Shoot in Your M1?

As supplies of M2 Ball ammo dwindle, knowing what M1 Garand ammo you can safely fire in your military surplus rifle is critical.

gundigest.com

 

[Talyn]

A long point of debate.

But keep in mind the Garand was built to operate within a specific pressure curve. The Op Rod is the weak link in the system and can be bent due to excessive force.

In one Garand I built for hunting purposes I installed an adjustable gas plug so I could tune that rifle to hotter hunting ammo/handloads.

I'm actually a bit frustrated that a lot of generic 30-06 ammo is loaded down to Garand levels to make the lawyers happy.

My .02

 

[BET7]

A long point of debate.

But keep in mind the Garand was built to operate within a specific pressure curve. The Op Rod is the weak link in the system and can be bent due to excessive force.

In one Garand I built for hunting purposes I installed an adjustable gas plug so I could tune that rifle to hotter hunting ammo/handloads.

I'm actually a bit frustrated that a lot of generic 30-06 ammo is loaded down to Garand levels to make the lawyers happy.

My .02

Yeah, I bought ammo that even listed something like "30-06 ammunition for the M1 Garand". I bought a reproduction from Army blue prints of the M14 from James River Armory with a Bula Defense Forged receiver. The manual writes that it's strongly recommended to use certain types of 7.62x51 ammo and not .308

 

[benstt]

Handloads to NRA spec have worked for me.

 

[TEXASforLIFE]

Is there a difference in chamber dimensions?

 

[TEXASforLIFE]

Shorter throat more likely?

 

[Talyn]

Its basically the rifle was built to operate within a specific gas pressure curve.

 

[TEXASforLIFE]

I'll check chamber dimensions. A shorter throat can be a lower pressure design. Such as between 223 and 556.