My First Garand Too!

[cbuxton41]

Well the brown truck rolled up to my FFL on Wednesday and I acquired my first SA M1 Garand with a CMP cert. 1942 serial # 832xxx. The MW is 1.5 and the TE is 2. It was inspected and cleaned by Tony Pucci of Orion 7 Enterprises, who now happens to be the President of the Garand Collectors Association.
Wood is all origional with some distinctive battle dings, RRA (Red River Arms) initials and "P" cartouche on the stockand origional sling.
Can't wait to shoot it but have been cautioned about using commercial ammo and have not yet acquired any Milsurp or got my 30-06 reloading set-up.
Any advice from you M1 garand aficiandos to an M1 newbie would be gratefully accepted and appreciated.

 

[dmazur]

Get an adjustable gas cylinder lock screw (aka gas nut or gas plug), so that you can shoot commercial ammo. (Except for Light Magnums...)

I know of two varieties, the Schuster and the McCann. Each accomplishes venting in a slightly different way, and either works.

For reloading, I'm getting pretty good results with Hornady 150 gr FMJBT, Varget and Winchester brass.

The latest Hornady manual has a section on loads for the Garand.

 

[44 AMP]

Sounds nice

And it sounds like you are taking pride in the history of the rifle. A decision is needed. Keep it completely "original" or as suggested, get an adjustable gas plug? If you keep it GI spec, only use GI spec ammo for best results.

The thing with Garands is that the design was optimised to run on the GI ammo. Commercial sporting ammo is unsuitable. It isn't a question of the strength of the Garand action, or the ultimate pressure of the ammo, as muc as it is one of the gas port pressure, and pressure curve of the ammo.

Hunting ammo that is perfectly fine in a bolt action, pump, or commercial semi auto usually works the Garand action "violently". Over time (an no one can say exactly how much) continued use of sporting ammo usualy results in a sprung op rod. And maybe battering to other parts as well.

A few rounds seldom does damage, but it is not a good idea in the long run, if you value your Garand. Stick with GI ball (M2) or a handloaded equivalent and your Garand will run fine for a long, long time.