My M1 Garand has arrived! Range Report Update

[mac1911]

That too, very true. I hope she doesn't want kids as I'm content with just having our puggle dog lol. I keep telling her I don't want the stress financially/physically of raising a family haha. But that's a whole other discussion.

But yes that is my plan, buy now while I still can.

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Good to know, thanks! Learn something new everyday here on NES.

Also before you go to crazy try to zero your rifle make sure your gas cylinder is snug.
[video]http://www.odcmp.com/Sales/askarmorergascylinderpeen.htm[/video]
Also once your rifle is clean and any updates stock work is finished fight the urge to disassemble the gas cyl or even remove the action from the stock. Unless you get your garand very dirty or wet there is no need to clean after every range trip. Give the bore a quick wipe and a oil patch for storage.
Also to keep yourself from going crazy zero your windage at 25 yards of the most stable rest you can obtain. Make a reference mark on the front sight and gas cyl so you can see your movement. it doesnt take much movement. practice at home to get a feel for how much the sight needs to be loosened to get it to move with a light push.... dont get to crazy with trying to zero it just enough so the front sight or rear sight doesnt need to be extreme to one side..... Every time you shoot your rifle with different ammo, reloads, ect ect you will have a bit of adjusting to do. Knowing a base mechanical zero is good though. I then mark my front sight with paint on the base and the gas cyl. on the front as a reference you will see in a instance if your sight came loose or was bumped out of wack.... have fun

 

[mac1911]

Congrats on the Garand. Im going to head over to the CMP site right now and print out the app. I dont know why Ive been putting it off, but I know if/when the supply dries up, or some legislation or executive order comes down putting an end to them I'll be kicking myself in the ass for not pulling the trigger.

there is a pretty good supply left over the cmp we just dont know of what condition they are in. Not long ago Orest Micheals said 80k serial numbers are in the wharehouse...... the thing is the Army considers anything with a serial number a rifle, could be a un issued rifle to a rusty worthless receiver..
From the recent receiver sales and the parts now for sale on the cmp Im quessing cmp has enough parts on hand to build out all the receivers into specials or assemble into service grades ? anything better than a service grade along with winchesters and IHCs will hit the auction.

 

[DW357]

Also before you go to crazy try to zero your rifle make sure your gas cylinder is snug.
[video]http://www.odcmp.com/Sales/askarmorergascylinderpeen.htm[/video]
Also once your rifle is clean and any updates stock work is finished fight the urge to disassemble the gas cyl or even remove the action from the stock. Unless you get your garand very dirty or wet there is no need to clean after every range trip. Give the bore a quick wipe and a oil patch for storage.
Also to keep yourself from going crazy zero your windage at 25 yards of the most stable rest you can obtain. Make a reference mark on the front sight and gas cyl so you can see your movement. it doesnt take much movement. practice at home to get a feel for how much the sight needs to be loosened to get it to move with a light push.... dont get to crazy with trying to zero it just enough so the front sight or rear sight doesnt need to be extreme to one side..... Every time you shoot your rifle with different ammo, reloads, ect ect you will have a bit of adjusting to do. Knowing a base mechanical zero is good though. I then mark my front sight with paint on the base and the gas cyl. on the front as a reference you will see in a instance if your sight came loose or was bumped out of wack.... have fun

Ahh good call mac. I just checked the gas cylinder lock screw and it was very loose. Found a better tool to insert in the screw to get better leverage. Pretty snug now.

Now that's what I like to hear, I don't have to field strip and clean it religiously lol. After only adjusting the rear sight, it's only 1 or 2 lines to the right or the center line so it's not all the way over to the right side. It was shooting like 4"-5" to the left so I figured adjusting the rear sight would be fine rather than the front?

 

[DW357]

Although I didn't check the front sight screw to see if that was tight. I'll check that tomorrow after work, my guess is that it's probably loose too.

 

[DW357]

So there's not much that can be done to lessen the damage to the brass? Didn't know if charging the springs or something would alleviate it at all.

I'm not too concerned as I was able to iron out all the casemouth except one that had a very small chip/crack on the casemouth. Using the live round worked great! It did scratch up the bullet a bit but not too concerned.

 

[browncoat]

So there's not much that can be done to lessen the damage to the brass? Didn't know if charging the springs or something would alleviate it at all.

I'm not too concerned as I was able to iron out all the casemouth except one that had a very small chip/crack on the casemouth. Using the live round worked great! It did scratch up the bullet a bit but not too concerned.

If you get an adjustable gas plug, you can adjust it until the brass doesn't get thrown as hard. Not sure if that would help.

 

[noddaduma]

Tag.

 

[mac1911]

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1vKFgj7WhNo
JC Garand was not thinking brass recovery...... check out the slow mo vids on you tube. brass hits everything.....

as for gas cylender lock screw. shy of buying the tool a really large screw driver works. my favorite is a 1/4 drive extension with a t handle driver. I have several old pliers with jaws wrapped in tape that I use to hold the gas cylinder while tightening..... they make specials tools but for the amount of time you actually will be touching the gas cylinder key/lock I find that money better spent on ammo.
in a nut shell get into th habbit of checking your locking screw.

 

[mac1911]

If you get an adjustable gas plug, you can adjust it until the brass doesn't get thrown as hard. Not sure if that would help.

nature of the beast.....the ejection of brass is violent. its still going to bounce off op rod rear sight, ground ectect.

only issue I have with adjustable plug is if you change loads you might waste rounds readjusting it. some claim you can fine tune your groups with them?
I did not see that when I tried one....

 

[DW357]

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1vKFgj7WhNo
JC Garand was not thinking brass recovery...... check out the slow mo vids on you tube. brass hits everything.....

as for gas cylender lock screw. shy of buying the tool a really large screw driver works. my favorite is a 1/4 drive extension with a t handle driver. I have several old pliers with jaws wrapped in tape that I use to hold the gas cylinder while tightening..... they make specials tools but for the amount of time you actually will be touching the gas cylinder key/lock I find that money better spent on ammo.
in a nut shell get into th habbit of checking your locking screw.

I used the same tool (1/4 drive with t handle) to tighten the screw. Yeah I'm definitely going to check the locking screw regularly, now that I know it can become loose often.

 

[TheCrowing]

Thanks. Ya the supply is certainly not unlimited as 40 caliber mentioned. I think I'll be done with gun purchases for the year after I get the M1 carbine next weekend. Then I need to focus my money/time on reloading. Just bought a bunch of Hornady bullets for the Garand and 300 rounds of 30 carbine ammo, 30-06 dies, 30 carbine dies, powder etc.

Jesus man, mind if I swing by later and pick a few bills off of your money tree?

 

[DW357]

Jesus man, mind if I swing by later and pick a few bills off of your money tree?

Haha yeah it's getting a little crazy, I need to take a breather from buying. The fiance doesn't know about the carbine I'm getting, she knows about the Garand though. Although she'll be wondering about all the UPS deliveries this week for the ammo/dies etc.

 

[noddaduma]

Just took a look at the pictures of the shell casings. That's normal. Those will size no problem without doing anything else. Just make sure to lube the cases properly since you have to full length resize. A 30-06 case stuck in your sizer is not fun.

HXP is real good for reloading. I haven't had one HXP case (out of countless thousands) take less than 5 reloads yet.

One more tip: use a sharpie to mark on the bottom of the case how many times you've shot it. Recommend that after 5 reloadings, you set it aside, anneal the neck, then only use it for neck-sizing for bolt actions. You'll have to get a Springfield They'll last a long time but not when you have to fully resize for the Garand.

 

[DW357]

Just took a look at the pictures of the shell casings. That's normal. Those will size no problem without doing anything else. Just make sure to lube the cases properly since you have to full length resize. A 30-06 case stuck in your sizer is not fun.

HXP is real good for reloading. I haven't had one HXP case (out of countless thousands) take less than 5 reloads yet.

One more tip: use a sharpie to mark on the bottom of the case how many times you've shot it. Recommend that after 5 reloadings, you set it aside, anneal the neck, then only use it for neck-sizing for bolt actions. You'll have to get a Springfield They'll last a long time but not when you have to fully resize for the Garand.

So about 5 reloads is typical? I assumed you couldn't get 10+ reloads from these after seeing the damage from the Garand. That's not terrible considering I have 400 rounds/cases to use, so after 5 reloadings that's about 2,000 shots before I'd need to buy more HXP ammo or try to find once fired cases somewhere.

Good tip on the marking the cases with a sharpie. Stupid question, but does the marking from the sharpie stay on the case after firing and tumbling? I don't mark any of my pistol cases (all I currently reload) with a sharpie so I wasn't sure.

 

[OldNorth]

You'll have to get a Springfield

Hahaha! So true. It'll happen. No sense in resisting.

I've got a question for you guys that reload. I don't reload at all yet, but I will eventually start reloading 30-06. I have a lot of HXP brass sitting around in a trash bag. Is it detrimental to have it stored like that? If you plan to reload it, is it ideal to get it tumbled asap, or does it not matter? Any recommendations for a good tumbler? Thanks

 

[DW357]

Hahaha! So true. It'll happen. No sense in resisting.

I've got a question for you guys that reload. I don't reload at all yet, but I will eventually start reloading 30-06. I have a lot of HXP brass sitting around in a trash bag. Is it detrimental to have it stored like that? If you plan to reload it, is it ideal to get it tumbled asap, or does it not matter? Any recommendations for a good tumbler? Thanks

Well hopefully I can resist the urge for another 1-2 years.

I store my brass in big zip loc bags and I tossed in a few silica packs to help with moisture. But I've ran out of silica packs and some bags don't have any silica packs and I haven't had any issues with the brass. Isn't tarnished at all. I'd think as long as you don't store the bag of brass outside exposed to the elements you should be fine. But I don't have that much experience, EC would be the guy to ask.

As for tumblers, I bought the Berry's Mfg tumbler kit that came with the 400 series tumbler, media, polish, and an enclosed (to limit lead dust in the air) media separator that works great. I've been tumbling brass since I bought the kit in 2012 and have about 10 large zip loc bags of various brass (thousands) and it is still running strong. It was on sale and had free shipping at the time.

http://www.berrysmfg.com/product-i14546-c47-g8-b0-p0-400_Tumbler.aspx

 

[mac1911]

Hahaha! So true. It'll happen. No sense in resisting.

I've got a question for you guys that reload. I don't reload at all yet, but I will eventually start reloading 30-06. I have a lot of HXP brass sitting around in a trash bag. Is it detrimental to have it stored like that? If you plan to reload it, is it ideal to get it tumbled asap, or does it not matter? Any recommendations for a good tumbler? Thanks

I have found that once you tumble your brass and keep it in a sealed bag or container in a dry place it will stay "clean". I dont tumble my brass long enough to get it all pretty, just clean enough to reload. About 2 hours. My current batch of 1970 HXP cases are on the 8th reloading and I can feel the difference in the resizing die to the work hardened brass.. No splits yet but the rim is pretty beat up from the garands extractor. To the point where it has deformed the rim enough to see it wobble in the trimmer.

 

[mac1911]

I have found that once you tumble your brass and keep it in a sealed bag or container in a dry place it will stay "clean". I dont tumble my brass long enough to get it all pretty, just clean enough to reload. About 2 hours. My current batch of 1970 HXP cases are on the 8th reloading and I can feel the difference in the resizing die to the work hardened brass.. No splits yet but the rim is pretty beat up from the garands extractor. To the point where it has deformed the rim enough to see it wobble in the trimmer.

I have the Lyman turbo tumbler. Its a bit big if your not cleaning a large amount of brass to fill it to the correct amount. I keep saying im going to buy a small one that will handle 100 cases at a time. this is my work load for reloading. I dont really load up many rounds at once. If you under load the tumblers they do not clean as well/fast

 

[jpm]

Good tip on the marking the cases with a sharpie. Stupid question, but does the marking from the sharpie stay on the case after firing and tumbling? I don't mark any of my pistol cases (all I currently reload) with a sharpie so I wasn't sure.

It doesn't. I use this method when I'm loading different weight charges to test loads and when I get them done in the walnut tumbler, the sharpie marks are gone :-(

 

[DW357]

It doesn't. I use this method when I'm loading different weight charges to test loads and when I get them done in the walnut tumbler, the sharpie marks are gone :-(

I was fairly certain that it would not stay on the case after tumbling. Although I tumble with a corn cob which is a little less agressive than walnut? Not sure if that would really make a difference.

I tumbled my hxp cases for 6 hours yesterday along with some 357 mag and 9mm brass and boy did those hxp cases come out clean and smooth.

 

[mac1911]

my biggest gain in m1 accuracy
1. trusting my eye to naturally center the front post in the rear aperture
2. Front sight focus
3. Sling use
4. breath and trigger control also helped but that sort of comes with the other 3.

 

[OfficerObie59]

For one thing, you can install a winter trigger if you are sent to the Russian Front...

For shits and giggles I put one on my Garand a few winters ago. After that, I definitely have little doubt in the winter trigger's alleged potential for an increase in ND's.

 

[OfficerObie59]

But even at that, once the CMP runs out the prices will go up, even if the next president lets in those crates from South Korea that Barry banned. They clearly are a good investment.

Any Garands that come back from Korea will be import marked. So, while I think they may slighty decrease the Garand prices, I don't think it will be as drastic as everyone assumes.

Now, I don't think they're going to run out of rifles soon, but hey, they don't have any more M1 Carbines either. One day, the CMP will be out of Garands. At least reasonably priced ones anyway.

Service grade M1 Carbines were selling for ~$450-500 when the CMP sold out in 2009. Good luck finding a half-way decent one now for anything under $650. Even at that price point, most are pretty skeezey.

 

[DW357]

Any Garands that come back from Korea will be import marked. So, while I think they may slighty decrease the Garand prices, I don't think it will be as drastic as everyone assumes.

Service grade M1 Carbines were selling for ~$450-500 when the CMP sold out in 2009. Good luck finding a half-way decent one now for anything under $650. Even at that price point, most are pretty skeezey.

Ya that sucks they sold out (got my LTC at the end of 2009). I'm buying a pretty good (from what I can tell, will confirm once I meet) from a fellow NESer this weekend. 2 15 rd mags, 1 30 rd mag, 100 rounds of ammo, hard carry case, scabbard, sling etc. $800. Seems fair.

http://www.northeastshooters.com/vbulletin/threads/257144-Inland-M1-Carbine?highlight=m1+carbine

 

[noddaduma]

Hahaha! So true. It'll happen. No sense in resisting.

I've got a question for you guys that reload. I don't reload at all yet, but I will eventually start reloading 30-06. I have a lot of HXP brass sitting around in a trash bag. Is it detrimental to have it stored like that? If you plan to reload it, is it ideal to get it tumbled asap, or does it not matter? Any recommendations for a good tumbler? Thanks

Depending on how ambitious I'm feeling...most times I don't bother tumbling the brass. It doesn't need to be shiny to go bang. Just clean em to get the range dirt out.

 

[noddaduma]

It doesn't. I use this method when I'm loading different weight charges to test loads and when I get them done in the walnut tumbler, the sharpie marks are gone :-(

Yep. It'll survive firing but not tumbling. See my comment above about frequency of doing so


When I do actually tumble clean, I'll sort the brass by number of firings to avoid confusion. The inconvenience is worth avoiding the risk of a dangerous case split.

 

[jpm]

Yep. It'll survive firing but not tumbling. See my comment above about frequency of doing so


When I do actually tumble clean, I'll sort the brass by number of firings to avoid confusion. The inconvenience is worth avoiding the risk of a dangerous case split.

I do something similar, try to keep the brass segregated so I know which ones are from which batch and number of firings, then mark them after I reload them again.

 

[DW357]

I do something similar, try to keep the brass segregated so I know which ones are from which batch and number of firings, then mark them after I reload them again.

This is what I was thinking, tumble each batch separately and keep them in their own zip loc bags with a label indicating the number of firings? My tumbler claims it can tumble up to 250 30-06 cases and I've got ~400 hxp cases so I could just have 2 batches in their own labeled bag. I'll see how that goes once my hornady 30 cal bullets arrive at my house.

 

[ninemilshooter]

I was finally able to get out and shoot mine. I love that PING!

[video=youtube_share;qhNos0mcbqY]http://youtu.be/qhNos0mcbqY[/video]

 

[mac1911]

I was finally able to get out and shoot mine. I love that PING!

[video=youtube_share;qhNos0mcbqY]http://youtu.be/qhNos0mcbqY[/video]

what no range report, target pics. now you need to find a cmp garand shoot in your area and get off the bench.....