In order to participate in the GunBroker Member forums, you must be logged in with your GunBroker.com account. Click the sign-in button at the top right of the forums page to get connected.
30-06 garand ammo vrs standard
jb4lcm
Member Posts: 119 ✭✭
I've got a of garand ammo - 150gr FMJ - and it seems to not like 200 yards for accuracy. Standard factory 150gr Federal SP likes to stay tighter than Garand. Anyone else getting scatter shots with Garand?
Comments
Not me.
What do you mean by Standard factory ammo? Is it loaded for Garands? Or just off the shelf stuff?
Be careful with modern ammo in your Garand, some create too much pressure and can damage your op rod.
Difficult to decipher the OP. Are you talking about the current production ammo loaded by Hornady/Federal or mil-surp production ammo from 40's or 50's? 200 yards with 70-80 year old ammo might not be great.
It is not even clear what gun he's shooting it in.
Well, he does say that it's a Garand.
But, it would help if he told us who made his Garand. And, who made the barrel. And, who installed the barrel. And, the barrel's Muzzle Wear & Throat Erosion gauge readings.
Neal
Have never had a problem with milsurp M1 ball ammo even in a modern Cobb MCR chambered in 30-06. Most of the stuff I have is Federal or Greek ammo from the 60s and 70s.
Brad Steele
My Garand is fed reloads of 150gr and 168gr BT Match grade bullets behind H4895. I stick with data out of the Hornady manuals Garand section and test loads with a Labradar. With a criterion match grade barrel installed several years back, this rifle is capable of 1" groups if the shooter does its part.
Over many years, have seen enough bent operating rods to not trust anything but my reloads.
The OP said the ammo is Garand. Nowhere did he say he is firing it IN a Garand.
I'm not sure what he means by Garand ammo, either. Does he mean ammo that came in enbloc clips, or just simply .30-06 ammo? Again, it's ambiguous.
Not only is it ambiguous, it ain't very clear, either!😋
I might have described it as obnubilated tergiversation but that would be showing off.
Clarification for those who asked:
Rifle is a NEW Ruger American 30-06, 22", factory muzzle brake. Purchased in Nov 2020.
I shot around 300 round thru it with unsatisfactory results. Returned the gun to Ruger - they replaced the stock, test fired it with 3 rounds at 50 yards resulting in 1.75" group (they sent a photo of the results).
I have had much better results since this repair shooting Federal ammo. Zero'd in at 100 yards - 6 shots inside 3". Using sand bags front and rear, but the PPU Garand (NEW) is inconsistent and was completely off the paper at 100 yards a few times.
Garand ammo has less powder so pushing 150gr is going to drop faster - which is to be expected, but left-right is where I'm seeing scattered results.
Pushed out to 200 yards - lifted the gun - 6" above the bull - and was close to the bull with the FED ammo. Garand could not find paper AT ALL at 200 yards.
Obviously the Garand ammo isn't going to work through your rifle. I would try a heavier bullet. 165gr or 180gr may shoot better through your rifle. There are other things that might tighten your groups up, scope, scope mounting etc. Regardless of what else may help I would trade the Garand ammo off to someone that wants it.
Well now, you do NOT have a Garand M-1 rifle. Great, that helps a LOT. Your gun may not like mil-surp Garand ammo, PERIOD.
Are you using iron sights? Have you accounted for different MV generated by different ammo?
I was shooting my 1903 today at 245 yards with 180 round nose bullets, I was burning up several different powders. All of them hit at 245 yards on a 10X12 steel plate. That gun is a RIA with a 1923 barrel on it. It is not ammo sensitive.
Your Ruger American will like some ammo and not other ammo. Hand loading will find the sweet spot.
FWIW my 308 Ruger American is a one hole tack driver that blew my mind with this level of accuracy from a $349.00 gun.