Well, this being mom's day and all I decided to spend most of it doing what *I* wanted, and what I wented was to work up a load for my garands using my cast 130 grain gas checked spire point bullets.

So I ended up shooting at the old trailer frame out back and I found that with 35.5 grains of IMR 4895 that bullet is pretty darn accurate and goes right through that steel frame out there. It's a pretty good plinking round I don't mind telling you. I think I'm going to load up a couple ammo cans of this stuff, in clips. A can holds 33 clips.

I really enjoyed the day, and I think I'm going to get into some serious case prep tonight.

I wonder if this round would be good for hunting...

a.

Well, this being mom's day and all I decided to spend most of it doing what *I* wanted. . .

Good for you!



. . . I wonder if this round would be good for hunting...

a.

Sure. When the late Col. Townsend Whelen went for several months of extended time living in the wild, he knew he would be eating mainly small game (large game is problematic for the lone hunter isolated from civilization because of spoilage and portability). He knew he didn't want to have to carry a separate .22 rifle just to avoid destroying small game beyond convenient usefulness, so he carried a sporterized 30-06 Springfield with many more rounds of reduced power loads than of full power loads. I am recalling 110 grain bullets over IMR 4579? Maybe a 130 grain cast bullet load also?

I don't think the very light loads will function the Garand without enlarging the gas port substantially, but they will still work single-loaded. You might consider working up such a load to add to your repetoir?

The load you have will be giving you about 1900—2000 fps at about 1000 ft-lbs of muzzle energy. That is perfectly capable of taking deer-sized game if the your shot placement is good and the range isn't too great (though it would not be my first choice for animals above coyote size for humane reasons). That said, assuming the bullet is the Lyman 311410, if you zero the rifle at 140 yards (1.8" high at 100 yards) it will keep the bullet inside a 4" circular kill zone out to 180 yards, letting you use the rifle on game that size without sight adjustment out to that range. At 180 yards that bullet with your powder charge still has 600 ft-lbs of energy.

My only caution is that your powder charge is just under 60% of case capacity. You may want to check IMR's recommendation for minimum case capacity for safe loads with 4895?

Nick

Be careful of lead buildup in the gas port and system - semiauto's weren't really meant to shoot pure lead bullets.

Now you just might be a Redneck if you have old iron frames out back.

And you really are a Redneck if you shoot at 'em outta your back door!