My friend's Garand shoots factory ammo very well. When I reload 30-06 that plunk perfectly into a Wilson gauge (they shoot fine in my Savage), when in his Garand sometimes the firing pin won't touch the primer. Is it the gun, or my reloads? If the gun had a deep chamber or short firing pin, it would do this with all ammo. Anybody got a theory? I mean besides telling me that my reloads are rotten. My main defense is the Wilson gauge.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

...should probably check the head space on the Garand...

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A Country Boy Can Survive

I have not seen that happen in my experience. And it shouldn't happen unless there is GROSSLY excessive headspace. Do you have any way to measure the headspace dimension of either the chamber or your cartridges? If you attempt to chamber one of your reloads with the bolt locked open, what do you see happening? i.e., does it seem to go further into the chamber, deeper than a factory load?

Military chambers are cut more generously than civilian ones. Since it shoots factory ammo without issues I think the solution is to take that fired brass from the factory ammo and try neck sizing only and you should be good to go. Sounds to me like you're setting the shoulder back to far during your sizing operation.

Also you have to be careful of shooting non specific "factory" ammo in a Garand.......Ball ammo runs about 2675 fps with 150 gr fmj bullet.....Standard for a Garand.....Modern factory 06 is loaded to higher pressures and can cause the op-rod to bend and weapon to malfunction...If you install a Shuster gas plug and adjust you can shoot all factory 06 in it..........All mine get is ball or ball equivalent reloads....And yes I shoot cast lead bullets in mine...Smokes like a muzzle loader but work just fine.........BTW I believe your die is setting the cartridge shoulder back too far for the Garand chamber..........

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S&W Accumulator

I do not know what is going on but here's something to look for. When you chamber your reloads does his Garand's bolt rotate fully closed? That could be obstructed by the bullet contacting the ball seat or lead. When most rifles are fired slightly out of battery the firing pin will hit a cam surface inside the bolt expending the main spring's (firing pin spring's) energy closing the bolt.

I would not fire a combination of cartridge and rifle that created head space so excessive that the firing pin made no contact on some of the primers. That would be begging for a case head separation. Rather than using a Wilson gauge to adjust your full length resizer use trial fitting of sized brass in the chamber itself. Size cases just small enough to enter the specific chamber and no more. While that will make reloads that will not fit in every stranger's rifle it will extend your brass life and avoid ka-booms.

Since while I typed a neck sizer was suggested I'll add that in simi-autos neck sizers sometimes create the problem I described in my first paragraph. Typical military chambers are not just a little large, they are often out of round. If the chamber bulges out on its left side and a neck sized case is rechambered with its bulge oriented to the right the interference can keep the bolt from fully closing.

You're in a dangerous situation there. The reason your friend's Garand has no firing pin marks is probably that the bolt is not all the way locked. There's a little tab at the back of the firing pint that passes through a slot in the receiver when the bolt is all the way closed. It appears that your cartridge is a little too big and the bolt doesn't close all the way. They recommend that cases for the Garand (and M1A also) be resized in a small base die. Several reloading companies carry them. If one of your rounds was just small enough to let the firing pin through, the bolt would not be all the way locked. The Garand was not designed to function blowback. Try it with dummy rounds, no powder, but you can put in a live primer to see if the rifle detonates the primer.

Also to prevent slam fires, they recommend CCI # 34 primers, which are built to mil specs. They also prevent slam fires.

Check this out on the reloading forum; they should have lots of enlightenment there.

Edited to add: When the Garand was THE match rifle, hundreds of thousands of reloads were fired every year. The reloading techniques were well worked out. I strongly recommend you find a Garand forum, there's got to be at least one. and put your question there. Although I have a Garand and shoot nothing but reloads in it, I'm fumbling in the dark about your situation.

I'm with Cyrano on the overlength cartridge theory.

What powder are you using in your reloads? Garands need that medium speed powder, IMR4895 IIRC. Commercial hunting ammo is not necessarily loaded to a higher pressure than GI ammo, but the pressure curve is often all wrong for the Garand's gas system. The Shuster plug suggested by Mike is a good fix.

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Release the Kraken

My first thought was that the case shoulder was being set back too far during FL resizing. But I don't know how that could happen with any FL resizing die I know about.

Regarding lead bullets in the M1 - what loads will work? I have thought about doing that but figured that lower velocity lead bullet loads wouldn't function the action. So I have never done it. I have literally thousands of gas-check 165 grain lead spitzer bullets I'd like to use in my M1.

The M1 sure has become delicate since the advent of the internet and the amplified rumor mill that feeds on itself. It used to be that any medium powder in the IMR 3031 to IMR 4320 burning rate range with any .30 Caliber bullet up to 180 grains and one was good to go. Now it's no commercial factory .30-06 loads but only custom-tailored "Garand" loads, and trick after-market gas plugs.

It's hard to believe such a "hot house rose" of a rifle actually fought wars and shot high-power competition all those years.

What turned out to be the real culprit on this?

Shoulder setback is critical on an M1 Garand....I use an RCBS case micrometer to ensure that the sizing is correct and that my sizing die is set properly.

I also make sure that the case is trimmed to correct OAL. The idea of testing it with a primed casing that is sized properly and is correct OAL.....I think you will have ignition.

Keep us posted!

Randy

I have fired commercial .30-'06 hunting-type ammo in mine without any incidents. Granted, I haven't fired large quantities of it, but it works OK - at least with 150 and 180 grain bullets. In reloading, the powder used should be in the medium rate class, such as 3031 or 4895. Something very much like IMR 4895 was the standard propellant used for GI loads during WWII and the Korean War. Stay away from slow powders like 4350 and 4831.

^^This^^ The issue as I understand it with MODERN commercial hunting ammo is that a lot of it uses a dual base powder resulting in a looong duration pressure impulse. I have been down this rabbit hole with a FAL, and that rifle comes with adjustable gas as standard. Winchester Red-X 150 gr SP does not run in my FAL, but Remington green box does, behaving just like 7.62 NATO surplus.

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Release the Kraken

If your reloads chamber easily into another M1 Garand and ignites when fired, then I don't think that your reloads are the culprit....another check is if you can find a set of Go -No Go gauges...that will tell the real story..

Garands are very specific on having the shoulder in the right place....and OAL of the casing.

Randy

Ya'll can gee & haw all you want to about the Garand.........Like ANY machine its was designed to operate within certain parameters/pressures etc.......****n it outside those and you could have problems..****n it in-spec and its tougher than a lightered knot and will last a long long time.......My oldest one is from 1943.......Newest 1957...........

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S&W Accumulator

For the OP;

exactly how have you and the friend determined the primer strike (or lack thereof).

If you are loading a SINGLE round without the use of a SLED, or the "old Match gunners method" then you are basically fooling yourself trying to correctly "chamber" a single round.

The Garand was designed to utilize the full en bloc clip which is why the "SLED" came along during single round at matches.

My Garand, an IHC 1966 Red River Army Depot National Match rebuild shoots all sorts of so called modern sporting 30-06, but will not chamber a single round without a SLED or doing it the old way. Check for your friends "Garand thumb".

I am not saying this is the problem cause of your original post, but it is worth mentioning as it could be and if so....very "cheap" fix without changing dies or procedures.

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Charlie B
SWCA#3083, SWHF#570

Feed an M1 a diet consisting of a FA 70 corrosive primer, a new cartridge case, whatever the standard load of 4895 powder and a 150 gr jacketed spitzer bullet and it will be totally reliable and reasonably accurate from the sands of Iwo Jima to the snow of Bastogne. Vary from this recipe and you will have to take into account the vagaries of the M1 design. The hundreds of thousands of target loads used in high power competition took these characteristics into account. Disregard them and you will have problems ranging from accuracy, feeding and ejection problems to firing from an unlocked bolt. An M1 will only fire once from an unlocked bolt .