Took my Garand to indoor range last week and out of 2 boxes was able to recover only 5 cases It launches them way out of reach... So my question is: can anyone recommend a brass catcher for Garand ? Anyone have experience with E&L model ?
Appreciate any hints

Have someone stand behind you and see where they go. I've never tried one, because I'd rather not have a box on the side of the gun. I guess I've never really lost much 30-06 brass either.

Just my $.02

Something else you can do is simply move BACK in the shooting booth. After seeing the cost of new unprimed brass at places like Gander Mountain I started taking a couple of steps back in the booths at indoor ranges. My brass recovery rate with my semi auto pistols went from a rather miserable 60% to nearly 100%.

As for your rifle shooting, if you are shooting off a bench rest there isn't any harm or risk to placing your sandbag at the rear of the shooting bench instead of the front. I expect that if you do that you'll find almost all of your brass lands behind the firing line where you are permitted to pick it up.

BTW, last weekend a fellow shooting with his father told me I didn't have to worry about picking up my brass that was thrown behind them, he'd just sweep it downrange when they finished shooting. When I told him that Gander Mountain wanted 35 cents per casing and that I reloaded he started picking up my brass for me and handing it too me when I finished a magazine. You might find it helpful to spend a moment or two explaining to your range neighbors that you reload and would appreciate them leaving your brass in place so you can recover every casing. I also prefer to get booths near the right side of the range so that I don't have to chase too many lanes over.

You don't mention what load you're using.
Its possible to control ejection to a certain degree by adjusting your loads.
I load for my M1 to a moderate level (with Varget) to where the cases land in a reasonably small area at 2:00 o'clock about 6 feet in front. Easier on the rifle and me.
If you're shooting factory loads, a Schuster adjustable gas plug can be dialed in to give the same effect.
Either of these would be easier and simpler than a brass catcher.

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-jwk-
US Army '72-'95

if your rifle is functioning properly, 7 out of the 8 will end up somewhere in front of you, depending how high you are off the ground, they can be from 5-10' in front of you between 12-4 O'clock, the last shot will be off to your right at 8-9' O'clock if you know where to look for them, it makes them easier to find.

Wow, losing 35, 30-06 cases would be pretty traumatic for me! When I shot a semi-auto handgun indoors, I would position myself close to the right partition/wall between stalls so the brass would hit the wall and fall down behind the firing line...

I have a similar "box" style brass catcher for my Ruger Mini 14. It catches the brass just fine, but it does rub on the finish of the receiver and left a mark on the bluing. The Mini 14 really throws brass. Without the catcher it goes out 20+ feet. I only shoot at an outdoor range, but if I use an end lane, the brass goes way into the bushes and is very difficult to find.

Hope this helps.

Steve

Taroman, I was shooting CMP (Greek surplus) ammo, so couldn't control the charge Kurac, I think mine functions properly - it launches brass at about 1 o'clock and about 10 ft forward, so there's no way to recover it on indoor range. Thanks everyone for the input, I guess as mikld pointed out I can position myself as close to divider as possible hoping brass will hit it first, so won't go far. Adjustable plug seems like a good solution.

The M-1 Garand is designed so that the hump on the operating rod will strike the empty casing and knock it forward somewhere between 1-3 O'clock in a clockface arch. The final round will go out at 4-5 O'clock since the rod will lock back to allow the clip to eject.

If you are firing from a bench place a cardboard box in that area and you will be able to recover the vast majority of your casings. If firing outdoors on a firing line, you can use a blanket supported with a couples of poles to stop the brass from flying off into the grass, etc.

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I put one of the Schuster adj gas plugs in my M1 and it works great. The main reason I wanted it was to be able to reduce the recoil energy of the op-rod, slow things down so to speak.
You can adjust it, simply done w/an allen wrench so the ejected cases fall a mere couple of feet out at 2 & 3 o'clock.


Op-rods are expensive, chasing brass is no fun. Not all 'milsurp' and nothing much packaged commercial 30-06 is loaded especially for Garands. This way you can use most anything w/o damaging the rifle plus have the brass in a small area for you when done shooting.

Someday I'll reload for it,,maybe.
I'm still shooting up WW2 corrosive primed stuff and some Korean mfg 30-06. Some of the K is corrosive,,some not.
The M1 gets cleaned as if it all is anyway. It's apart right now on the bench from Thursday shoot and cleaning yet.

This link works really well for my AR's.

Have you checked to see if that Greek ammo is Boxer primed. Because if it's Berdan primed losing the casings downrange isn't much of a loss at all.

Brucev is correct about ejection patterns on an M1.

The simple answer is to single load your M1 and all cases will be ejected to the right rear. Pick them up and go home.

Scooter, it's boxer primed otherwise I wouldn't worry about it

I shoot Greek surplus and my reloads and my brass lands in a 180 degree pattern from straight ahead to directly behind me. I loose brass when I shoot.