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Hunting Ammo for the Garand

7K views 4 replies 5 participants last post by  hamourkiller 
#1 · (Edited)
As most Garand shooters know new factory hunting ammo in 30/06 is loaded with too slow a powder for best use in the 30/06 Garand.

I have not had any problems with factory hunting loads in 308 Garands, but I have had high pressure signs and failures to extract with new made 30/06 hunting ammo in '06 Garands.

Most experts say the best powders for a 30/06 Garand are from IMR 3031 on the fast side to IMR 4064 on the slow side with IMR 4895, as possible the best all round.

When I wanted to develop some hunting loads for my 30/06 Garand I took a look and the old recommended Match loads.

Since I have a lot of IMR 3031 that is the powder I chose to use.

I have never had any feeding problems with standard lead pointed Spitzer bullets in any Garand or M1-A.

However there is one bullet I have used a lot for hunting in the 308 WCF both in Bolt rifles and semiautos. I have killed a lot of game from turkeys, to deer, to coyotes, to bobcats, to antelope, from close up to over 550yards on antelope with perfect results.

This bullet is the Sierra 165 gr HPBT. This is a Gameking hunting bullet, not a Matchking, but is shoots as accurate as the Matchking in most rifles.

Sierra rates this bullet a little tougher than their 165 gr Spz Gameking.

It has given, me excellent kills, great expansion, great penetration. I have never recovered one.

The main advantage to this bullet, especially for a Garand, is that it has a rugged Hollow Point, instead of a lead point.
It is a large Hollow Point and not likely to be pluged up buy hair, etc. when it hits an animal.
This HP is not easily damaged like a lead tip can be. This is important for a Rifle like the Garand where when loaded in 8 round clips the tips of the bullet are left unprotected.

These bullets feed great in not only Garands but also in M1-A's H&K 91's, and FN-FAL,s as well.

Other rugged tipped bullets to take a look at, are Barnes X bullets and the Plastic tip Bullets.
 
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#4 ·
I have used the Sierra 165gr. SPBT GameKing bullets for years in both my M1A and M1 Garand. The rounds for the M1A get 41.5grs. of IMR4895 and the Garand gets 47.5grs. of IMR4064. The bullet has always gone completely through any deer I have shot leaving a good blood trail. I can't say the same thing about the Nosler Balistic tip. I tried them one season and never had the same performance as the Sierra GameKings. The GameKings have always gotten the job done.
 
#5 ·
My favorite load for 165-168 gr class of bullets in the Garand is 48.5 gr 4064. This load chronographs at 2700 fps, which matches very closely to M2 AP Ball. The AP ball I have chronographed has been 2750 FPS or so.

I currently use the 165gr Nosler Accubond which gives complete pass through and rapid expansion, but any Sierra Game King will float my boat as well. We are lucky to have so many good bullets to choose from.

Good luck hunting
 
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