What?s up with the CMP ammo warning

[RED]

I don?t use anything but milsurp in my M-1’s but I have been using 180 grain hand loads and soft point commercial ammo in my 03’s for the past 50 years.

[lyman]

link to warning ?

[Art]

The "Read This First" for the M1 published by the CMP, IIRC, said that the correct ammunition for the M1 rifle is GI ball. It said also that commercial 30-06 ammunition should be limited to no more than 180 gr bullet weight. My understanding was that the suggested 180 gr bullet weight limit applied to the M1 rifle and the M1 rifle only.

[Fred Pillot]

I got the CAMP email warning today. They are including things like 03-A3 in the warning. After all, they say, these are 75 YO rifles.

[lyman]

I got the CAMP email warning today. They are including things like 03-A3 in the warning. After all, they say, these are 75 YO rifles.

ah ,

I have not received that email yet,


and looks like I'll just ignore it

[bruce]

Once upon a time I bought a 03-A3 rifle. It was marked National Ordinance. I paid $100 for it. Shot the hound out of it. Some of the loads I used were nuclear level home loads. Stuff was loaded so hot that animals died before I even pulled the trigger. Ended up rebarreling the rifle with a new USGI 2 groove barrel. Best $40 I ever spent. Bought another later that was the same make ... but nicer condition. Wonderful rifles. Then, I started buying USGI Remington and Smith Corona and Springfield 03-A3 and 03 rifles. Shot them with the same nuclear level loads. Superlative rifles. Still own a number of them. Have however moderated the loads down from nuclear to merely run of the mill apocalyptic level. Have not ever seen a problem with any of these rifles ... even when shooting scroungy military surplus ball, old domestic factory stuff and of course my marvelously super accurate home loads. Now, I have nothing but respect for the CMP. However, given the quality of the rifles I have received from them, I doubt that there is any reason why any of these rifles will not be perfectly safe for use with any proper M-2 ball, as well as domestic or foreign ammo that is within SAAMI standards. I of course offer no opinion on nuclear or even apocalyptic level loads. Sincerely. bruce.

[J.J.]

I have been handloading for the M1 rifle for over 50 years now and have had no problems. The key is that you use powder such as IMR 4895 or IMR 4064 and keep the bullet weight under 180 grains Remember that port pressure is the key to success with the M1 and slower powders such as IMR 4350 require an adjustable gas cylinder lock screw. to achieve correct port pressure
J.J.

[togor]

There's this thread at the CMP forum about 180 gr Winchester, and a link to a since-deleted thread.

https://forums.thecmp.org/showthread.php?t=280169

Maybe someone at the CMP got spooked?

[Art]

I think Togor is correct and someone at CMP did get spooked, possibly over an incident with either high velocity modern ammo with heavy bullets or a hot handload.

There is a difference between "safe" as in won't blow your gun up and not good for your gun as in accelerating its demise. I don't shoot any out of "spec" ammo in an M1 which means either GI ball, commercial ammo that says "For M1 Garand" on the box or handloads from the Garand section of my Hornaday Handbook and those aren't to the high end (46 gr. IMR 4064 behind a 168 gr Sierra Match King or 165gr Game King producing about 2,600 fps.)

My '03A3 could probably handle any modern factory load but I shoot the same stuff in it as my M1.

They're old and even if they wouldn't fail I want to preserve them not just for my lifetime but hopefully for long after that.

Just me, and your mileage may vary.

[JB White]

I've been using a stash of LC ball supplemented by Federal 150gr FMJ. The Federal loading has been described in the past as being the closest to USGI in terms of velocity and pressures.
I haven't broken any oprods.....yet.

My handloads have been 4895 with the M1s in mind. All I have done were a few function tests in the Garands. The rest of the batches have been properly disposed of through the M1917s.