Ramshot Tac in service rifle loads

[DaveL]

My loading buddy has picked up a few lbs. of TAC powder that we are thinking about using for 7.62x51 service rifle loads in our M1As. On the burn rate chart we have, it shows TAC right next to H4895 and a couple of places away from IMR4895. That leads me to believe that it should be a good powder for our needs.
Question; Will the pressure curve be OK for the M1As using TAC?
Question; Has anyone used TAC in their M1As or Garands? What kind of successes or failures have you had?
TIA
Dave

[Jim in Salt Lake]

I love TAC for my AR. Meters like a dream, speeds are consistent with a low standard deviation. I, too, would like to know about using it for an M1A as I've got about 15 lbs. of it and no IMR4895. Ramshot has a FAQ section, question 13 asks about any differences in loads for semi auto vs. bolt rifles. They say to use the same load data for both, starting with minimum load. The last paragraph does say, "However, as always there is one exception namely the M1 Garand system in 30-06 caliber, which can sometimes experience a problem by bending the operating rod if too high a gas port pressure is attained, with too slow a powder." There is no mention of M1A/M14. On their burn rate chart, TAC is the same as IMR4895. I'm gonna watch this thread for some actual experience but I'm tempted to try TAC if I don't get any 4895 by the time of our local M1A match.

[joem]

I tried TAC in my AR. Groups were just so,so.

[JohnF]

Load density not ideal, at least in the M1 Garand........

Since TAC is a ball powder it's load density is not the best powder to achieve accurate loads in the M1 Garand (.30-06). With a 150 grain bullet and a 47.0 grain load to get somewhere about 2600-2700 FPS the LD is probably less than 70%. It may be a different story with the M14/M1A (.308 Win) as the LD could be around 90% with a 42.0 grain charge and a 150 grain bullet to get 2700 FPS. I would check with Accurate to confirm use of TAC in the M1 and M1A/M14. JMHO, but with the cost of todays components I would stay with the tried and true loads using 4895 or 4064 rather than experimenting with a new powder not known to produce accurate loads.