i have also been told that the original gas system is not made to tollerate the slow buring powders used in commercial hunting ammo.
You have been told correctly.
I'm not going to doubt that the last two posters have had good experiences with factory ammo, but conventional wisdom says that you don't shoot bullets lighter than 147 gr or heavier than 180 gr, powders faster than IMR 3031 or slower than IMR 4064 in the M1.The gas system was designed for burning IMR 4895 with a 147-173 gr bullet. If you are going to shoot a few rounds a year through it, then factory ammo probably won't hurt much, you might shoot 5 rounds or mauybe 500 rounds before your oprod takes a crapper, but if you are going to shoot a few hundred a year and want to keep that funny little rod under the barrel from bending, breaking, or springing, I would
STRONGLY suggest using only M2 ball, or buying a new Hornady reloading manual that has a section dedicated to reloading for the M1.
http://www.adcofirearms.com/gasnuts.cfm This link has an adjustable gas nut for the M1.
These work somewhat like adjustable gas systems on european semiautos- You start with the most wide open setting, and decrease the size of the aperture until the rifle cycles with a particular load.