metaldonnieg

A fellow I was in a band with a couple of years ago has inherited one and said I could shoot it if I bought the ammo but I don't know what it takes and he certainly doesn't. For some reason I was thinking something along the lines of a 30-06 round but wanted to ask here first. I'm pressed for time at the moment but it was on my mind and I was here so I decided to make a post.

Unfortunately he doesn't really appreciate guns but also doesn't want to sell it. I instantly told him to make me a price when he told me about it but he wasn't interested. Oh well.

G2 Shooter

I would guess that most take .30 Carbine ammo. I don't know if any M1 Carbines were chambered differently.
Make sure that it isn't an M1 Garand which takes .30-06.

metaldonnieg

Yeah i knew the Garande took 30-06. I guess we could look for an engraving on the barrel?

Oh well, research time. I could've done it by now. I ended up making myself late with this freakin forum haha.

Good day sir!

ipscshooter

Yep. 99999 out of 100000 will be chambered for.30 Carbine.

CamoCop

nice little brush guns, i have 2 m1's

younggun308

You want to be careful,though. The M-1 Garand only took a certain type of .30-06. A 50 grain, I believe. Anything else goes in there, and you're running a risk.

I wouldn't be surprised if M-1 Carbines were the same.

ipscshooter

Assuming it to be true that only certain bullets can be used, I guarantee it isn't a 50 grain. They don't even make a 50 grain for the 06. It would have to be at least a 150 grain. Assuming the Garand is in good condition, I would think that it should handlecommercial loads, assuming proper overall length of the cartridge. I've read that the bullet should be under 173 grains, so 125, 150, 165 and 168 grain bullets should work well.


I've never seen anything but110 grain FMJand HPloadings for the M-1 Carbine. Either should work fine.

Briman

The conventional wisdom on the M1 is that bullet weights between 147-175gr using a propellant with a burning rate between IMR 3031 and IMR 4064 is ok for the gas system.

The gas and operating system on the M1 relies on the timing of the bullet leaving the muzzle and a fairly narrow pressure curve to function properly without overstressing the parts. A faster burning powder might not fully cycle the action, and a slower burning powder will put too much stress on the oprod- potentially bending it.

Commercial ammo might be ok, but then again you don't know what kind of powder goes into commercially loaded 30-06- my guess is that its something similar to IMR 4350. There aren't too many people around anymore that know how to repair and reset the curvature of an M1 oprod, and spare parts will only get more scarce.

I only shoot handloads through my M1. I do not use commercial ammo, and surplus ammo is too expensive and not consistant enough for me to waste my time and money on it.

mr ratchet

where the bolt meets the barel on the top side it should be stanped cal.30 carbine i just checked mine

Pygmy

Being ignorant about Garands, I made the mistake of shooting commercial loads through my M-1...They were Remington green 150 grain...

Bent the oprod... Evidently the powder they use is too slow...Probably something around the burn rate of 4350...

I replaced the oprod and now shoot either surplus military ball or reloads with nothing slower than 4064...I've read that a 150 grain bullet with 4895 is close to what the rifle was designed for..