Category Archives: M1 Garand
World War Two Practical Match at LRGC
I went a little out of my comfort zone on this one. A friend of mine talked me in to signing up for a Garand “practical rifle” match at Langhorne Rod and Gun.
It was a sunny, unseasonably warm day in the forties, with a foot of snow still on the ground.
Several different courses of fire at different distances. All based on 8 round clips so lots of pinging.
16 rounds standing 16 round kneeling at 100 yards at steel from the top of their 100 yard berm.
16 rounds standing to kneeling at 50 yards at a reduced IDPA target
16 rounds prone at steel plates at 200 yards
I did terrible, but it wasn’t really about “winning” or at least that’s what I told myself.
A couple things I need to think about from what I learned at this match. I think my 6:00 hold held me back a bit, I should keep a dope for both 6:00 and center mass. I wasn’t prepared to use hasty sling and they have a “muzzle down” rule that threw me off a bit. I’m a little ashamed to admit, I have no idea how to rig up with the barrel down without dropping my rifle.
My excuses aside it was fun, well run match. It has gotten me thinking a bit about my shooting style a bit, and perhaps I should spend some time practicing transitioning and hasty sling.
In unrelated news a fella there had a Mini-G, and I want one!
A little video of me shooting.
Setting The Elevation Knob On A M1 Garand
There are a few different ways to set the elevation knob on a Garand floating around. Before setting this you will first need to determine what the correct amount of clicks is for your rifle to hit the X ring.
This is how I do it:
1. Run the rear sight all the way down.
2. Loosen the elevation knob screw.
3. Continue turning the knob down until you reach your desired hashmark.
4. Continue turning the knob down counting to your desired number of clicks.
5. Tighten the elevation screw without moving the knob.
6. Turn the knob up verifying that when you have reached the number of clicks you were looking for it stops at the desired hashmark.
7. Run the rear sight all the way up and tighten the elevation knob screw all the way.
8. Return the sight to zero and go shoot in a local match.
A fair amount of competitors don’t bother with this and just count clicks. It can be a useful practice as it helps you verify at a glance you are at the right elevation. However, on the other hand, I have had the rear sight loosen up on me and cause the elevation to appear correct but the number of clicks had drifted. Best practice is probably “trust but verify” and set your your elevation knob to the right hashmark but verify from time to time, at least before each match. It is also a good idea to write your elevation and windage down on a card and place it in your stock.
Replace Clip Latch Spring on a M1 Garand
The clip in one of my Garands was ejecting too soon. While this can be a byproduct of Greek clips, it’s easier to just replace the spring. Replacing this should clear up any premature ejection issues.
It’s a pretty simple operation. Take the trigger assembly out and remove the lower stock. I use a heavy duty clip latch spring from Brownells.
Use either a small punch or a M1 Garand combo tool to start pushing out the clip latch pin. It shouldn’t require much force to get it started.
Once there is enough of the pin sticking out pull it out the rest of the way by hand. There may be a little spring tension here so be careful nothing goes flying.
Then remove the existing spring from the clip latch and replace it with the new spring. The “fat” end of the spring should snap into the clip latch.
Then replace the clip latch and replace the pin.
Push down on clip latch and push in the clip latch pin.
You can do this without totally field stripping your rifle just make sure the op rod catch is in the down position and the action is closed. Otherwise it will be difficult to reinsert the clip latch. Of course make extra sure your rifle is clear before attempting any of this.
New Hand Loads and Winchester Garand Range Report
With 3 weeks until the National Matches, perhaps imprudently, I’ve decided that I’m not going to use HXP for the Camp Perry again this year. I was able to find enough CCI BR2 primers despite the lingering bottleneck from “the great panic of 2013.”
Before you read on you have to agree to work up your loads properly and not just create the load.
After trying several loads I had very good results with Hornady 168 grain BTHPs over 46 grains of IMR 4895 and a CCI BR2 primer in a 77 HXP case. I also used a Hornady OAL gauge to stretch the COAL out a bit which may not have had much effect but it made me feel better.
I was very happy with the performance of the new Winchester Garand I’ve made several posts about recently. I will take it to a local match this weekend to work it out a bit but I didn’t have any functional issues and it performed very well. Assuming this continues I think I’ll take it to Perry for the JCG match.
