About two years a go I decided to get my first semi-automatic rifle; an M1 Garand from the Civilian Marksmanship Program (CMP). While I was waiting for my rifle, I began researching what I was going to feed it. I had ordered some M2 ball from the CMP but I wanted to use the rifle to begin shooting NRA High-power Matches and needed better accuracy over what I could expect from surplus ammo. I wanted to hand load my own ammunition to gain an edge without paying for match grade factory ammo.

As I started my research I found a lot of, for lack of a better word, “wives tales” about reloading for an M1 or any automatic rifle for that matter. I began to think there was some kind of black magic involved in reloading for a Garand and was wondering if I could ever hand load for it without blowing myself up with a slam-fire or ruining the operating rod from using the wrong powder. I heard things such as not to use your brass more than three times, don’t use slow burning powder, and not to use bullets weighing more than 165 grains. There was some truth to these things; but, not enough to merit the paranoia I found people had about reloading for a Garand.

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