A notable birthday: John Cantius Garand was born January 1, 1888 in St. Rémi, Quebec. John Garand designed one of America’s best known battle rifles, the M1 Garand. General Patton praised Garand’s design, writing to Chief of Ordnance Lt. Gen. Levin H. Campbell, Jr., (January 26, 1945): “The M1 rifle is the most deadly rifle in the world.” Garand died on February 16, 1974.
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Archive USB Update
For those who have asked, here is an update on our upcoming release of the SurvivalBlog 2005-2019 archive waterproof USB sticks. To summarize:
- The archive now includes all SurvivalBlog posts and comments from 2005 through 2019.
- The stick’s contents this year will be so large that we had to switch to a more expensive 16 GB capacity stick. This will leave about 5 GB of free space for you load your personal photos, scanned documents, and e-books–making the USB stick ideal for packing in your bugout bag.
- The archive is once again on a waterproof and EMP-proof all-metal alloy stick with lanyard/key ring hole, secured by a threaded cap with o-ring seal. It is waterproof to three atmospheres of water depth. (100 feet = or 43.3 pounds per square inch. To be precise, that equates to 2.95 atmospheres.)
- In supplement all of the bonus books from the previous years, we’ve scanned a great selection of additional pre-1925 books that I’ve never seen offered elsewhere–almost 4,000 new pages! This includes an 800-page practical cookbook (circa 1923), a book on nut tree growing and pruning (circa 1924), the book Civilization During the Middle Ages (circa 1894), and the multi-volume Encyclopedia of Farm Knowledge (circa 1920). The archive just keeps getting bigger and better!
- Please consider making a gift of your older-edition archive sticks to like-mind friends or family members. It is important to share and preserve this knowledge.
- The archive waterproof USB sticks should be ready to pre-order by January 14th, and deliveries should begin on or before February 10, 2020. Please DO NOT contact us about ordering or reserving one for you before January 14th! Thanks for your patience.
I miss my match grade M1. It is enough to make a grown man cry…. Some guns are like Barbies for guys, but this rifle was used by the heroes of WW2. It would put them in there with Plain-Jane M2 LC ball, 1.5 MOA with the peep sights, and bad eyes. I never got around to loading up accuracy loads to find out what she was really capable of. Fortunately I still have lots of M2 AP left over for a special occasion. Let’s say these would be good for ‘elephant hunting’. Yet because of the age of the powder, and the slower speed of 2,750 fps, and the different pressure curve requirements for the M1, I think I’ll freshen them up this winter with a max load 61 grains of Superformance powder, and push those 168 grain beauties out of an accurized Springfield 03A3 (.30-06) close to 2,975 fps, with only 58,800 PSI (within the SAAMI specification.) I might add another grain, and push them a bit faster.
AP is not as accurate as modern lead core bullets, but as an anti-materiel round, precision is not necessary. Just put it into the can and let it rattle around. Accuracy will likely be improved over the original loading, yet with AP, the faster you can run it, the deeper it will penetrate. If one needs AP, speed is the key! So run AP as fast as possible without sacrificing too much accuracy. 6″ of solid concrete would be no match for this hot load. The proposed load launched at 2,975 fps would be capable of penetration 0.5″ thick MIL-A-12560 Class 1 armor plate at 175 yards if the bullet stuck it square, or at a 90 degree angle. With in a few yards of the muzzle, it might penetrate almost 0.75″ of the same armor plate. This is would be in stark contrast to 7.62 Nato M80, or the original M2 lead bullet at 2,750 fps, that would only leave a slight crater of about .06″ deep in the same steel. It might be possible to find M993, the 7.62 Nato AP, or M995 for 5.56x45mm, yet it’s not legal in some states to process AP rounds loaded in .308 Winchester cases. Fortunately there may not be any law against loading them up in a .300 Winchester Mag, and one can find plenty of the old M2 AP bullets, or the lighter M993 AP bullets appropriate for 7.62 Nato speeds for sale on line for about $1.00 a piece. And it might be possible to find the original M2 AP loaded at 2,750 fps, that would penetrate the same .5″ thick plate at maximum 75 yards, and still punch though 1.5″ of plywood.
The Army believes that for any projectile to be effective, it must penetrate at least 0.75″ of plywood. According to the Hodgden Reload Data Center available on line, maxium speeds can be attained with common popular powder such as H4350, IMR4350, or IMR4895 for .30-06 loadings that can attain 2,750 fps with a max recommended load, duplicating the original M2 AP in a bolt gun. If you still have that M1, use only IMR 4895, or IMR 4320, or IMR 4064 as alternatives, as both the 4350 powders are too slow, and may damage the OP rod. When loading AP, pay extra attention to pressure signs. In your rifle staying below the maximum load recommended may be necessary, because the AP has either a tungsten, or molybdenum core, therefore the bullet is not as malleable as lead, and may fit tightly in some barrels causing higher pressures with lower charge amounts. Typical reloading data was not developed with AP bullet construction in mind.
The .300 Win Mag will run them upwards of 3,100 fps with 4831 powder. But grandpa’s .3006 will run them close to 3,000 fps just fine with Superformance. 60 to 61 grains of this stuff just happens to be the accuracy load for 165 to 168 bullets. The maximum effect range for this loading on 0.5″ thick Class 1 armor plate would be 175 yards if stuck at a 90 degree, or perpendicular angle. The maximum range if hit at a 45 degree angle, would be much less.
Don’t mess with grandpa. He loves to reload. And he has all winter to do it. Each round is money in the bank, and this ain’t no ordinary ammo. What would you pay for rare specialty and premium ammunition?
Patton had tanks and artillery — Che Guevara did not. Che’s opinion:
“The arms preferable for this type of [guerilla ] warfare are long-range weapons requiring a small expenditure of bullets, supported by a group of automatic or semi-automatic arms. Of the rifles and machine guns that exist in the markets of the United States, one of the best is the M-1 rifle, called the Garand. However, this should be used only by people with some experience, since it has the disadvantage of expending too much ammunition.”
–Guerilla Warfare, Chapter 1, Section 4: Warfare on Favorable Ground
http://www3.uakron.edu/worldciv/pascher/che.html