can anyone tell me what bullet weight the military used for the 30-06 FMJ rounds?

i'm thinking they were either 165 or 168, maybe 170 gr.

also, was the same bullet used for both the springfield and the garand?

thanks.

Do a search for surplus bullets. The two best sites that will come up are Polygunbags.com and Wideners.com.
I've had the best accuracy results in my Garand with flat based 150gr bullets. I've also tried 147gr M-80 bullets with less than satisfactory results but then I made some changes to my rifle as well as to my loading components so I can't be sure its the M-80 bullet that is the problem.

Check this out, but I believe the Spingfield used 150g and the Garand used 173g, but I by no means know what I am talking about.

Back when we were shooting matches with .30-'06 Garands we were issued 150 grain ammo.  Typically mid '50s headstamp.  That is where I got all of my '06 brass.

M1906 was the original ammo for the M1903(once they dropped the 30-03 round) and it had a 150 grain bullet. About the mid 20's the War Department wanted a round with more range so the bullet guys in the arsenals came up with M1 ball using a 174gr bullet. By the mid-late 30's the military decided that M1 ball was too dangerous to use on stateside ranges because of it's extended range so the arsenals came up with M2 Ball with a 150gr. bullet and a shorter max. range.  Still not enough going back and forth- the military once again decided they needed a round with better long range attributes, so the boys back in the lab came up with M72 with a 174gr. bullet(for match use and not so friendly long distance social engagements).





 

thanks for your replies.

just what i wanted to know.

Basically:

M2 ball was 152 Gr

M2 AP was 163 Gr

Match was 173 Gr

All three were used in combat and I have heard that a lot of AP was used through WWII.

Don't know that its true but I've read the 147 grain boat tails made for the 7.62 NATO rounds were never intended to be as accurate at the M2 ball for 30.06.  They wanted a round that would be interchangeable between the M14 rifle and M60 machine gun and they wanted the machine gun round to be able to provide some additional dispersion at the target's range.  If there were 4 or 5 people fairly close to each other they wanted the "group" fired by the M60 to be large enough to hit multiple targets so the bullets won't be as uniform as the M2 ball bullets for the 30.06.

If you want really accurate loads (if you and your rifle are good enough to benefit from them I'd suggest trying to Sierra 180 grain matchkings.  Then, just for peace of mind get an adjustable gas plug to make sure your loads don't strain the gas cylinder/op rod.

I can't imagine that any military would go out of their way to deliberately design an inaccurate weapon.

Use a suitable powder (such as IMR 4895) with the correct burn rate and load it to within safe Garand specs––no need for an adjustsble unless you want to run all kinds of different stuff through it...

Try this...........

http://www.inetres.com/gp/military/infantry/rifle/30_ammo.html

and for 7.62 x 51...............

http://www.inetres.com/gp/military/infantry/rifle/762mm_ammo.html

Aloha, Mark

The 147 grain fmj boatail is designed for a higher ballistic coefficient. Boatails drift and drop leass than flat base bullets. No fmj, even the M118/M72 173 grain bullets are as accurate as true match bullets commanly available from Hornady, Nosler and Sierra.

It's perfectly acceptable to substitute 147 grain fmj boatail's for 150 flat base ball bullets in a M1 Garand. Don't expect excellent accuracy from either of these bullets. Load Sierra 150, 155 or 155 palma bullets if you want to duplicate bulett weight and get excellent accuarcy. 168's, 175's, 178's and even 180 match bullets can be used with outstanding results.

I can't emphasize this enough, full metal jacket bullets are not designed for or capable of great accuarcy in most rifles. It doesn't matter if they are boatail or flat based, they suck. Pay up for better bullets or shoot poorly for cheap.

Can somebody explain this.  I always hear that if you are going to use modern ammo or load your own for a Garand you need a new gas plug.  Why is that?  Was the old ammo loaded to lower pressures than the new stuff?

You don't NEED a new gas plug. IF your reloads have a gas port pressure that does not exceed the military specifications for that rifle, you can shoot forever. If the gas port pressure exceeds mil-specs, more gas pressure is pushing/slamming on your gas system and might damage parts if too powerful. The M1 long op rod is probably the most challenged by EXCESSIVE pressures.
Slow burning propellants reach max chamber pressure later; but, are still burning while the bullet is still in the barrel and continues to push on it. This is fine for a bolt rifle. For a gas gun, that means that the pressure isn't falling off fast enough when the bullet passes the gas port and the port pressure is excessive.

If you reload with slow burning powders, get a venting gas plug.
If you shoot any commercial ammo that is available, get a venting gas plug.

The older ammo wasn't loaded to lower pressures and different burn rates. It was loaded to correct pressures and burn rates for that system.