Shot my garand for the first time!  It's a 1942 springfield receiver with a danish VAR barrel... and it shows some real potential for accuracy, it is very tight (one group was a 1" ragged hole at 50 yards!).  But I have a question.  I loaded some rounds starting off with 30gr of 4895 and went in two grain increments up to 44gr (with winchester 147 gr FMJBT)... and noticed that I can get reliable feeding and extraction as low as 32 gr.. (it also is much more consistent with where it leaves the brass, which is nice).  But just out of curiosity, how much would this extend barrel life and reduce throat wear versus a more normal load (something like 44-46gr).  I've heard that you can expect one full TE value for every 1000 rounds.  Assuming all other factors the same, any ideas what that would be for such reduced loads?

Could possible reduce your throat and barrel wear, but the biggest payback in terms of powder useage.  You are almost saving 10 grains of powder. You could reload an extra round after 5 rounds or so.

 Sorry, it doesn't make any sense at all to me. Velocity is probably lower than 30-30 loads, 2200fps or less plus it's a common belief that loads below the published starting charges could be the cause of detonation?
 If you're going to send a 25-50 cent bullet downrange using a 2/3 charge of powder and primer, I can't see trying to save a few cents on 10-15 grains of powder. I can't see where it'd save any wear on your barrel. Possibly with such a reduced  charge you'd get poor sealing of the chamber from properly expanded brass and I don't know what effect that would cause with gas leaking into the chamber area around the case. Sounds like it would dirty up the chamber more than usual.
 Sounds like having a Corvette automobile but never driving above 45 miles per hour. I've also got a 1942 Garand with a Var barrel and it's in good shape too and shoots well but I want to load it to near standard velocity. I've read you can expect 5000 rounds plus with the Garand barrel and I don't ever see me shooting that many rounds. Another thing about loading to close to specs is the Garand sight calibration is based on standard loads and I want the ability to click it up to 300 plus yards and expect hits to be close to point of aim. I just got into Garands last year myself and they've become one of my favorite rifles to shoot. I was really surprised as to how soft recoil they have being a 30-06. Enjoy your Garand, they are a great rifle and with the history to boot.

No danger from IMR reduced loads.  If the ballistics are acceptable, IMR seems to burn fine with lower pressures.