Every year for the past few years after they take the corn out, my buddy and I set some steel out in his grandpa’s field and do some long range shooting. We can do about 500 yards to below the crest of the hill with a safe backstop, which I know for those of you out west isn’t much, but it’s more than anywhere else around here in the flatlands (my gun club maxes out at 200, and it involves shutting down half the bays to do that). Normally, it’s scoped bolt-action rifles, but this year I decided to try something a little different…I brought the Garands.

When I got there, my buddy had already set up the steel. He brought his RPR in 6.5 Creedmore. He knew I was bringing the Garands, but since he’s that sorta evil kinda buddy, even though he had 3 man-size silhouettes, he put those at 200, 250, and 300, and put tiny little 8x12” plates at 375 and 500.

Now I’ve never shot a Garand, or any type of iron-sighted rifle, out beyond 200 yards. In preparation for today, I went to the range yesterday and confirmed that my sights were properly registered and the gun was zeroed at 100. Today, all I had to do was dial in the elevation on the knob, and it was right on. I could hit the 300 all day long, the little plate at 375 6/8, and even got the 500 yard plate 3/8 once I figured out the windage (it was blowing pretty good).



My 13 year-old son was hitting the 300 yard target pretty consistently as well. It’s amazing to me how shootable those rifles are, considering they’re 80 years old, and how effective the sights are. I won’t be winning any high-power matches, but honestly the 500 yard target was literally a tiny dot about ¼ the width of the front sight post, and I didn’t expect to even be able to hit the thing going into it (photo below, hat for size).



Overall, fun day…always a good time when you can see the rounds hit a second or two before you hear them !

^^ That is cool on multiple levels!

Very Cool
thanks for sharing

Looks like a great day shooting!
Every time I shoot my Garand I’m impressed with how well that old gun performs.

The rear sight elevation adjustment is just a work of art (for 1943). Dialing up & down for different ranges is utterly repeatable, and the drops are right on for my 150gr Garand based ammo.

I’ve only shot mine to 400yds to the backstop berm. I changed out the front blade for the NM .062 width and helped a lot.

Great post, enjoy that old rifle

Yes!! Love threads like this. Count me in the camp who hasn’t shot one past a hundred. Need to rectify that. I have one that shoots a foot left at fifty yards. Need to actually dive it down to Benny in Oregon and see what magic he can work on it. I think it would be great to put a good barrel on it, fresh wood, and see what it’ll do at longer ranges like this.

You guys heading out there again? Got any other misurps to take?

quote:

I think it would be great to put a good barrel on it, fresh wood, and see what it’ll do at longer ranges like this.

You guys heading out there again? Got any other misurps to take?

We usually only do it once a year, because his grandad leases the field out, so unless we beat them to planting in the spring, we can't use it. In the fall he hunts the woods back there and we don't want to be spooking the deer...so there's a very short window between the end of deer season and when northern Indiana turns into a frozen tundra that we can use it. We got really lucky yesterday apart from the wind...the weather was in the low 50s and sunny, which is more than you can typicaly hope for mid-December around here.

I actually brought two Garands...one is a "Special Rack" Nov. 1942 Springfield receiver, IHC bolt, with a new 2019 production Criterion barrel. The other is a Service Grade, Aug 1941 Springfield Receiver, WRA Bolt, and 1952 (or maybe 1954...I don't remember) H&R barrel. Both are wearing new production CMP wood. I figured we don't get to do this very often, so why not bring them both? Honestly, they were both about equally accurate, which mirrors what I've seen on paper out of them at 100yds.

I handload all my Garand ammo. I got a bunch of bullets a while back from a buddy who used to shoot high-power. He gave me some 147s and some 173s, so I zeroed the special rack with the 147's (over 48.0 gr IMR 4064) and the Service Grade with the 173s (over 47.0gr IMR 4064). The sight graduations seemed to work pretty well on both. I was hitting the big silhouette at 300 consistently with either rifle dialed in to the 300 setting. The 375 and 500 were kinda hard to tell...the targets were small, wind was about 15-20mph, and it took a little walking in to get them on. I'd say the Special Rack was getting more consistent hits at 375 than the Service Grade once I figured out the holds. The 500 was just a crapshoot...we're talking basically a 2MOA target at that distance, with an iron sighted service rifle...I was just happy to hit it at all!

Sadly, I don't have any other milsurps...at least not yet. I kinda missed the boat on those when they were cheap and abundant...was at a different stage in life and just couldn't afford to spend the money. I'd really like to pick up a 1903, a 1917, and maybe a VZ-24 Mauser (I spent 9 years in the Czech Republic growing up, so IMO a Czech Mauser would be cool). I'd also love an M1 Carbine, but that's not really something I'd use for this. My son has his mind set on an Enfield, so who knows, maybe by next year, if the opportunity presents itself, we'll have some other stuff to bring along.

We also shot my Savage Model 10 in .223, and it did pretty well for itself. I don't have a target scope on that one, so it was either try to remember the number of clicks or use Kentucky windage/elevation. We went with the latter, and it was pretty eye opening how much you had to adjust the hold at 500 for that round compared to the -06. A new scope (and a sunshade!) might be in order for that gun before next year.

Fun.

This guy shoots a Garand out to 500 yards.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2h4oIou9FQk


PC

quote:

Originally posted by PCWyoming:
This guy shoots a Garand out to 500 yards.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2h4oIou9FQk


PC

I don't feel so bad now, lol...my shooting was on par with his (and my 500 yard target was smaller, although my close-in ones were bigger). It's crazy to see how that .30-06 knocked those big steel hangers around, even out to 200-300 yards! I completely agree with his conclusion, too...the sights on these rifles are really excellent, especially when you compare them with their contemporaries.

Cool report with photos!


Sharing experiences with family is wonderful, isn't it.

On the conventional high power / service rifle course which was dominated by M1’s until the early 1990’s shooting M1’s at 600 yards was routine.
They are very shootable once you get acquainted with them.

My club only goes to 250 but have a nice assortment of steel set up out to about 250 yards.
I enjoy hitting that part of the range with my trapdoor and martini with black powder loads

quote:

My club only goes to 250 but have a nice assortment of steel set up out to about 250 yards.
I enjoy hitting that part of the range with my trapdoor and martini with black powder loads

That sounds like a good time! our club has a 200 yard bay, but its kind of a PITA to use it...you have to jump through a bunch of hoops and shut down several other bays, which inconveniences others. As a result, I rarely get to shoot beyond 100.