M1 Carbine Reloadin & Commerical Ammo OAL's

I would like to hear from M1 Carbine owners who are reloading this round.
With the shortage of ammo, brass, powder and primers I was thinking I have made a fool’s folly in purchasing the weapon. However, after a lengthy search on the internet I was able to find all of the increments I need to start reloading --- even the elusive RCBS 18015 Carb die set.

The ammo, 110 GR Remington (MC L30CR1) I purchased 650rds at a local gun show, a lucky find.

I have looked at many forms and what many are using for formulas concerning reloading the carbine. All seem to be happy with what they are using. I think what I want to do is to try and emulate as close as I can to the original Winchester USGI specified load:

Powder: H110 (same as WW296) (I found 296 after I ordered the H110).
Bullet: 110 RN (X-Treme)
Primers: Wolf, Magnum Small Rifle. (The only ones I could find)
Cases: Remington
Load: 14.0 to 15.0max

(I want to work up a load from 14.55 to 15.0)

I was curious about the OAL listed in the manuals, both were 1.680. I thought I would check out what 100rds of the Remington OAL’s. What a surprise to find out of 100rds there were 16 separate OAL’s.

Is this unusual of commercial rounds?

Here is the listing:

1.649 -- 12rds, 1.650 -- 12rds, 1.651 -- 12rds, 1.652 -- 12rds, 1.653 -- 12rds
1.648 -- 10rds
1.654 -- 5rds
1.655 -- 5rds
1.658 -- 4rds
1.645 -- 4rds (shortest)
1.656 -- 3rds
1.665 -- 3rds
1.649 -- 2rds
1.647 -- 2rds
1.663 -- 1rd
1.667 -- 1rd (longest)

I know there would be some variation in commerical ammo, but that many seem to be excessive.

The longest 1.667 was 0.013 off of the OAL of 1.680 published in the Speer and Layman manuals.

Has anyone checked commercially manufactured ammo OAL lengths to see how close they are to the published OAL’s?

RD

Hi RD. I have not bought any Carbine ammo for at least 50 years so could not measure the OAL of commercial rounds as you did. In my opinion, none of the rounds you measured should cause you any problems. I seat my bullets to give an OAL of 1.672 to 1.675 and they work fine. I seat the TMJ bullets made by Frontier in South Africa to an OAL of about 1.636 to get them to feed. No problem. As you know the Carbine head spaces on the case mouth. Having a case too long can cause serious problems. I trim ALL of my cases to 1.280. The Winchester suggested load of 15 grains of No. 296 behind a 110 grain FMJ bullet will give you about the same load as USGI ammo. No idea of why the OAL of your commerical ammo varies unless perhaps the seating die on their loading machine was dirty or loose or perhaps dirt or crud on the shell holder. I would not shoot much if each round cost 40 or 50 cents.
Hope this helps.
Good shooting.
Ed

Max OAL has to do with the ability of the round to feed through the mag more than anything else. Some variation in OAL is acceptable. Case length is more critical. In fact you can use cartridges of greater OAL if you load each separately and don't try to run them through the mag.

Found 3,000 tracer bullets in my stash. Tried to sell/trade them for ball , but no luck. Had 500 LC72 cases too. Took me 6 months to gather up 2500 LC44 cases , 7 lbs of 296 , and ( finally) 5000 small rifle Wolf primers. Broke out my RCBS press from the '70s and had at it. I've loaded the LC44s , LC72s are next. Setting here reading posts as I stuff stripper clips with ammo ( bought 300 of them too).
I use 15 gr 296 , OAL of 1.664 miked just now. Has worked fine in all ten or so carbines I have. You do have to pay attention to your case length , though. A lot depends on it. You may find you'll have to trim after each firing.
If you are using magnum rifle primers , you need to back off 10% or so on the powder , this is a real small case for magnums. You might be better off trying to trade for regulars. Yeh , yeh , I know , but still. Maybe someone with magnum primer experiance will chime in here.
Chris

It has been my experience in loading 30 Carbine that the OAL becomes a matter of concern when the loaded round is too long to fit in the magazine. Being too short does not inhibit the feeding, but if carried to far by seating bullets too deeply it will create somewhat higher pressure. Fired cases need to be checked and trimmed if necessary to the proper length and kept as uniform as possible. Several different powders work well. I use 13.5 grains of IMR 4227 with an RCBS 115 grain, gas checked, round nose, cast bullet and the combination works well for me. A pound of powder yields 500 rounds. I cast the bullets from WW metal and size them to .309. They are seated with a slight taper crimp and chamber correctly. Regular primers are used as well as a good lube. Accuracy is on a par with GI issue at 100 yards resting the rifle on the bench. Reloading with casts is the most economical way to afford shooting in any caliber and especially so in the 30 Carbine where one can operate in the same muzzle velocity range as factory/milspec ammo. JC

I have a 160 grn cast bullet load for the 7.62x39 that goes about 1550-1600 load with 2400. Some SKS folks use it with hardcast (linotype or linotype/wheel weight mix) without gas checks. Anyone tried a 1600 FPS plinking load with just hard cast?