Reloading M1 Garand with Hornady .308 150g FMJ

[Bruce McAskill]

The 150 gr. flat based bullet goes back to WW1 time frame. During the 1920's the military decided that they needed a heavier bullet for use in the machineguns as was the thinking in Europe at that time. So they came out with the Bullet M1. 173 grs. Then along comes Garand and his new rifle which the military likes. But it's in 7mm and not 30-06 which Douglas MacArthur didn't like so he had the rifle redesigned for use with the 30-06. But it did not do well with the heavier bullet as the pressure curve was wrong so they went back to the 150 gr. flat base and IMR 4895 became the powder for the 30-06. This became the M2 round that became the standard for WW2 and beyond.

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[no4mk1t]

The 150 gr. flat based bullet goes back to WW1 time frame. During the 1920's the military decided that they needed a heavier bullet for use in the machineguns as was the thinking in Europe at that time. So they came out with the Bullet M1. 173 grs. Then along comes Garand and his new rifle which the military likes. But it's in 7mm and not 30-06 which Douglas MacArthur didn't like so he had the rifle redesigned for use with the 30-06. But it did not do well with the heavier bullet as the pressure curve was wrong so they went back to the 150 gr. flat base and IMR 4895 became the powder for the 30-06. This became the M2 round that became the standard for WW2 and beyond.

Bruce, sorry to disagree in part with this.
You are correct in that M1906 ammunition with the 150gr. cupro nickle bullet was issue during WW1. As long range machine gunnery was a prominent thing in The Great War, the Ordnance Dept. designed the 173gr. bullet in the early 20's to equal the French and British boat tail ammo in its ability to achieve greater range for long range machine gun barrages that proved essential in that war. This was designated as "Ball M1" The M1 rifle was designed to fire this ammunition from the beginning as this was the issue ammo at the time of the M1's adoption. M2 Ball with the same bullet as used in WW1, just copper jacketed was adopted to mitigate the issue of units with limited range facilities. The Ball M1 ammo had a max range of 5500 yds. and it was escaping the impact area of shorter NG ranges.
The M1 can easily handle the 173gr. bullet. This is evidenced by the fact that M72 National Match ammo is loaded with this exact same bullet. If you went to Camp Perry back in the day, this is what you were issued.
MacArthur was Chief of Staff at the time. He foresaw that WW2 was coming and did not think that having a rifle that took different ammo than the MG was a good thing for the small ballistic advantage offered by the 7mm.
This and more is documented in Hatcher's Book of the M1.