nominal moa

[phil evans]

i have a CMP garand 297114x, made in around june 1944.
got it in 11/01, gave it to my son, now i have it back, has not been shot much, refurbished in 7-64 at TE, birch stock, wra trigger assembly, sa bolt & barrel.
question: what moa should i expect with greek ammo?
if it shoots within specs, i'll leave it alone.
thanks.

Information

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[John Kepler]

3-3.5 MOA consistently (3 shot groups are statistically meaningless, 5's aren't much better).

[Akulahawk]

This was a group I got, after getting my rifle pretty close to sighted in at 100 yards. These are literally shots 15-20 from when I first acquired it. I'm very new to shooting Garands. I was shooting the Greek HXP M2 Ball. I didn't have a spotting scope to make sight adjustments, so it was shoot a little, take a walk...

The rifle grouped about like this the whole time. This target was for qualifying to shoot on a 300 yard range. IIRC, the target in this photo is a regular NRA 100 yard target.

[John Kepler]

FWIW, your 5-shot group is a shade under 4 MOA...and statistically nearly meaningless (too small a data-field!)!

[AKA Hugh Uno]

we have no clue about condition of the barrel (especially the Muzzle).

But, assuming the barrel is in good/excellent shape (which would be sorta expected for an un-abused TE rebuild) AND ....

Assuming you are CAPABLE of shooting well off the bench (i.e. you could shoot a 1MOA rifle into about 1MOA--and don't feel bad if you cannot, most people can't). AND...

Assuming the rifle is put together decently without major stock/op-rod interference issues, etc.

THEN.. a nice tight, well-assembled M1 Garand shooting the usual batch GREEK HXP, should EASILY hold 3MOA.

If you get lucky (or go through a bunch of rifles picking and choosing components, etc.), you can get pretty close to 2.5 MOA consistently (agree, perhaps three 8-10 shot groups in a ROW means "consistent") with HXP and MAYBE 3MOA with the typical M2 USGI ball (i.e. blaster crap).

With match quality handloads, an excellent JCG legal rifle can likely do about 2 MOA assuming the shooter is capable.

[Akulahawk]

FWIW, your 5-shot group is a shade under 4 MOA...and statistically nearly meaningless (too small a data-field!)!

Like I noted in the post, this was literally in the first few shots with that rifle. On top of that, it's well within the first hundred shots ever (probably less than 60) out of a rifle that isn't a .22LR. The fact that I was able to keep it under 4 MOA with iron sights, unfamiliar sighting system (peep sights), M2 ammo, and being a new gun to me is absolutely incredible to me. That was literally my first shooting session with it. I'm also quite aware that a 5 shot group is not sufficient data to get a good handle on how well the rifle actually shoots.

I do remember that shooting session though. A good portion of that spread was me. The sights were not quite held in exactly a 6 o'clock position. It moved around a bit.

I've since gotten to know the rifle a bit better. The next time I get out to the range, I'll see if I can get to shoot some better groups. I might need a spotting scope to help zero the rifle more easily next time...

When I do, I will take a picture and post it here for you guys.

[John Kepler]

Yep....reality, particularly the kind defined by numbers, bites!

Oh...and Mr. Winn, a real 2 MOA out of an "issue" rifle might be a touch optimistic...not saying it can't happen, but I've never found one that could.

[AKA Hugh Uno]

OK, I know these aren't 10 shot groups, but most are 6 shots (except the LC group which I cheated on and just knew the next round would be a flyer!@). This is bone stock 60's M1 rebuild with 65 SA barrel and a stock from GPI (when you could get decent stuff)

[AKA Hugh Uno]

LC, Greek, Danish, LC Match

[AKA Hugh Uno]

again same rifle with some ball and some reloads. surprising how badly the Noslers shot and how well the old 172 heads did. Speers usually shoot very well and are always an underated hunting bullet.