Good M1 carbine ammo

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  • lazarus

    Ultimate Member
    Jun 23, 2015
    13,678
    So I acquired one recently. It came with a few boxes of wolf steel cases ammo and a few mags. One has a serious feeding issue, but I think one of the feed lips is bent a little. I also noticed that the steel cases rounds are hard to chamber unless I release the bolt from fully back. If the bolt has pushed them forward, it is really hard to get it to rotate/bolt handle to push forward the last bit.

    I lubed the rifle up really well when I got home and it is soother, not sure that had anything to do with it.

    How well do M1s like steel cased ammo? I’ve read it is hard on the extractor and also pushes only about 1860-1880fps in reality, which is about 100fps below spec. I’d think a little closer to spec would help the bolt forward. The problem is I had a FTF every other round (I think when a round was against that bent feed lip) and 2 failure to feed on the other 50 rounds I put through it from other mags (all the ammo I ended up taking to the range with me). The rounds were getting pushed up by the bolt, but seemed to be getting hung up.

    Magazines seem to be 3 GI mags and 2 likely aftermarket (but very old) magazines. I could be wrong and they are all GI.

    Suggestion on what ammo runs well? I’ve heard some decent things on PPU. Any thing else work okay? Should I try getting a box of several different kinds of ammo?

    Is wolf okay to run in the carbine? I’ve got about 300rnds of it left. I normally avoid bimetal jacketed ammo to keep Barrel wear down, but 1900fps isn’t much of a barrel burner to start with. Or should I use what I have and stay away from it in the future. The carbine is a lot of fun, but if I am self honest unless I get a backyard range or till I retire and have real spare time, I’ll be lucky if I get it to the range more than 2-3 times a year and put 100rnds through it on each trip. Paying $100 in ammo a year to feed it vs $60 doesn’t concern me all that much. My focus is what will feed reliably and won’t wear it extra. I wouldn’t mind picking up a couple of boxes of stuff that will put the hurting on whatever it hits (like some FTX or something softpoint that works well), but mostly FMJ plinking ammo.

    Thanks for any suggestions you can provide. I feel like I’ll know more when I have a chance to Field strip it, clean and lube everything in a couple of weeks.
     

    Jimbob2.0

    Ultimate Member
    Feb 20, 2008
    16,600
    Ive run plenty of wolf though I do try to stick to brass case, steel case isn't the end of the world. 300rds wont hurt anything to use.
     

    Biggfoot44

    Ultimate Member
    Aug 2, 2009
    32,884
    The reality is the era of cheap surplus .30Carb ammo is over, and you're dealing with new mfg ammo .

    In addition to above brands , Aguila makes it also .
     

    lazarus

    Ultimate Member
    Jun 23, 2015
    13,678
    The reality is the era of cheap surplus .30Carb ammo is over, and you're dealing with new mfg ammo .

    In addition to above brands , Aguila makes it also .

    I’ve read the Aguila stuff is loaded really light. Not sure what truth there is to that. Or even if that is a (potential) functionality issue. I know a lot more about garands than I do carbines.
     

    Drmsparks

    Old School Rifleman
    Jun 26, 2007
    8,441
    PG county
    30 carbine headspaces on the case mouth. Laquer coated steel ammo has bee linked to quite a few KABOOMS. I would never use it.

    Aquila is very temperature sensitive and has huge POI shifts. I have not tried PPU.
     

    chooks9

    Bear with Arms
    Jan 3, 2013
    1,155
    Abingdon
    I have used the following .30 Carbine ammo, to the following expereriences:

    Wolf Steel-Cased: Not bad, but dirty and not particularly accurate. I only have it because I received a ton of it from a family member.

    Remington: Pretty good stuff, but expensive and hard to find. Nice brass, though.

    Magtech: Probably the best for the money, fairly accurate in my Inland/GM and fairly clean.

    Aguila: About as accurate as the Wolf, but slightly cleaner. The brass as about as nice as the Remington.

    PPU: I only have shot one box of this stuff. I could not tell the difference between this and the Magtech, but was more expensive (not much more, though).

    I would buy the Magtech stuff if you can find it. The PPU isn't bad either.
     

    lazarus

    Ultimate Member
    Jun 23, 2015
    13,678
    Thanks! Also for the midway link.

    Black Friday is going to be buying a gun safe, which BPS has on sale and then I figure I’ve got maybe $200 (300 if something is a real deal) left over in my budget I can spend. I am making a spreadsheet of wants as well as stores I need to check ads for to figure out what I am going to buy. Doesn’t leave me with much this year, but I’ve been spending a lot lately in case of the B word, getting my HQL, needing to pick up a bear handgun for an Alaska trip in the spring, etc.

    I am kind of thinking some parts to finish out my 80% Glock, or AR build parts to finish my 6.5 Grendel build (and would need to pick up at least a couple of boxes of 6.5G ammo) so I can try to take it deer hunting in the late season. Maybe a scope. Ammo might not be on the list of things I can spend money on for a few months unfortunately. Maybe a Christmas sale or something if I have some spare cash burning a hole in my pocket.

    Just doing research for later.
     

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