In competitive rifle circles, it and H-4895 are still the "go-to" powders. Using lighter weight bullets is not an issue (more to follow) however, the use of overly heavy bullets and/or slower burn-rate powders can create a huge headache! Ignoring this bit of advice can cause pressures to spike (not good when you consider that the youngest of the rifles mentioned above is ~66 years old and the oldest is ~113 years old). Over the years, our military arsenals and civilian contract manufacturers have utilized IMR4895 as their primary powder.
![m1 garand reload sound m1 garand reload sound](http://pm1.narvii.com/7143/7d99ddcc029abceb0816515e7bee26dc6749f901r1-2048-1536v2_uhq.jpg)
Just loaded 100 rounds to this recipe last night for a match this coming Saturday.There's a reverence and a sense of history that envelopes you the first time you hold an M1 Garand (or an M1903, M1903A3, or M1917 Enfield, for that matter). My match conditioned M1 used to be a 1 1/2 MOA rifle through 600 yards with this load, but as the throat moves forward (about 5,000 rounds on this barrel) from wear, it's more like a 2 MOA rifle. I load to an overal length of 3.3." Your OAL will be dependent on your throat, but 3.34" is about as long as you can go due to the magazine length of the M1.
![m1 garand reload sound m1 garand reload sound](http://varnumcontinentals.org/new_site45/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/M1_Garand_01.jpg)
IMR 4064 (always a good choice) may take a grain or two more of powder to get there, but it is also a good choice for your project. My usual choices are LC brass and both CCI 200s and Remington 9 1/2 primers have worked well for me. Work up to 46 grains (as usual) using brass and primers of your choice. It'll be rifle and component dependent, but on average, 46 grains of the various 4895 powders will give you about 2600 FPS. I once bought several thousand factory second 165 grain Nozler Ballistic Tip bullets and they worked very well for accuracy in the M1 so a true match bullet is not always necessary. To duplicate the old M72 match load any of the 168 grain match bullets, Government M118 173 grain bullets or perhaps the newer 175 grain Sierra MK bullets will work well.