Sighting in your M1 Garand or M1A rifle

With the 4th of July coming up really quick, it’s time for a post about one of the finest rifles ever manufactured… the Garand (and it’s younger sibling, the M1A).

Lots of people will be going to the range between this weekend and the next. Maybe some will bring their Garands out of the safe to stretch their legs. Maybe even a few will let their 30-cal do some talking all the way out to 500 or 600 yards. Not many people have that type of range available to them… but if you do (or ever intend to try it), here is the way to get “The greatest battle implement ever devised” (General George S. Patton, Jr.) zeroed in so that it is hitting the mark. This method is tried and true. I’ve used it on my rifles and helped others do the same… and then verified out to 500 yards. Spot on.

Zeroing the M1A

• From a distance of 25 meters, adjust your rear sights until the point of impact (POI) is .5″ above point of aim (PoA).
  This should yield a 200 meter zero.
• Next count how many clicks you are from the bottom and record this. This will allow you to quickly find your 200m zero even in the dark.
• The next step is to index the dial of the rear sight so that your 200m zero shows “200m”.
• Then you set your rear sight on the Battle Sight Zero (BSZ) mark
  The BSZ = 200 zero + 2 clicks. The BSZ is point and shoot from 0 to 250 meters (275 yards).
• Finally, take the rifle out to actual distances of 100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600 yards and record your shots.
  Fine tune your zero if you need to (index the drum on the rear sight accordingly).

Zeroing the Garand
Zeroing the Garand is the same procedure except it is in yards rather than meters.

Service vs National Match sights
There are two differences between Service and NM sights:
1. The windage clicks yield 1/2 MOA (1/2″ per 100 yards)
4 clicks/full turn of the windage knob = Standard 1 MOA rear sight
8 clicks/full turn of the windage knob = NM rear with 1/2 MOA changes.2. the NM hooded aperture is on an eccentric, so that while the elevation knob still gives you 1 MOA (1 inch per 100 yards), rotating the aperture 180 degrees changes the elevation 1/2 MOA. See  http://www.fulton-armory.com/NMRearSight.htm  for the details on how that works.Come-Ups… Adjusting Your Sights for Range

Military .30 caliber rounds are pretty much the same out to 500 yards. Learn the trajectory for one, and you can do pretty well – good enough for government work – with any military .30 caliber (save .30-carbine).

For those of you using either a Garand or an M1A, your trajectory studies are pretty simple. Just memorize the following numerical combination: 3, 3, 4, 4, 5, 5, 6, 6, 8, 8.

What’s that?

Those are your rear sight’s “come-ups” out to 1000 yards using standard M2 150 grain FMJ ammo for your .30-06 Garand and the standard M80 147 grain FMJ in 7.62×51/.308. Learn those come-ups cold, and you’ll be on target all the way out to 1000 yards, as long as you know (1) your rifle’s initial sight settings and (2) the range to your target.

How?

Simplicity itself. Assume you are dialed in for 300 yards and you know your next target is at 400 yards. Just rotate the left dial on your rear sights four clicks up (rotating the dial back towards you, or, in other words, clockwise), and fire your shot by the numbers.

Bang, hit, next target. Easy as pie.

Note from “Cabinboy”: It helped me to memorize the come-ups with the associated ranges, like this:

100-200    3 clicks
200-300    3
300-400    4
400-500    4
500-600    5
600-700    5
700-800    6
800-900    8
900-1000   8

Here is something you might not have known that you can do with your front sight…

Using the front site for Range Estimation and Kentucky Windage
The front sight of an M1A has a given width at a known distance from the eye which creates an angle of either 7 moa wide for the standard front sight or 5 moa wide for the slightly narrower National Match sight.
Assuming that you had a standard sight (7 moa), if you were to put the downwind half of the front sight center of target, in effect you move the bullet 3 1/2 moa in the upwind direction.Range estimation…
Assumption:  A man-sized torso is approximately 20″ wide.With a standard M1/M1A front sight…
7 MOA @ 100 yards = 7″ wide   (21″ target appears three times as large as the front sight)
7 MOA @ 200 yards = 14″ wide  (21″ target appears two times as large as the front sight)
7 MOA @ 300 yards = 21″ wide  (21″ target fits in the width of the front sight)
7 MOA @ 400 yards = 28″ wide
7 MOA @ 500 yards = 35″ wide
7 MOA @ 600 yards = 42″ wide  (21″ target takes up 1/2 the width of front sight)
7 MOA @ 700 yards = 49″ wide
7 MOA @ 800 yards = 54″ wide

With a National Match front sight…
5 MOA @ 100 yards = 5″ wide   (20″ target appears four times as large as the front sight)
5 MOA @ 200 yards = 10″ wide  (20″ target appears twice as large as the front sight)
5 MOA @ 300 yards = 15″ wide
5 MOA @ 400 yards = 20″ wide  (20″ target fits in the width of the front sight)
5 MOA @ 600 yards = 30″ wide
5 MOA @ 800 yards = 40″ wide  (20″ target takes up 1/2 the width of front sight)