M1 Carbine - shooting tips needed

[Aliquippa]

Bought an Inland new M1 repro last year late and finally starting to shoot it. My zero sight for 100 bench rest shot sorta center mass- the best I can get while the rear sight is sitting on the 250 notch. OH BUT TARGET is so small and my eyes aren't what they used to be. Id like to shoot it 6 o clock but that puts it out of the 9/10 circle of the NRA 100 target. Maybe Im asking too much of this rifle?

Any suggestions? I know some folks file their front sights down but I'm not familiar with best way to do that.

And if you shoot, do you use a sling? What about the pull on the barrel?
any help would be appreciated.

[300berg]

For a battle rifle, I would stick with center-target hold.

What about the pull on the barrel?

I had a similar question that Maximum Ordinate answered well here: https://appleseedinfo.org/smf/index.php?topic=63535.msg402789#msg402789

[Gus]

I have an auto ordnance M1 carbine. Fun rifle!  The original rear sight on it was no better than fair. I replaced it with an aftermarket rear sight and like it a bit better. It is my opinion that the yardage graduations on an M1 carbine rear sight are there for suggestion purposes only! It is not a finely made precision instrument. But it is very much good enough for shooting the 100 yard SR target.

I do use a sling with mine: the traditional M1 carbine sling. I use it in a tight Hasty configuration.

300Berg is right-go with center hold on the SR 100 targets.

To get the best accuracy from an M1 carbine I recommend two things: judicious bedding of the action and handloading your ammo.

If you're a reloader you can probably do better than factory ammo. After I bedded the action, I tailored a nice load for mine utilizing Speer 110 gr fmj bullets. When I'm prone in the M1 carbine sling my rifle and I can manage 3 moa groups.

Bedding the action is critical. The M1 carbine's action isn't secured all that well to the stock-it will slip and slop around from shot to shot.  In this regard it is very much like a stock Ruger 10/22! Bedding an M1 carbine is a three step, three night process.
For the following I used Brownell's SteelBed:

1. Bed the recoil plate into the stock. Let it sit 24 hours
2. Bed the ‘hook' at the back of the action into the recoil plate. Let it sit for 24 hours.
3. Bed the action into the stock. Let it sit for 24 hours.

Once it is done you will have an M1 carbine that'll turn in pretty consistent groups at 100 yards.

Probably more than you wanted but I'm a bit of an M1 carbine fan!  They're fun rifles and cool for the nostalgia.

In Liberty,

Gus

[Aliquippa]

Thanks Gus.

Never heard of bedding until you replied back. since I have neither the tools nor the knowledge guess I won't be attempting that. Just keep chugging I guess.

[Cadence]

Just remember that if you are going to shoot the Carbine at the the National Matches in the "as issued " category you cannot bed the stock or the recoil plate. If they find out you will be DQ'd