Late Production Lake City M2 Ball

[Smokey]

Recently I got a CMP Special, and I'm very pleased with it. With my handloads, which are slightly on the mild side, it functions reliably and shoots very well. Lately I've tried some 1968 LC M2 ball and I've been getting some short cycles and other issues expected with reduced loads. The rifle has a fairly stiff recoil spring and is (though well greased) a little rough in operation; it hasn't been shot a lot yet.
Having said all this, I read somewhere that late production M2 ran around 2650 fps instead of 2800 fps. Anyone else heard of this? The ammo has been carefully stored in a cool dry location with little change in temperature.

[RDS]

Years ago I shot a lot of LC68 with no problems. But that being said LC68 is now 50yrs old ammo.

[jak]

I never had a problem with LC in any of my garands.

[Smokey]

Each round fires with no hesitation or hangfire. Recoil and muzzle blast seems similar with all the rounds. Some are ejected at about 1:00 o'clock as they should, some are ejected over my right shoulder (I'm in the sitting position). Those are probably giving the short cycles leaving an empty chamber. I'm thinking the primers are OK, the propellant might be the problem. I might pull a couple clips down and reassemble them with known good propellant. I can also look the dumped powder over for signs of deterioration. There were no signs of excess pressure. I've seen in a few places that powder can burn faster as it goes bad.

[Smokey]

Continuing this in the reloading section.