Article: 7.62x51mm NATO or 308 Winchester? What's the Difference?

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dent

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link : http://www.303british.com/id36.html

I won't paste the whole thing here, his diagrams are worth looking into.

Do you have a military surplus rifle chambered in 7.62 x 51mm? If so, you probably bought it to get a "308 Winchester" at a really low price. Well, you messed up. It's like looking at a rabbit and a hare. They're close, but each is distinctive, and you have to understand what you're looking at.
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He then gets into the differences in cartridge dimensions and how they handle reforming and pressure.

Thoughts?
 
I am sure he is right about the technical information, but I have to say I've fired a fair amount of commercial .308 out of a pretty long x51 Nato camber and never had a problem.

I do have a lot of respect for Steve and his knowledge, but I think in this case the safety concerns are probably more to do with things like Ishapore Enfields in x51 than with the M14s, which don't seem to be exploding.

I don't know much about the Ishapores but I have heard more safety concerns about .308 Enfields, as they were not originally designed for the larger, higher-pressure .308 or x51.

I am more confident in the M14s.

But I think his description of the difference between the two chamberings is guaranteed to be spot-on...the guy knows a lot about more about guns and explosives than anyone I think I've ever met.
 
I find my 700P in 223 and 308 actually handle the 'surp' 556 / 762 better than some of the commercial crap out there, with nary a hiccup
 
You lost me somewhere, I hope (assume) you are talking of 762-51 (308) 'conversions' from the M1 Garand in 30-06 (762-63 ) and not being able to insert 308 in a 3006 platform 'intending' to actually be able to shoot it ????????
 
You shall ask the question, why NATO round is different from commercial?

Answer: to fit a large number of rifles including those that can't satisfy commercial standards. That's all.

History: many rifles in Europe were re-chambered from different rounds and they didn't do a precise job.

Point: your 308 will take any ammo, your old cranky surplus rifle in 7.62 may not take 308 well (problem with cambering)
 
This is an old one, the guy is right, like the guy who tells you you should drive on winter tires in the winter. I have only ever seen an issue with a 7.62 firing 308 once. It was an old FAL and it split a case, we ajusyed the head space and it never was an issue again
 
I'm saying, if a USGI rifle can shoot 7.62 nato when its chambered for 30-06, I can gar-ron-tee you shooting .308 winchester in USGI a rifle chambered for 7.62 nato is a peice of pie.

Enjoy it.



jennis said:
You lost me somewhere, I hope (assume) you are talking of 762-51 (308) 'conversions' from the M1 Garand in 30-06 (762-63 ) and not being able to insert 308 in a 3006 platform 'intending' to actually be able to shoot it ????????
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john@ said:
I'm saying, if a USGI rifle can shoot 7.62 nato when its chambered for 30-06, I can gar-ron-tee you shooting .308 winchester in USGI a rifle chambered for 7.62 nato is a peice of pie.

Enjoy it.
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Really?

Why not try and save a little cash, put some 7.62x39 through the old .30-06 next time!

(Sarcasm, please don't try this)
 
Already tried it, the M43 ammo has a smaller diamerter head and will not fit in chamber properly, whereas the 7.62 nato and .30-06 are dimensionaly identical for about the first (from the head) 40mm, and at 55 mm the full diamerter of the 7.62 nato bullet is just barely touching the throat in the 30-06 chamber. Just hold them up to each other and you'll see it.

Shrek said:
Really?

Why not try and save a little cash, put some 7.62x39 through the old .30-06 next time!

(Sarcasm, please don't try this)
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"...if you can fire a 7.62 nato in a 30-06 M1..." A standard M1 Rifle doesn't use 7.62 NATO. Firing a 7.62 NATO or .308 Win in a .30-06 gives you no headspace and an oddly shaped empty.
Long before there was a commercial Internet, .308 Win and 7.62 NATO were the same thing. Lots of shooters used both interchangeably, in all kinds of battle and hunting rifles, with no fuss.
 
sunray said:
"...if you can fire a 7.62 nato in a 30-06 M1..." A standard M1 Rifle doesn't use 7.62 NATO. Firing a 7.62 NATO or .308 Win in a .30-06 gives you no headspace and an oddly shaped empty.
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I believe that is exactly what he is suggesting...if that can be done, why worry about the tiny difference between the 7.62 Nato and the .308?

That's some pretty hard-core fire-forming though!
 
here we go agian

I love these discussion on the old metric vs imperial. its like to bold men fighting over a comb. It just make me wanna go out and run off a a few hundred rounds though as many rifles as i can, 15 or 20 of them. you know what really fun skeet shooting with my sks, or the m305. now thats a sport.
 
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I tend to agree that this seems to be aimed at the older guns.

It seems that he's saying if it wasn't fired from your gun but came from a military 7.62 chamber that you won't be able to fire it in your .308.

I'll let you know what happens after I FL size and reload some cases from a military 7.62 and then fire them in my .308 M14
 
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