7,62 x 51 / .308 Winchester Question?
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Unless the ammo was bad to start with age shouldn't have any effect. I'm shooting x54R surplus from the 1970's without issue and millions of rounds of x39 and x54R from the 60's, 70's, and 80's are shot in Canada every year without any problems.
A crooked bullet wont give you ideal accuracy but so long as it chambers it shouldn't be dangerous. If it's crooked because something is stuck in the case between the bullet and neck that could be an issue.
7.62x51 NATO has a lower pressure than 308 Winchester but also uses a different location in the chamber to measure the pressure from. Pressure measured from different places in the chamber can yield different pressures with everything else being identical. It's a hotly debated topic all over the place (not just on the internet). Some say it's perfectly safe, others say it can damage your firearm, and some say it's downright dangerous.
Personally I shoot 7.62NATO ammo in 308 Winchester civilian rifles and have never had a problem. I also have shot 308 Win ammo in 7.62NATO firearms without any issues. That's just me though.
One issue that can happen regardless of which side you are on is the harder primer cups in NATO spec ammo can sometimes have issues being set off by weaker firing pin springs in civilian rifles. Savage and Browning seem to be the most common brands with this issue. It could work perfectly, it could take 2-3 strikes on the odd round to set if off, or the ammo might not work at all in a give rifle. My Rem 700 has no issues with 7.62NATO ammo but my Savage Axis does get the odd round that requires a second strike to set off with 5.56NATO ammo. I once got a box of free 7.62NATO ammo from a guy with a Browning. He said they where all duds and was throwing them out. I loaded them in a Norc M305 I had at the time and they worked fine.
The only lab tests I've read about comparing the two was for .223 Rem and 5.56NATO. The only dangerous pressures where encountered when shooting 62gr green tip US surplus 5.56NATO ammo in a minimum spec, match grade, .223 Rem chamber. It went to 72,000psi or something I believe so still within proof levels but not healthy for the rifle.
A crooked bullet wont give you ideal accuracy but so long as it chambers it shouldn't be dangerous. If it's crooked because something is stuck in the case between the bullet and neck that could be an issue.
7.62x51 NATO has a lower pressure than 308 Winchester but also uses a different location in the chamber to measure the pressure from. Pressure measured from different places in the chamber can yield different pressures with everything else being identical. It's a hotly debated topic all over the place (not just on the internet). Some say it's perfectly safe, others say it can damage your firearm, and some say it's downright dangerous.
Personally I shoot 7.62NATO ammo in 308 Winchester civilian rifles and have never had a problem. I also have shot 308 Win ammo in 7.62NATO firearms without any issues. That's just me though.
One issue that can happen regardless of which side you are on is the harder primer cups in NATO spec ammo can sometimes have issues being set off by weaker firing pin springs in civilian rifles. Savage and Browning seem to be the most common brands with this issue. It could work perfectly, it could take 2-3 strikes on the odd round to set if off, or the ammo might not work at all in a give rifle. My Rem 700 has no issues with 7.62NATO ammo but my Savage Axis does get the odd round that requires a second strike to set off with 5.56NATO ammo. I once got a box of free 7.62NATO ammo from a guy with a Browning. He said they where all duds and was throwing them out. I loaded them in a Norc M305 I had at the time and they worked fine.
The only lab tests I've read about comparing the two was for .223 Rem and 5.56NATO. The only dangerous pressures where encountered when shooting 62gr green tip US surplus 5.56NATO ammo in a minimum spec, match grade, .223 Rem chamber. It went to 72,000psi or something I believe so still within proof levels but not healthy for the rifle.
I'd be very, very cautious using this ammo...actually I would not shoot it. There was a batch of 1975 CBC ammo that apparently was loaded with the wrong powder resulting in some catastrophic failures. I bought some pulled bullets and brass (Berdan primed) and was told that the components came from this batch.
See the post below for more information.
http://parallaxscurioandrelicfirear...arning-CBC-1975-762x51-NATO-ammo#.VDB13Od5mSM
See the post below for more information.
http://parallaxscurioandrelicfirear...arning-CBC-1975-762x51-NATO-ammo#.VDB13Od5mSM
If the gas pressure is too low the action wont cycle. It can't really be damaged because of this unless something else is at play.
The pressure difference is quite minimal and the pressure a semi will cycle on safely is normally quite large. Factory civilian ammo also isn't normally loaded to max pressure for liability reasons so don't assume it's right up there in pressure.
There is also the fact that the pressure is measured from different points in the chamber so who knows what the actual pressure difference is. It could be the same for all we know as I've never managed to find data either measuring NATO ammo using civilian equipment or vice versa. The data everyone goes by is the "max pressure" published using the equipment/technique for that organization.
With that information I wouldn't fire it at all. Pull the bullets and reload or sell as components. I wouldn't even want to sell the loaded ammo "as components" in case someone fired it anyway and sued me.
DO NOT SHOOT THIS AMMO!!!
Some CBC ammo was loaded with powder contaminated with pistol powder. A number of rifles were Kaboomed.
A batch of ammo was made with over-annealed necks. brass was so soft that neck tension was inadequate. they tried re-crimping the necks, but it did not help. This process mixed up the lot numbers, so we cannot just say that Lot # so and so is NG.
The good news is that the bullets are easy to pull. Save all the stick powder (some rounds are ball powder -bad and some are stick powder - good). The ball power should be thrown on the lawn. Stick powder can be re-loaded.
If you don't re-load, give the ammo to someone who does, but warn them that some of the rounds might have pistol powder in them.
Some CBC ammo was loaded with powder contaminated with pistol powder. A number of rifles were Kaboomed.
A batch of ammo was made with over-annealed necks. brass was so soft that neck tension was inadequate. they tried re-crimping the necks, but it did not help. This process mixed up the lot numbers, so we cannot just say that Lot # so and so is NG.
The good news is that the bullets are easy to pull. Save all the stick powder (some rounds are ball powder -bad and some are stick powder - good). The ball power should be thrown on the lawn. Stick powder can be re-loaded.
If you don't re-load, give the ammo to someone who does, but warn them that some of the rounds might have pistol powder in them.
Years ago, we had a fair amount of this ammo. We pulled the bullets, dumped each cartridge into a separate small glass bowl to determine if it was the same as the large bowl, then dumped it in the large one. We measured a few powder charges, found a good old Lee dipper that dispensed the same amount, reloaded the cartridges. I shot off 10 today, as a matter of fact, in a German 98 converted to 7.62 by the Israelis.
We did this "remanufacture" over 20 years ago.
We did this "remanufacture" over 20 years ago.
