7.62 x 54r in my Winchster 670 30-06?

Your coworker is probably the same breed of tavern commandos who believes that when the Russians chose the 7.62x39 cartridge for the AK47, they did it so they could use their own ammo in battlefield pickup 7.62x51 NATO rifles.

This was actually an fact (lied to) passed on to recruits in the army as late as the early 70s.
My old man believed this because it was told to him during training.
He knows better now.
 
Hi all,

The same said that I can use a 7.62x51NATO in my 308 as well, and vise versa. If I read wikipedia correctly, I can use 7.62x51NATO in a 308, but not the other way around. Is this true?

Is there any NATO spec ammo that can be used in a 30-06?

Regards
 
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Hi all,

The same said that I can use a 7.62x51NATO in my 308 as well, and vise versa. If I read wikipedia correctly, I can use 7.62x51NATO in a 308, but not the other way around. Is this true?

Is there any NATO spec ammo that can be used in a 30-06?

Regards

No siree, the Yanks came up with the 7.62x51mm and shoved it down NATO's throats, despite the fact that several potentially better cartridges had been presented... Little tangeant there, but short answer is that the 30-06 was introduced before the formation of NATO (1906, to be precise) and the 7.62 NATO was designed to replace the '06.
 
Hi all,

The same said that I can use a 7.62x51NATO in my 308 as well, and vise versa. If I read wikipedia correctly, I can use 7.62x51NATO in a 308, but not the other way around. Is this true?

Is there any NATO spec ammo that can be used in a 30-06?

Regards

Yes, you can shoot surplus 7.62 nato in your 308Win. Probably wont be much for accuracy, but if you don't reload then it's definitely cheap practice ammo. Not sure if you were asking this or not, but you CANNOT shoot 7.62x51 Nato(aka 308w) in your 30-06. I dont think you were asking that, but the way you worded it, it was a little fuzzy. Just wanted to be clear.
There used to be a bunch of surplus 30-06 around but its pretty much dried up now.
 
Actuall BO56, you can shoot 308/7.62 in your 06. It was very specifically designed to headspace and fire in a 30-06 chamber. This was one of the criteria when the military started looking for a shorter 30 cal cartridge.
 
Actuall BO56, you can shoot 308/7.62 in your 06. It was very specifically designed to headspace and fire in a 30-06 chamber. This was one of the criteria when the military started looking for a shorter 30 cal cartridge.

Well Doug, you are right enough times to get the benefit of the doubt. More info would be nice though...
 
wait a sec.....did i just hear that correctly?? 7.62x54r will work in a 30-06....holy chit, your friend is f*ckin dumb!!! sorry man, i would suggest you call your friend out on this one. WOW!!f:P:
 
how does 308 headspace in an 06?

Most of the .308 cartridge is larger in diameter than the chamber, and it has over .002" radial interference at the shoulder. It's basically being re-sized during chambering. In loose chambers, you need a good claw type extractor to hold the cartridge in place to withstand the hit of the firing pin. Not all 30-06 rifles will successfully fire the 308 / 7.62x21mm round. They will all chamber them and close on them though.

308in3006.jpg

762natoin3006.jpg
 
Most of the .308 cartridge is larger in diameter than the chamber, and it has over .002" radial interference at the shoulder. It's basically being re-sized during chambering. In loose chambers, you need a good claw type extractor to hold the cartridge in place to withstand the hit of the firing pin. Not all 30-06 rifles will successfully fire the 308 / 7.62x21mm round. They will all chamber them and close on them though.

308in3006.jpg

762natoin3006.jpg
Interesting, anyone chrono one of these? Not sure why, but I'm really curious.
 
Actuall BO56, you can shoot 308/7.62 in your 06. It was very specifically designed to headspace and fire in a 30-06 chamber. This was one of the criteria when the military started looking for a shorter 30 cal cartridge.

Well then, learned something new this morning! I was definitely skeptical, but willing to take your word for it as I don't doubt your knowledge on such things, but since sawzall explained with some nice graphics that's one to add to the memory bank.
 
Sorry guys I didn't expand on it last night but had to watch a movie with the family and then went to bed..........SA did a good job of explaining.......the military thinking was that they wanted a cartridge (7.62) that given the number of 06s still in use, if a screw up happened or troops with 06s ran out of ammo they could still be functional with the "new" cartridge if not necessarily effective. And no, the gas does not escape past the bullet and it can even be reasonably accurate in a military type of accuracy. As SA said the 7.62/308 is designed to squeeze fit the 06 chamber with the shoulder being 2-3 thou larger than the corresponding spot on an 06's body.
I had noted this possibility dimensionally, several years back, but it was Ted (Why Not?) that actually told me that it was, in fact, a design criteria of the military at the time of it's inception.
 
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Sorry guys I didn't expand on it last night but had to watch a movie with the family and then went to bed..........SA did a good job of explaining.......the military thinking was that they wanted a cartridge (7.62) that given the number of 06s still in use, if a screw up happened or troops with 06s ran out of ammo they could still be functional with the "new" cartridge if not necessarily effective. And no, the gas does not escape past the bullet and it can even be reasonably accurate in a military type of accuracy. As SA said the 7.62/308 is designed to squeeze fit the 06 chamber with the shoulder being 2-3 thou larger than the corresponding spot on an 06's body.
I had noted this possibility dimensionally, several years back, but it was Ted (Why Not?) that actually told me that it was, in fact, a design criteria of the military at the time of it's inception.


That is great! I just learned something new today!

Thanks
 
Sorry guys I didn't expand on it last night but had to watch a movie with the family and then went to bed..........SA did a good job of explaining.......the military thinking was that they wanted a cartridge (7.62) that given the number of 06s still in use, if a screw up happened or troops with 06s ran out of ammo they could still be functional with the "new" cartridge if not necessarily effective. And no, the gas does not escape past the bullet and it can even be reasonably accurate in a military type of accuracy. As SA said the 7.62/308 is designed to squeeze fit the 06 chamber with the shoulder being 2-3 thou larger than the corresponding spot on an 06's body.
I had noted this possibility dimensionally, several years back, but it was Ted (Why Not?) that actually told me that it was, in fact, a design criteria of the military at the time of it's inception.

thank you very much Doug and Ted for that info.

i ve been banned for use 308 or 30-06 for years so that is good to discover a little of it.

i used maybe for two months the 308 with NATO ammo but there were only few infos given to us at that time.

Phil
 
There should be some type of sticky on what chambers/can fire safely in what. There are always people saying xyz cartridge will work just fine in a rifle chambered for abc. The safest easiest answer is only fire what the barrel is stamped for, which is basic in the PAL course. But that doesn't keep people from being curious.

Example:
.300 h&h in a .300 weatherby apparently is fine, and can you can fireform weatherby brass this way (if you somehow have an overabundance of 300 h&h brass)
But... apparently .300 win is dangerous in the weatherby chamber. Although there are stories online of people doing it without a problem

.458 win mag in a .458 Lott? not a problem even if the barrell isn't stamped that way
.375 win in a 38-55 win is dangerous although the 375 appears as a shorter version of the 38-55.

Of course no one should ever try any of these things and I am no expert on any of it, just relating stories I've heard etc etc... but it seems to be a common enough topic for gun folk..
 
There should be some type of sticky on what chambers/can fire safely in what. There are always people saying xyz cartridge will work just fine in a rifle chambered for abc. The safest easiest answer is only fire what the barrel is stamped for, which is basic in the PAL course. But that doesn't keep people from being curious.

Example:
.300 h&h in a .300 weatherby apparently is fine, and can you can fireform weatherby brass this way (if you somehow have an overabundance of 300 h&h brass)
But... apparently .300 win is dangerous in the weatherby chamber. Although there are stories online of people doing it without a problem

.458 win mag in a .458 Lott? not a problem even if the barrell isn't stamped that way
.375 win in a 38-55 win is dangerous although the 375 appears as a shorter version of the 38-55.

Of course no one should ever try any of these things and I am no expert on any of it, just relating stories I've heard etc etc... but it seems to be a common enough topic for gun folk..

i do know that i fireformed 300wea from 300hh brass for years as i wasnt able to get any 300 wea brass. it was so easy to get 300hh ammo in those days. the speed was a little more than a 30-06 but worked great and im pretty sure i still have fireformed 300hh brass now 300 wea size. and this is exactly the way Roy Weatherby designed the 300 wea.

as a guide i ve seen people bringing 300 win mag for their 300 wea and shooting them because they had less recoil, while i do not recommend it, it was done.

and yes the 458 win mag into 458 Lott can be done just in cause not of your Lott show to your hunting place, 458 win mag ammo can save your hunt. the same can be done with a 375 weatherby and using 375hh mag ammo.

you can fireform 375 ruger brass from 300 win mag but that is a different story.
 
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