Firing .308 from my m305 shorty

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daniel_250r

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I recently bought a norinco m305. At purchasing the rifle i had the option of buying a case of norinco 7.62x51 but i didnt have the money for an entire case i decided to go with a 20 round pack. The guy at the store handed me a box of winchester .308 150 gr.without thinking anything of it because its stamped .308 i did take it out to the range. The empty cases look nomal but is it possible i have prematurley worn my gun?
 
Someone with more knowledge than I have will likely be along shortly...

From my understanding 7.62x51 is close enough to .308 that you can fire .308 in a 7.62x51 rifle.

Similar to .223 and 5.56x45

I ran a box of .308 in a buddies m305, stripped the gun down after, looked perfectly fine to me.
 
Yes there are differences, but your Norinco will not know the differences. Generally speaking, the military chamber is looser than the commercial chamber. The cartridge case will expand fractionally more in the military chamber. It will still load and eject. However, the military brass is generally harder and has more material in the web and head. The commercial case could be fractionally less supported and build greater internal pressures. In my opinion, don't worry. But I'm not a lawyer or a small arms engineer.

FWIW, I've never ever worried about military and commercial brass in any of my .308/7.62x51 rifles.
 
Everyone i know shoots 7.62x51 and 308 interchangeably through M305's with absolutely no ill effect. I will continue to shoot whichever is cheaper and readily available.
 
mokele said:
I heard you can shoot NATO 7.62x51 in .308 chamber but NOT the other way around. Google it - there was a whole bunch of articles about it
Click to expand...

If it matters that much to you, don't do it with your M305. Problem solved.

You can shoot 308 and 7.62 just fine out of a M305. Seriously. Everyone does it, except for those who spend most of their time trying to pick pepper out of fly poop.
 
Saami does not list it as a dangerous combination. It does list 223 and 5.56 as dangerous which may be where people are getting this.

Here is a link to the document.
h ttp://www.saami.org/specifications_and_information/publications/download/SAAMI_ITEM_211-Unsafe_Arms_and_Ammunition_Combinations.pdf

Saami is the standards organization for ammo and sporting arms. I would guess the know their stuff.
 
The chamber on my m305 is quite oversize. It is around 14 thou over the go gauge length. 308 150 grain shoots just fine and even survives to be reloaded. I keep track of how many times I reload it, and don't intend to reload it more than twice as it undergoes a lot of stress getting stretched and resized.
 
Your #### will literally fall off.......

Or you will fire 2000 308 rounds through it and 200 7.62x51 and have a smile on your face.. As I've said in every other thread about this. From my research the troubles of the interchangeability became prominent in the mid 90s with the increasing popularity of the Internet
 
Officially, on paper, 7.62 NATO is 2000psi lower than .308 Win. That is a difference of just over 3%.
That is assuming both cartridges are at absolutely maximum rated pressure.
The vast majority of commercial ammo is at a tad below maximum pressure for liability reasons.
So chances are commercial .308 Win is actually lower pressure than 7.62 NATO due to lawyers.
Exterior dimensions of unfired cases are identical.
I have put a couple thousand .308 Win rounds through my M305 with no issue. It's actually never seen 7.62 NATO in it's life.

The only issue with the .223 Rem and 5.56 NATO I know about is when using 5.56 NATO in minimum dimension match chambers (specifically the short throat in match chambers). The US green tip 62gr NATO ammo has been measured at nearly 80,000 psi when fired in a minimum spec match .223 chamber. Any normal (non-match) .223 chambered rifle can fire 5.56 NATO safely and vice versa. One thing to note in this is that 80,000 psi still falls within the 130% maximum pressure most commercial rifles are proofed at so it most likely wouldn't cause a catastrophic failure. There are many reports of NATO ammo ruining match barrels (both .308 and .223) in very short order though.

The important thing to remember is that .223/5.56 NATO and .308/7.62 NATO are interchangeable but don't fire surplus ammo in a match rifle unless you want to ruin the match accuracy rather quickly.
 
daniel_250r said:
I just tried putting a spent case in my chamber and had to slam the bolt to get it to go all the way i was thinking id be able to feel the slop.
Click to expand...

After being hit with 55,000+ psi, that case is now almost exactly the same size as your chamber. No slop. back your FL die out one rev so the case is not quite fully sized and see if it fits easily. If it does, use that setting, instead of sizing it all the way. Case will last longer that way.
 
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