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What would happen if one...

Colt Super
were to fire a .308 Win from a semi-auto .30-06 chamber ??

I haven't done it, just wonder if it would work and function the rifle.

Thank you.

Doug
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Comments

10 comments

Date Votes
  • rufe-snow
    At the rifle range I use to go to, I have seen this happen. Because some people with M 1 Grands didn't know what they were doing. As the cartridge is stripped out of the enblock clip by the bolt, the extractor holds the head of the cartridge against the face of the bolt. When it's fired the shoulder is blown out to fill the chamber. The brass at the chamber doesn't split, and is extracted and ejected like a normal 30-06 round. This surprised me as I thought the case would separate at the shoulder and be left in the chamber, tying up the rifle. The brass they were using must have been pretty good quality, to not separate. It looked weird though, with the shoulder blown forward and hardly any neck left.
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  • RCrosby
    I've seen the same thing done with a bolt action rifle; same results.
    I wouldn't recommend it, though.
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  • schutzenuts
    In the early '70's my youngest brother took the clip from my father's .308 742 and proceeded to intersperse .30 Remington cartridges in with the .308's. That afternoon we came upon a herd of Mule deer, my Dad shot at a big 12 point buck with his 742. The muzzle blast was horrendous(I was standing behind my Dad and the blast out of the ejector port was spectacular!) End of the story: deer was dead, the .30 Rem case was very deformed, but whole, and the action cycled and chambered a fresh .308. As the other post said, it'll work, just don't recommend it!
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  • TWalker
    I haven't seen a 308 fired in a 30-06 but once I did accidentally fire a 303 British round in my Marlin 45-70. The case expanded to fit the chamber and split, but there was no other damage.
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  • 11b6r
    Saw a gent fire a .243 Win from a .308. As others have said- fire forms the hell out of the case, accuracy went that-a-way, but no harm. Not reccomended on a regular basis.
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  • RCrosby
    In a somewhat similar vein, I recently sold a really beautiful Mannlicher Sporter after I discovered what happened to escaping gas from a pierced primer; straight through the bolt and out the back end.
    Shooting glasses really are great! As are most of the modern (and older)designs that won't let that happen. Still, I would think that any time you chamber the wrong round you'd be increasing the risk of escaping gases, not to mention extreme pressures in those instances where a smaller case with a larger diameter bullet can be chambered.
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  • Colt Super
    My question was prompted because I accidentally chambered a .308 round in my .30-06 Rem 742. I didn't fire it, but it appeared that that action locked up and it COULD have been fired. When I worked the action manually, it ejected fine.

    I thought that, perhaps if one could not get .30-06s, it might be possible to use .308s regularly.

    I'm considering getting a .308 magazine for just that eventuality.

    Thank you all for your help.

    You ALWAYS come through for me.

    Doug
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  • slumlord44
    I am thinking that would probably not be the best idea in the world.
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  • givette
    quote:Originally posted by Colt Super
    My question was prompted because I accidentally chambered a .308 round in my .30-06 Rem 742. I didn't fire it, but it appeared that that action locked up and it COULD have been fired. When I worked the action manually, it ejected fine.

    I thought that, perhaps if one could not get .30-06s, it might be possible to use .308s regularly.

    I'm considering getting a .308 magazine for just that eventuality.

    Thank you all for your help.

    You ALWAYS come through for me.

    Doug



    1. Action worked Okay on an unfired round. No guarantee it will work Okay on a fire-formed case.
    2. You used the word regularly. Forget it.
    3. Instead of buying a magazine for the rounds you have, how 'bout buying rounds for the rifle you have?

    ..If I convince you not to do the cartridge swap, I'll throw in a gorgeous redhead's phone number! How's that?

    Bottom line: don't do it. Best, Joe
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  • beantownshootah
    quote:Originally posted by Colt Super
    My question was prompted because I accidentally chambered a .308 round in my .30-06 Rem 742. I didn't fire it, but it appeared that that action locked up and it COULD have been fired. When I worked the action manually, it ejected fine.

    I thought that, perhaps if one could not get .30-06s, it might be possible to use .308s regularly.

    I'm considering getting a .308 magazine for just that eventuality.

    Thank you all for your help.

    You ALWAYS come through for me.

    Doug



    Really, I'd advise against doing this regularly.

    If your life is on the line (eg you're starving, or someone is shooting at you and that's all you have), then maybe its worth taking this kind of chance, but these are fairly implausible situations.

    If you want to shoot .308s, then why not just get a .308 gun? Its not like they are scarce or particularly expensive.

    Next, '30-06 is one of the most popular cartridges in the USA. Its pretty unlikely that ammo will suddenly become completely unavailable. I think a more realistic worst-case scenario is that it will become more expensive, as we've seen over the last year.

    If there were really a pinch, you could probably cannibalize .308 rounds and reload them directly into .30-06 cases.

    If you're really worried about 30'06 ammo becoming unavailable, how about just buying a few boxes of 30'06 ammo and keeping those in reserve, instead of a new magazine for a nominally different cartridge?
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