7.62 Nato
Is there a difference between 7.62 Nato and .308 win?[?]
Darrell
Darrell
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Interchangable more or less. 0 -
No, they are the same. 7.62X51 is the military designation for the round, and the civilian designation is .308 Win.
The military uses thicker brass, so when reloading using mil brass it is good to reduce the charges slightly.0 -
No, they are the same. 7.62X51 is the military designation for the round, and the civilian designation is .308 Win.
The military uses thicker brass, so when reloading using mil brass it is good to reduce the charges slightly.0 -
The dimensions of both rounds are the same, however to my knowledge, the 7.62x51 is loaded to a higher pressure standard than the 308 Winchester. I know my M1A sure makes Ball ammo cook across the chronograph (2800FPS). I don't remember what factory 308 is supposed to rate, but I think it is less than that. 0 -
I have experienced differences. Some of my rifles in .308 have not functioned properly with the military NATO round. I have experienced breech problems where the military surplus cartridges have stuck and the bolt would not extract them. When I went back to standard Winchester and Remington rounds the problem was solved. My advice would be to buy a small lot of military surplus rounds and try them first. 0 -
Winchester Factory Centerfire Ammo in .308 Winchester, is supposed to have a muzzle velocity of 2820 fps for the 150 grain bullet, while the 180 grain is slightly slower at an advertised 2620 fps. This seems to be about the same as what was chrony'ed above. If this Factory Ammo actually performs this way, seems they would be pretty much identical.
"Life is FRAGILE!" Handle With Care!0 -
Interesting website, GreenLantern.[:0] 0 -
Green Lantern: That link seems to say basically: "It's all right to use Milsurp Ammo in most all rifles, if they aren't reloads." The explanation of case stretch and headspace shows a potential problem from re-using the cases and reloading. The adviseability of using "Commercial Factory Loads," in a military rifle seems to be a serious potential problem also.
This is what I'm getting out of this. If I were to use Milsurp Ammo in my Remington 700 chambered for .308 Winchester,--- That would be OK! But I wouldn't want to use .308 Winchester Factory Ammo in, say, a Russian AK chambered in .308 NATO without checking headspace, etc., and then it might still allow "overstretch" of Factory Brass, causing a case failure. Anybody get anything different than this?
"Life is FRAGILE!" Handle With Care!0 -
I think someone else posted that link on this subject not too long ago. I still had it in my browser history.
My understanding is that commercial ammo is hotter and therefore, you should be careful using it in older bolt actions (typically military arms with an unknown history) of the 7.62 designation.
Modern arms (bolt actions included) in 7.62 shouldn't have a problem with the .308.0 -
This explains the difference and addresses the .308 at the bottom. It is from an Armalite tech note, hope it helps.
Tech Note
DEC, 4 2002
TECHNICAL NOTE 45: 5.56 NATO vs SAAMI .223 REMINGTON CHAMBERS
BACKGROUND: We are often asked whether our rifles feature NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) or SAAMI (Small Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers Institute) standard chambers, and whether it makes any difference.
FACTS:
.223 Remington (SAAMI standard) and 5.56mm (NATO standard) rifle chambers are almost identical. The difference is largely limited to the #147;freebore,#148; the cylindrical space in front of the case mouth, and the #147;lead#148; or #147;leade,#148; the the tapered region that eases the bullet into full engagement with the rifling. NATO and SAAMI cartridges can normally be used interchangeably with no problem.
The SAAMI chamber features less freebore and a tighter leade, which normally provide better bullet fit and match-grade accuracy than the NATO chamber. It is wonderfully suited to match bullets.
Millions of rounds of NATO ammunition have been fired safely in Eagle Arms' and ArmaLite#146;s SAAMI chambers over the past 15 years. Occasionally a non-standard round (of generally imported) ammunition will fit too tightly in the leade, and resistance to early bullet movement can cause elevated chamber pressures. These pressures are revealed by overly flattened or powder stains that reveal gasses leaking around the primer.
The first few rounds of ALL ammunition, from whatever source or lot, should be checked for pressure and other signs of defect before firing large quantities. If you have a problem, you can generally bet that the ammunition meets neither SAAMI nor NATO specifications.
ArmaLite has adopted a practice of using a special, modified SAAMI chambers in its stainless steel match barrels. This chamber is better for match use than the NATO chamber, but fires the NATO ammunition perfectly. We use the NATO chamber in all moly (phosphated) and chrome-lined barrels.
ArmaLite#146;s larger AR-10 rifles are all chambered with 7.62mm NATO chambers. .308 Winchester (SAAMI standard) ammunition functions perfectly in the 7.62mm chambers.0
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