Milsurp .308 in a bolt gun...OK???

[Voodoo]

A buddy of mine just picked up a Remmy 700 PSS, and invited me out this weekend to try it out. Whenever we go shooting, we usually supply our own ammo. I have a ton of milsurp Port and Aussie ammo for my M1A - I absolutely love the stuff (as does my M1A). Would it be OK for me to use it in his bolt gun?

 

[Feanaro]

Shouldn't be any problems, never heard of mil-surp not working in a bolt.

 

[30Cal]

If the bolt will close on the 7.62 surplus, you should be fine.

 

[Dave R]

I have shot a few hundred rounds of milsurp through my Rem700 in .308. No ill effects. Accuracy is not as good as the good commercial loads, or my handloads, but its not bad. I get about 2MOA.

 

[OEF_VET]

Heck, I've put 20 rounds of Indian surplus through my 700 PSS with no problems other than loss of accuracy, and I think we all know how bad Indian surplus is historically. So, if mine will handle that junk, I'm sure his will handle Portugese and Aussie. Although, if you really want to experience the best possible accuracy from that rifle (with factory loads), try some 168 gr. Federal Gold Medal Match rounds.

 

[NoHarmNoFAL]

I have a 700 VS in .308 and I shoot Portugese in it all the time. I bought a bunch of Fed. Gold Match to shoot through it but why, I can put 5 shots through the same hole at 100yds. and 3" groups at 350 yds. The only problem is that once they go bang the brass is scrap. YMMV.

 

[Chipperman]

"Heck, I've put 20 rounds of Indian surplus through my 700 PSS with no problems "

I've seen and heard enough about Indian .308 that I would not fire it in any of my guns, even if it was GIVEN to me.

 

[cslinger]

Savage 10FP here and have fired Portugese surplus through it with astounding accuracy for such inexpensive ammo. I mean it almost shot up to par with Black Hills 168grain match stuff.

Chris

 

[twoblink]

My Mauser likes the Portugese milsurp.... no problems.

Accuracy is not as good as the better loads, but then, the price is sweet...

 

[One of Many]

I have shot the Australian surplus .308 NATO in my Savage 99, and it is good stuff. I got the same sized groups (different impact point) that I got with Federal Premium 165 gr. BTSP rounds. I have achieved 3 shot groups of 1-3/8 inch at 100 yards with the ADI ammo, and had one five shot group with 4 out of 5 in 1 inch.

You can't reload it unless you have the equipment to handle the Berdan primed cases. The ADI ammo is available for around $26 per 160 round box, plus shipping, over the internet. I have bought it for $30 per box at gun shows. That is less than 19 cents per round. For that price, I don't even consider reloading.

 

[NoHarmNoFAL]

The ADI is boxer if you can find the head stamp with a date after 91. FYI

 

[Publicola]

First of all, there is no such thing as "milsurp .308". You're talking about milsurp 7.62x51mm NATO.

There are two different cartridges: 7.62x51mm NATO & .308 Winchester.

It's easy to mix them up cause people have been doing that for a long time.

Anyway, short story is you might be cool firing milsurp 7.62x51mm NATO in a .308 Winchester chamber, but then again you might not. If the headspace of the rifle is too tight, like in a match chamber, then the 7.62x51mm NATO's cartridge headspace will be a bit too long to safely work. Have you rifle's headpsace checked. Don't just use the Go/No Go/Field Reject thing, get an actual number. If it's smaller than 1.632 then maybe you should stick to factory loads. This applies to semi's as well as bolt guns. If the firearm says 7.62 then the mil surp stuff should be alright (though factory ammo probably isn't), if it says .308 Winchester then factory ammo is okay while the 7.62x51mm NATO stuff might not be.

Here's a more in depth treatment of the cartridge differences called A Tale of Two Cartridges: Despite popular belief the .308 Winchester & 7.62x51mm NATO chamberings are different.

 

[Bob C]

Some of this ammo has mild steel jackets.

I would be concerned about this wearing the barrel more than traditional jacket material.

 

[Feanaro]

First of all, there is no such thing as "milsurp .308". You're talking about milsurp 7.62x51mm NATO.

Long as we are gettin' technical, unless it has the NATO headstamp, it isn't 7.62x51 NATO.

 

[Joey2]

The MilSup ammo has fast buring powder for semi-auto's ??. Should you use slow burning powder for better performance in a bolt gun??

 

[DMK]

Long as we are gettin' technical, unless it has the NATO headstamp, it isn't 7.62x51 NATO.

Portugese has a NATO headstamp, Australian F4 does not. Yet it comes on stripper clips in bandoliers in sealed ammo cans clearly labeled 7.62x51. I'd say that it's definately 7.62x51 not .308 Win. It's just not a NATO spec load or bullet.

 

[Publicola]

Joey,

It depends on the cartridge, the bolt gun & the performance you want. usually slower burning powders allow for higher velocity (with the increase in chamber pressure) but sometimes the faster burning powders are better suited for a particular purpose ( a milder recoiling target or hunting load for example).

Feanaro & DMK,

There's a link at the bottom of the article I linked that's a page about the history & differences of the various NATO loadings. If I recall all 7.62x51mm ammo has either the NATO symbols (there are two that mean something slightly different) or are lettered as "NATO". I could be wrong but I have never been aware of 7.62x51mm ammo that wasn't NATO ammo - more or less it's like leaving off the "Remington" when talking about the .44 Magnum.

My point was that ".308 NATO" is a mix of two terms. It'd be like saying ".44 Remington Special" instead of ".44 Remingtom Magnum" or ".44 S&W Special".

But like I said I could be msitaken on the 7.62x51 being marked as NATO ammo. Check the link about NATO ammo at the bottom of the link I had in my first post. It's also interesting because it explains the NATO spec ammo variations (something about being interchangable v. standardized).

What the heck, Look at: Debunking the myth of "NATO Standard" ammunition for more on the differences & similarities between NATO ammo.