I have heard there is a difference between 308 win and 7.62 nato. The reason i am asking is I have an old model 88 in 308 I may blow the dust off and start playing with it. Is it safe to shoot milsurp ammo in these?? and if so are there any special precautions I need to take

a commerical rifle, in 7.62 IS 308, however, the cetme is NOT 308...

AS i recall, the 7.62x51 is actually a lightly lower pressure case , spec to spec, and the cetme will shake apart with factory 308.

i could be wrong, but I doubt it in this case...

jeffe

Though there are minor case dimension difference that translate to less capacity and chamber specs are slightly larger for the 7.62, the most important difference is just as jeffeosso said: 7.62 is loaded to lower pressure than factory .308.

.308 is 7.82 if i'm not wrong.

Ruff-Hewn is right. The standard case dimensions for a 308 Win are very slightly different than the 7.62 NATO. If you have a standard 308 Win chamber (no tight neck or small base), then you can bang away using suplus rounds with confidence.



I've shot 308 in competition for years and I used to know the detailed differences - lost in the mist. Bottom line is it never made any significant difference.

There are some gunsmiths out there (and I have met one) who will throw a hissy fit over what they percieve as a "dangerous" difference between the 308 Winchester and 7.62 Nato round.

There are slight nominal differences between the two on paper.

I have found no practical differences between the two in real life applications.

I have fired thousands of rounds in military type rifles and Remington, Winchester, and Mauser bolt actions (and the Model 100 semi-auto), and I mix and match handloads, factory and military surplus ammo.

I have found some of the military loads for the M-60 to be the hottest loads around, much more than factory loads.

Here is something I would add to the "debate" about the differences between the two: If there really was a significant issue over interchangability, by now some gun magazine somewhere would have published a warning about mixing ammo between military and civilian chamberings. And lawyers would have been all over this as a liability issue.

The silence is deafening.

Garrett

Garrett,
look up 7.62x51 cetme... and the REAL atricles that states it is not up to 308 loads...

ackley mentions the diffrence in HL V 1 or 2...

jeffe

And what is the difference between 5.65x45 mm and .223 Remington? I had a Savage 24V that would shoot .223 Remington but not 5.65x45 mm( Now it's a 6x45mm - much better stuff ).

jeffe,

But the question was about the 7.62 NATO, not the CETME.

Apples and oranges.

Don

The difference lies more in the chamber than in the cartridge itself. They will be safe to shoot from your rifle, but I wouldn't expect any decent groups.

http://www3.sympatico.ca/shooters/7_62vs308.htm

Safe Shooting!
Steve Redgwell
303british.com

I have shot 308 in 7.62x51mm rilfes and 7.62x51mm in .308 rilfes, and it seems to go without incedent.

But when I shoot 45 Colt in a .410 with double the 454 Casull powder charge the case splits next to the case head because of the chamber is too big for the case.

And when I shoot 30-30 in a 303 Savage, I have pull back the lever hard the set shoulder back with the chamber. The base of the case is sloppy in the chamber.

So relative to those mis fits, the 7.62 and .308 are fairly interchangable.

It is my understanding that the chamber dimensions of 7.62 NATO are very slightly smaller than .308 Winchester. In other words, while 7.62 will chamber in a .308 Win, a .308 Win may not chamber properly in your military 7.62 firearm. Another difference is case thickness. The 7.62 is significantly thicker than commercial .308 brass (I suppose in anticipation of rough handling circumstances), and therefore difficult to resize. If you're reloading surplus 7.62, you'll want to back off your powder charge at least 10% to avoid dangerously high pressures. Another thing to keep in mind, the 7.62 is designed to operate a gas operating system, so it has to be friendly for the timing of the gas system and not stressful for the parts, as in bent operating rods, case rims torn off the cases, or broken extractors. I hope this helps.

Regards, George.

Here's some links to try:

http://www.thegunzone.com/30cal.html

http://www3.sympatico.ca/shooters/7_62vs308.htm

http://www.gunboards.com/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=414

http://home.sprynet.com/~frfrog2/miscelld.htm#same%20round

I don't know the accuracy of the information given in these links. I simply did some searching on the web on this topic.

-Bob F.