Thread: 7.62x51, and what to do with it.

Hi all, have some surplus ammo and not really sure how to make use of it, no semi auto 7.62 rifle anymore so it’s just been sitting, and I no longer have anything that eats it

Any of the fellas had luck stripping it down for reloading or anything similar? feeding ingredients through the 300WM has crossed my mind, but it’s a lot of work for some hunting rounds at best, doubt they’d be to accurate.

Any insight appreciated, I’d rather not sell them if there’s some decent recipes someone’s cooked up to recycle them!

Be easier to just sell it. If you've got nothing to shoot it I'm kind of in the same boat with 762 X 39 but have an elcheapo JW103 which complicates things. Don't want to sell the ammo coz of the elcheapo not having any ammo, don't want to sell elcheapo due to triggers and can't get a new Howa for the ammo due to triggers either. Makes sense to sell but trigger events will expose me to the cluster fuck.

Greetings,
It rather depends on what it is. If it is mil surplus ammo of undetermined origin then just sell it off. You can pull the projectiles of mil spec ammo (commercially manufactured with full patch projectiles) and replace them with soft points of the same weight but recycling the components for loading other cartridges is dangerous to the point of stupidity. Show me the load data you would use. Assuming that the cases are boxer primed they can be reloaded but as you don't have a .308 you may as well just sell it.
Regards Grandpamac.

There are few rifles out there using that ammo. I have a spanish mauser chambered for 7.62x51... Shoots nice and ammo is cheap-ish

Bit of info

Is .308 and 7.62 NATO Interchangeable?

If your rifle is chambered in .308 Winchester, you can fire .308 Winchester and 7.62x51mm NATO in the rifle. If your rifle is chambered in 7.62x51mm NATO, you can only fire 7.62x51mm NATO in your rifle. However, even if your rifle is chambered in .308 Winchester, it is recommended you avoid shooting 7.62x51mm NATO in your rifle on a regular basis. You can check SAAMI (Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers' Institue, Inc.) for their list of Generally Accepted Firearms and Ammunition Interchangeability.

What's the Difference Between 308 Winchester and 7.62 NATO?

The .308 Winchester and 7.62 x51mm NATO are both firing a .308-caliber bullet from very similar cartridge cases. 308 Win ammo has a slightly higher pressure when compared to the 7.62x51 mm NATO. But the 7.62 x51mm NATO case has a slightly thicker case (thicker walls/thicker brass) and slightly longer headspace than 308 Winchester brass. Like .223 Remington and 5.56x45mm NATO, the differences between the .308 Winchester and 7.62x51 mm NATO make it so the cartridges have limitations when being fired in certain rifle chambers. Since the .308 Winchester round has a higher pressure, it is recommended that it not be fired in a rifle with a 7.62 x51mm NATO chamber. On the other hand, .308 Winchester-chambered rifles are constructed to withstand a higher pressure so they can fire 7.62x51 mm NATO even though it has a slightly longer chamber and headspace. However, even though the .308 Winchester chambered rifles can shoot 7.62x51 mm NATO it is not recommended to do this frequently.

Recap: .308 Winchester vs 7.62 NATO Ammo

Even though the commercial .308 Winchester cartridges are very similar to their 7.62mm NATO counterparts, their slight differences shouldn't be ignored when choosing which ammo is suited to fire in your rifle.

Cheers team, seems I’ll be selling it, if anyone wants it from this thread before I stick it in buy sell trade let me know ��

Quantity, brand and some pics will help @Billymavs

PMd

Ohh
I'd like some

7.62x51 and .308 Winchester may be used interchangeably in correctly headspaced rifles with perfect safety. While there is a minute difference in the drawing specifications of both, those differences actually fall within the allowable manufacturing tolerances for the ammunition. Hundreds of thousands of deer were shot in 7.62x51 rifles (FN FAL's, SIG AMT's, H&K G3's, etc) using commercial .308 ammunition in NZ, and thousands of .308 sporting rifles around the World are regularly used with surplus 7.62x51 for targets and plinking, as well as those that have the FMJ bullets pulled and replaced with sporting projectiles. Never in my 55 years as a gunsmith have I seen a problem that is attributable to the interchange of such ammo. Such stories are spread by 'Sunday morning quarterbacks'.

I'd still be keen on some

Originally Posted by gundoc

7.62x51 and .308 Winchester may be used interchangeably in correctly headspaced rifles with perfect safety. While there is a minute difference in the drawing specifications of both, those differences actually fall within the allowable manufacturing tolerances for the ammunition. Hundreds of thousands of deer were shot in 7.62x51 rifles (FN FAL's, SIG AMT's, H&K G3's, etc) using commercial .308 ammunition in NZ, and thousands of .308 sporting rifles around the World are regularly used with surplus 7.62x51 for targets and plinking, as well as those that have the FMJ bullets pulled and replaced with sporting projectiles. Never in my 55 years as a gunsmith have I seen a problem that is attributable to the interchange of such ammo. Such stories are spread by 'Sunday morning quarterbacks'.

About the only ones I would be wary of would be some of the Spanish small ring Mausers converted to 7.62x51 etc. I think there's a South American model or two converted with a really shitty sleeve done. I personally wouldn't shoot commercial 308 loads through those.

Originally Posted by gundoc

7.62x51 and .308 Winchester may be used interchangeably in correctly headspaced rifles with perfect safety. While there is a minute difference in the drawing specifications of both, those differences actually fall within the allowable manufacturing tolerances for the ammunition. Hundreds of thousands of deer were shot in 7.62x51 rifles (FN FAL's, SIG AMT's, H&K G3's, etc) using commercial .308 ammunition in NZ, and thousands of .308 sporting rifles around the World are regularly used with surplus 7.62x51 for targets and plinking, as well as those that have the FMJ bullets pulled and replaced with sporting projectiles. Never in my 55 years as a gunsmith have I seen a problem that is attributable to the interchange of such ammo. Such stories are spread by 'Sunday morning quarterbacks'.

Phew!!!

I thought it was just bare faced luck that saw me crank 5+ thousand rounds of 7.62 through my bolt action 308's with no issues

If you're not shopping at the big green shop, you're probably paying too much.

Originally Posted by Ross Nolan

If you're not shopping at the big green shop, you're probably paying too much.

Sshhhhh!!!!

Actually, I still have a drawer full of receipts for several thousand rounds of MEN85 the army flicked off for no particular reason in the late 1980's. Still have my reloading notebook from the time and the SD was below 10.

But I can't beat the story of a mate who in the early 1970's bought himself a 308, as all his mates were making a killing during the weekend, hauling venison out of the Training Area. Making more than their fortnightly brown paper pay packet as Corporal instructors at WTD.

For 3 or 4 donks shot, hauled out in series I land rovers and flogged off at the Waiouru chiller.

He quietly let it know he would be keen on a 'few' 7.62 rounds, if there were any left at the end of the range fortnight of the recruit intake in at the time.

Friday night sitting in his lounge down on Weir terrace and he hears an RL reversing down his driveway: tailgate crash down and some heavy thunks sound out from his lawn. He pops his head outside to find out whats happening, and its the Quartermasters' sidekick dropping off about 8 thousand rounds, all left over from the recruit course.

"Fuck! I said a few rounds, not a dozen crates of ammo"

"Boss said this was the easiest way, so he doesn't have to do the accounting paperwork for sending it back to the ammo area."

Needless to say no one went without for many years. 130gn speers and 125 gn Hornadys were their round of choice. Just pull the fmj projo, neck size for a couple of mm and shove the new projo home.