Will a Browning BLR take .308 NATO & .308 WIN ammo?

[Ridge Runner]

Does anyone know?

[pastorp]

I've fired a lot of military ball ammo in my belgium browning blr. Worked for me. Regards, Byron

[Rangr44]

.308 Win, .308, 7.62 NATO, & .308 NATO are all different names for the same cartridge.

The NATO cartridges are limited, in the number & type of bullets loaded by the factory/arsenals, while the commercial loads are available in a wide variety.

The same basic case was also used to make the commercial .243 Win, .260 Win, 7mm-08, .338 Federal, and the .358 Win. - and untold numbers of wildcat cartridges.

[Omaha-BeenGlockin]

Stay away from using 7.62 milsurp ammo in your commercial gun---its intended for military rifles.

Tried using some in an A-bolt---was so hot I had to hammer the bolt open---1st and only round I put in my commercial rifle-----worked just fine with Federal .308 right after that.

[pastorp]

Omaha, I respectfully disagree. I believe something else caused your problem. I have fired thousands of military ball ammo loads in commercial 308 rifles.

On the contrary the problem can occur with firring commercial ammo in military guns, such as the grands and m14,m1a1 models. They were designed for 150gr loads at very specific pressures.

Regards, Byron

[Brithunter]

He............. he I love this 

    The 7.62x51 nato has some different dimensions let alone pressure to the .308 Winchester IF the chambers are cut to specs. However it seems that manufactureers now fudge the specs. Whether this is to make is safer to shoot either? It's a bit like Winchester 30-30 brass not being made to specs with the head undersize  why they do this? I don't know but they do. Remington Brass is often the same as RP .303 beass is also undersized on the head. now if they do with with brass is a pretty safe bet the also play around with other specs. I wonder why they bother with specifications at all  .

   However Win .308 is not the same a 7.63x51 nato. Find the cartridge drawings and compare them.

[pastorp]

Well Brithunter maybe on your little island they are different, but the Hodgdon reloading manual #26 on page 340 it says they are the same. The only difference I'm aware of would be case thickness, so you back off a couple of grains of powder with the military case.The outside dimensions are as close as any cartridge is from run to run or brand to brand.  Regards, Byron

[Brithunter]

I am afraid that Hodgdons is not always right just like Cartridges of The World also has errors in it. Also Winchester does not always make their own cases to the proper specification. This subject has been hashed and re-hashed so many times it's almost like the Kennedy theories. Yes mil-spec brass is ususally heavier I assume to handle being rammed through semi autos however the neck and shoulder ARE different as are the pressures I have alos often wonder why SAAMI altered the spec of some old European cases which had been around a long time before SAAMI came into being.

[pastorp]

Sounds like you better get busy writing a loading manual that will "put it all right again". Regards, Byron

The sun comes early on your side of the pond don't it.

[Brithunter]

Hmmm would not say early but we are ahead of the US time wise. Of course dawn is another matter as we are a long way north  and I don't live in the far north of England. Most folks don't realize just how far north the British Isles really are.

[pastorp]

We get about 6hrs. of daylight on our shortest days. And like your climate many foggy, rainy, windy days when you can't really see the sun but you know by your watch that it is shinning up there somewhere. At least the Japanese currents keep it a little warmer that further north.

Do you call the 308 that or by the bore diameter? Regards, Byron

[NYH1]

Here are a few links.

http://www3.sympatico.ca/shooters/7_62vs308.htm
http://www.surplusrifle.com/shooting2006/308vs762nato/index.asp
http://www.fulton-armory.com/308.htm
http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2007/09/03/308-winchester-vs-762x51-nato/

[demented]

 The same?  Not sure, I do know that there are two different sets of headspace gages, one for .308, one for 7.62X51.  We had long discussions about this when building FAL rifles