.311 bullets in a .308

[eroyd]

Just wondering? Bought some 125gr Rem. bullets that were advertised as 308 but when I got them home noticed 7.62x39 (like in the old soviet catridge) stamped on the bag. I measured them and sure enough they are .311 diameter. I was hoping to make a light plinker load. Can these be used in my .308 win.?

[Robert]

I think it would be OK with light loads.....another example is the 8mm Mauser....originally chambered in .318 and was changed to .323.  Most of the American ammo is loaded  with .323 bullets, but with reduced loads that are deemed safe just in case it is accidentally used in a .318 bore. That is a .005 difference in diameter, and .308 to .311 is only .003.  Are you sure they are .311?  I have a bunch of Hornady's for SKS and they are all marked .310.
  GET A FEW MORE OPINIONS HERE FIRST!  I am certainly not an expert.

[Graycg]

I often shoot .311 and .310 bullets in my .308 bored Contender 32-20 barrel.  They shoot just fine and the only thing I've noticed is that even at the lower 32-20 velocities, they copper foul the barrels more like a higher velocity round does.  Ruger also uses .308 bores for 7.62X39 rounds in the mini-30 if I'm not mistaken.

regards,
 
Graycg

[IronMonkey]

My gunsmith, Jim Henry, told me that I could use those bullets in a 30 herrett that I used to have.  The throat was way oversize at .310 and the bore .308.  Stupid TC reamers.  He didn't advise loading down, just shoot.  As long as the jackets are relatively soft it shouldn't be a problem.  They might not fit well in the throat and the neck might end up too thick.  Dan

[Mikey]

eroyd:  you can use them but you may not get the accuracy you want or expect.  In addition, you will get a lot of copper fouling in your barrel that will adversely affect your accuracy, and then you're gonna have to spend some serious time getting that fouling out.  HTH.  Mikey.

[Questor]

I would not use them unless I had a way of swaging them down without ruining them.

[jamie]

Truth is, after you consider the possibility of less accuracy the extra cleaning you will have to do and the fact that no matter what people here say you will still be nervous when you shoot them, it is just not worth it.  Hang on to them until the next gun show and trade them in on the right ones.

[John Traveler]

Gentlemen,

As a former rifle competition shooter, let's just simplify the details to ONE statement:  DON'T SHOOT OVERSIZED BULLETS IN A STANDARD .308" barrel!!

The oversized bullets (.310, .311", etc), may not give you any immediate bad results, but in the long-term, they will ruin your .308" barrel for accurate shooting using .308" bullets.  

This has been well-proven many times.

Match shooters used to use slightly over-sized (.309" diameter) bullets to extend the useful accuracy life of barrels that had a lot of round through them.  Guess what?  After firing a few dozen of the oversized bullets, going back to standard .308" bullets proved disastrous!  All match accuracy completely GONE!

So, if you treasure that good barrel, do yourself a favor and DON'T shoot oversized bullets through it.

John

[eroyd]

Thanks for the replies. Sounds like they'd work but it's not worth the extra amount of copper fouling removal and definately not worth risking damaging a good rifles accuracy. I'll try to dig up a .308 bullet sizing die, I have a .309 which those bullets go through easily.

[Rick Teal]

If you're in Canada, maybe we can make a deal.

[MrYeats]

find yourself an old 7.65 Argentine Mauser and load some with your 311s.
 Its not a powerhouse, but an interesting weapon.