308 / NATO chambers

[WayneS]

 On the 223's there are 3 chamberings , the 223, the 5.56 NATO and the hybird WYLDE chamber. Does anyone know if the 308's offered by Armalite, RRA, DPMS,ect. use a "loose" NATO chambering or a tighter standard 308 ??

[SharonAnne]

I do not know. Ask them, they will tell you. And there are a lot more than 3 chamberings for the .223/5.56. The 3 are just the most well known.

[simplicity]

I will say my DPMS LR308 has a very tight chamber and I had problems when I first got it as far as FTF and FTE. I polished the chamber and haven't had a problem since except with normal natao style ammo I got 500 rounds of winchester white box 7.62 and have had two jams one accually in the middle of a competition. I got looking into it and was reading alot of articles wear remington R25's the gas ports were considered to small. Knowing ammo 308 and 7.62 nato is kinda a opposite of 5.56/223 where the 5.56 is loaded hotter then the 223 (and is slightly different) 308 win is on the norm loaded to hotter pressures then standard 7.62 nato.  My rifle runs much better with the hotter loads as far as reliability. Hope that helps.

[SharonAnne]

one thing on ammunition and the 7.62 chamber: never ever use round nose hunting ammo in one. The 7.62 chamber/throat is chambered for spitzer bullets. The round nose bullet actually engages the rifling in a 7.62 NATO when the round is chambered. I saw a Springfield M1A destroyed when being fired with Remington 150gr round nose soft point bullets. With the bullet engaged in the rifling, after a few rounds the rifle could no longer tolerate the extremely high pressure and it broke. The front half of the cartridge case was still in the chamber. The receiver was cracked where the bolt struck it in massive recoil. The bolt was jammed back into the receiver. It could not be pried forward at the range. There was visible damage to the bolt face. IIRC the recoil rod was bent. Oh, and the shooter had a broken/bloody nose and a swollen right thumb.

I doubt that Springfield repaired it. The rifle. The nose was the shooters problem.

[simplicity]

My DPMS is stamped 308win (no 7.62 designation) I have run round nose bullets through it with no problems and they don't endgage the rifling. M1A's do have a loose nato chamber on them and the operating rod to me is the real weakness of the gun.runs great with nato pressures but alot of standard of hot 308's will damage the operating rod due to it not being straight. The M1A was my white whale of rifles growing up and I bought a loaded one and I couldn't have been more dissappointed with a rifle.  I was lucky if it held a 4 inch group at 100 yards. I got on a few forums and every told me the factory barrels were junk and it needed a new barrel sorry just paint $1700 for a rifle and it needs a new barrel I talked to springfeild and since it wasn't a national match or higher the only thing they asked was if the rifle cycled fine and thats all they would do is make sure it cycles fine. Long story short I won't deal with springfeild ever again and I tell everyone my story.

[SharonAnne]

simplicity, again you show the difference between barrels marked 308 Win and 7.62 Nato. 308W barrels are made to shoot all sporting ammunition which of course includes round nose bullets.

[simplicity]

I would say my argument is more with the gas systems of the rifles rather then the chambers. Like cetme or g3 rifles have a gas ejection system where you run a high chance of ruining the gun if you shoot sporting 308 win due to the Nato ammo haveing a thicker case wall. With the gas ejection system using thin walled cases the chances are high of cutting the case in half and leaving the front half on the chamber then firing the gun again. It's more like comparing a AK47 design  to a PSG. ak's loose and reliable (whole gun) vs a tight fit psg extrememly accurate but not so reliable with all ammo. I know that is a odd analogy but gun design rather then chambers.