Question about mil-surp .308 ammo

[Dirty Tiger]

I am a very new shooter so forgive my goofy question:

About a month ago I bought my first centerfire rifle. I chose a NEF .308 Survivor becuase it gave me the option to shoot military surplus ammunition.

My basic question is this.. Is the accuracy of Military ammo inconsistent?

[MSP Ret]

, Welcome aboard Dirty Tiger. If you are shooting GOOD Military Surplus ammo from the same lot the accuracy should be consistant. It may not be as accurate as some commercial or handloads but it should be consistant. There is also some real crap (a technical term :-D ) out there that will print all over the place. You have to know what you have and where it came from and should know this even before it gets anywhere near you gun anyway...I am sure if you give more specifics of the ammo you are planning to use or are using that some .308 shooters will chime in with their expertise...Good Luck....<><.... :grin:

[Dirty Tiger]

Thanx for the response. The surp .308 I have been shooting comes in a plain brown box marked 7.62 x 52 BALL.  

Does "BALL" refer to the Powder or the Projectile?

I was shooting off sand bags @ milk jugs and hitting about 4 outta 10 per jug.

Every one of those misses could easily be caused by a loose nut behind the buttplate but it is worth noting that I had about 10 "duds" outta 50rds that morning.

[quickdtoo]

Be careful with those duds, they've been known to fire several minutes later....A poster on the Marlin boards posted a thread about a military incident where this exact scenario played out, the GI had some serious damage to his hand when the round went off 10 minutes or so after the FTF happened. :cry:

[marv]

Dirty Tiger, You nask one question , I don't think was answered.
 Ball is refered to the bullet, not powder. I have shot mil Ammo
in a 308 Win, it shot all over the target. The rifle would shoot
 nickel size groups all day. I think you should not use it to hunt with.
 Most States give you a ticket if they catch you with that ammo during big game season. Good ahooting Marv.

[DanielWGriggs]

Military surplus ammo is good for shooting at the range but I have never shot any that was consistant. I also have never shot any that I couldn't it a 1 gal milk jug with.  check to make sure the scope is secure scope rail and  all should not move. Check the end of the barrell with a Q tip at the crown and see if it has a burr. Biggest group I fired about 50 shots was the size of a cd the barrel got hot and cold but this was used for my break in ammo and several cleanings happened during this session.

I believe your rifle will do better than that. Buy some 150 gr and try for groups with some name brand stuff. I've heard the Hornady light magnum stuff is good but I use winchester at 13.58 a box for very good results.

[Stan in SC]

Please note how I worded  the nomenclature of this ammunition.Just a little explanation.7.62X51NATO surplus ammunition and .308WIN commercial ammunition are not the same.The rounds look identicaL and will chamber in the same rifle.The specifications of size are almost identical but there are differences in the overall length,loadings,types of primers used,projectile makeup,pressures generated and shell casing thickness.
The overall length in most cases is greater on a 7.62X51 round.This will create less freebore in a .308WIN barrel.
Loadings of a .308WIN commercial are much more consistent and normally create about 25% mopre pressure than the military round.
Bullets are not as consistent insofar as weight consistently from round to round in military ammunition.
The military rounds use "hard" primers creating sometimes a failure to fire of a perfectly good round in a commercial rifle.In a lot of cases a round which will not fire in a commercial rifle will fire in a military rifle.Do not automatically assume that a round is a dud just because your relatively weak commercial firing spring will not generate enough punch to detonate it.
Brass thickness is much greater in the military round which has an effect on load and performance of the bullet leaving the casing as well as expansion of the round in the chamber creating an effective gas seal.
 Some manufacturers void the warranty of a rifle if military ammunition is fired in it and an advisory of this is included with a new rifle but may not pass down to subsequent owners.H&R includes such a warning with it's rifles which will fire military rounds such as .223 and 7.62X51NATO.
 As a kind of recap,I shoot a lot of military ammunition but I do not expect it to be of the same quality and therefore accuracy as the commercial counterpart.The surplus is cheaper.It is fun to shoot.Just don't expect it to be anything more than plinking or blasting ammunition.
There are several types of surplus I have found that does not perform very well and I stay away from it and there are a couple of good types.
The best I have used are the Portuguese made by FNM , the Australian and American.The Indian really sucks having delayed fire and duds.Any Pakistani is junk just like their .303 ammunition.
Be sure that you rifle warranty does not exclude firing military ammunition and whether or not you wish to heed that.

[Deadeye47]

What stan said... but add Austrian Hertenberger to the list of quality surplus.... :wink:

[Mac11700]

I never had any luck with any of the cheap import 308 military ammunition out of my Survivor...I knew from reading all I could about it...that most Handi's didn't like that paticular type of ammo...so I bought a couple of boxes of Winchester and Remington UMC "ball" type ammo...no luck with those either...both would spread out to around 5" to 8" groups....and on the mils surp ammo...most everyone would stick even after polishing the chamber...and the Winchester "ball" ammo would stick about 8 out of 20...

The best factory ammo mine would shoot...Federal 168 grain Match.....and cheap Walley World Winchester 150 grain power points...both shot to around 1/2" groups at 100 yards...

Mac

[glock29]

Not sure about Colorado, but up here in Michigan it is perfectly LEGAL to use FMJ Ball-type military ammo for hunting. The only ammo I'm aware of in Michigan that is illegal for hunting is tracer or explosive projectile rounds. Otherwise they leave it up to the SPORTSMAN to decide what they INDIVIDUALLY want to hunt with. Would I personally hunt with FMJ Military Ammo ? No, but I don't need no stinkin' lawmakers to make the choice for me either.
I shoot ball-surplus .223 ammo all the time in my Handi & AR-15 & it shoots fine.

[Dirty Tiger]

After much prayer and meditation I have come to the sobering conclusion that I am still flinching every once and awhile, hence the milk jug misses.

It is a poor workman who blames his tools.... but I will definitely rethink my use of Mil-Surp.

[Airsporter]

I agree with MSP Ret, Stan in SC and Deadeye 47.  The quality of 7.62x51 military varies quite a bit. After all, this stuff is manufactured all over the world, often under contract (i.e., low bid).  And, there are differences between it and commercial .308, as pointed out.  But fortunately freebore is not lacking in Handi's.
 
I've had good luck with decent stuff.  Been shooting British (NATO headstamped w/crosshair) 7.62 in both the Handi and a Rem Mod 7 with no problems.  Had some stuff from Argentina that worked pretty well too.  In my experience most "NATO" ammo from U.S. or Western Europe is ok.    
 
The high incidence of "duds" you are experiencing is a problem either with your gun or the ammo.  I'd give up on that stuff for a while.