Where to source 7.62x51 NATO rounds in Brisbane

[ashley_betts70]

Hi All,
I've finally cleaned up my old target rifle after many years of sitting idle and thought I'd take her to range to clear out a few cobwebs. I'd prefer to continue to use the NATO rounds in this rifle but after doing a bit of googling I was unsuccessful in finding a local supplier. Can anyone point me in the direction of a Brisbane supplier of 7.62 NATO rounds?

Regards,

Ashley

[Aster]

I've finally cleaned up my old target rifle after many years of sitting idle and thought I'd take her to range to clear out a few cobwebs.

Welcome back to the club

[Klem]

Must be so frustrating looking for 7.62x51 when .308 win is everywhere and just a thousand of an inch off here or there

[teedo]

Can anyone point me in the direction of a Brisbane supplier of 7.62 NATO rounds?

Hi Ashley,

My mate has also been looking for a supplier in Bris... On and off for a few months with no luck

It's not a round I shoot, but if I recall correctly... Can't you safely fire .308 win in the same?

Could be wrong, you'd know better than me I'm sure.

[Berper]

That's the problem with these exotic cartridges. Can never find them.

A mate of mine shoots .303 British and all he ever does is complain how hard it is to find ammo

[ashley_betts70]

It's not a round I shoot, but if I recall correctly... Can't you safely fire .308 win in the same?

I think they're very similar in outside dimensions but the no-go length is a bit longer on the 7.62 and I think the .308 generally has a higher chamber pressure. .308 ammo would probably be fine in the heavy chambered m44 but as she has only ever had 7.62 run through her I'd sort of like to keep it that way if at all possible. I might change my attitude towards this in a few months if I can't find a supply. I'm unlikely to go back to big-bore in the short term. Membership fees are too high for the limited shoots I can commit to at the moment.

Might be time to buy some dies and reload. I've got some old cases lying around. I'm not exactly sure how to deal with spent primers though. They seem to be burred in with 3 small centre punch type marks around the primer rim.

[Blackened]

They're extremely close as you say. Reading of a reloading cheat-sheet I've got here .308 has they following differences to 7.62x51

COAL 0.05" longer
Neck diameter 0.002" narrower
Rim thickness 0.004" thicker.

So little you'd barely think it's worth mentioning.

.308 has about 2,000 PSI higher maximum pressure limit. Whether or not that's relevant will depending on your load obviously, and the condition of your rifle... How much faith you put in it...

Haven't done this myself so not recommending anything either way, but there you have it. Do your due diligence and do as you see best.

BTW, what rifle are we talking about?

[ashley_betts70]

BTW, what rifle are we talking about?

Sportco M44 by omark with a black mountain barrel.

[Hercl]

Sportco M44 by omark with a black mountain barrel.

Old school.

Love the pattern of the wood they used on the old 1960/70's ones.

Classic.

[pucker]

Love the pattern of the wood they used on the old 1960/70's ones.

Not like the "synthetic wood" pattern crap some do now

[firebird]

BTW, what rifle are we talking about?

Sportco M44 by omark with a black mountain barrel.

hi, I have the same rifle, how did you go finding ammo, or have you started reloading, if so id really like some help in reloading to point me in the right direction.
thanks firebird

[Warrigul]

BTW, what rifle are we talking about?

Sportco M44 by omark with a black mountain barrel.

I can see where you are coming from but the NRAA standard ammo is no longer military supplied and the new standard is 155 grain loads, either handloaded or bought straight from the club. If you don't want to reload the local NRAA club can supply.

The 155 grain projectiles and ar2208 or ar2206h suit the Omarks VERY well.

[1290]

They're extremely close as you say. Reading of a reloading cheat-sheet I've got here .308 has they following differences to 7.62x51

COAL 0.05" longer
Neck diameter 0.002" narrower
Rim thickness 0.004" thicker.

So little you'd barely think it's worth mentioning.

.308 has about 2,000 PSI higher maximum pressure limit. Whether or not that's relevant will depending on your load obviously, and the condition of your rifle... How much faith you put in it...

Haven't done this myself so not recommending anything either way, but there you have it. Do your due diligence and do as you see best.

BTW, what rifle are we talking about?

For all intents and purposes or (i love this) intensive purposes
They are the same...NATO round has 'military' tolerances...apart from the pressure rating I'd only be concerned about mixing the 308win / 7.62x51 with a lower pressure rated 7.62 CETME chambered rifle...

7.62NATO, at least according to the 1962 Frankford cartridge spec compared to the Euro CIP spec was generally only different in tolerance; eg

Case length
308win(CIP) is stated as Max length of 51.18mm,
7.62NATO is 2.015-0.015 (51.18 min 50.80)

Rim diameter
308win(CIP) is stated as Max dia 12.01mm
7.62NATO is 0.473-0.007 (12.01 min 11.84)

Neck diameter
308win(CIP) is stated as Max dia 8.72mm
7.62NATO is 0.3435MAX (8.72mm max) [=M80 spec, but this is obviously common]
Note for the neck dimension above, the loaded round has no tolerance to the dimension, hoever the CASE spec composed of internal dimension with tolerance and neck thickness with tolerance works out to a minimum of 8.45mm max of 8.68mm.....

So although the military has stated tolerances, CIP generally has generally cartridge maximum dimension with the corresponding chamber minimum.

Note the CIP minimum chamber neck dimension is 8.74mm, As far as I can tell there is no 7.62 NATO minimum chamber specification, this appears up to the manufacturers?? As various sources (all except US Mil spec) state 0.3442 when the CIP minimum is 8.74mm = 0.3441inch

So to summarise,
308win and 7.62NATO cartridges are dimensionally one and the same
7.62NATO specifies a tolerance in more dimensions than the 308win
308win generally have max dimensions(no minimum! with exceptions)
7.62 have max and min dimensions
Cartridge dimensions can be confused with chamber dimension
308win and 7.62 chamber are commonly specified at slightly greater than the 308win minimum CHAMBER.

Therefore interchangeable dimensionally, now the pressure characteristics, case thickness, propellant charge are another discussion.

[valkyrie]

From memory if your rifle is chambered for .308 you can shoot the 7.62 out of it no problem but as has been stated you have to be careful the other way around because of the pressure difference

[Baronvonrort]

You can use 308w in a 7.62

[Warrigul]

You can use 308w in a 7.62

Yes it will fit, it isn't automatically safe, especially with some of the older military rifles..

[Pom]

For all intents and purposes or (i love this) intensive purposes

Heeeeey! Someone got it right for a change

[bluerob]

I've resurrected an Interarm, Mk X, Black Mountain Barrel in 7.62 NATO that I used at Malabar in the 80's shooting big bore. Had to use milsurp in 20 round boxes.

Had absolutely no issue using factory .308 SP's and accuracy was fine when I took it to remove cobwebs. Recoil was a bit of a surprise after 30 years....

Getting it fitted into a decent stock (GRS F-Class), get it mated to a decent scope and I'm off to play in F-Class.

As I'm not chasing trophies or any worshippers, I'll be happy if I hit the centre bull at 500m.

I can't believe we shot these every Saturday at a 1000m using peep sights and they were damned accurate.

Can't wait to start.

[rummer]

Sounds like a good time