.308 or 7.62?

[supergoat343]

I recently bought a spanish mauser at a gun show in early july, and Im not certain on what to feed it. the barrel says .308 WIN, however, the reciever is also stamped 7.62. I realize that they are the same calibre, but which case length. I bought some PMC .308 surplus and it fed nicely. If you have any comments, please post.

 

[Uncle Mike]

Those converted Spanish mausers will digest both with no problem, but as always use at your own risk... I have to say that.
Just be careful with the mil-surp.

 

[NCsmitty]

It depends on what Spanish Mauser that we are talking about.

Here's an interesting site with a lot of information.

http://www.surplusrifle.com/shooting/spanishinquisition/index.asp


NCsmitty

 

[ESBragg]

For most practical purposes .308 Win and 7.62 NATO are the same.

I think one of them specifies slightly larger chamber dimensions, but I can't remember if it's 7.62 to accomodate grit and muck, or .308 to accomodate cheap ammo with lousy quality control on the brass size. You can look up the specifications to see the differences if you like.

As long as the cartriges feed and extract ok either should be fine.

I should note that I was only talking about the feeding really, the max pressure differences could be a safety issue, so like the guys above said it would be a good idea to get it checked out and to shoot fairly mild loads.

 

[jimmyraythomason]

Some of the Spanish (1916) Mausers were chambered in 7.62 Cetme which is not 7.62 Nato or .308 Win. A Spanish Mauser is good condition should shoot them all safely though.

 

[NCsmitty]

Just remember that the 7.62 NATO is rated at 50,000PSI while the 308 Win is SAAMI max at 62,000PSI.
I'd think twice before constantly pounding 308 Win through a FR7 or '93 Spanish Mauser chambered in 7.62 NATO.

The FR8 and '43 Spanish Mauser were M98 actions and should tolerate the 308 Win ammo.


NCsmitty

 

[numaone]

Remember, the 7.62 NATO round is 51 mm long (7.62X51 NATO). I've heard a couple people try the 7.62X54 with poor results . Don't be one of them.

 

[USSR]

Just remember that the 7.62 NATO is rated at 50,000PSI while the 308 Win is SAAMI max at 62,000PSI.

NCsmitty,

The two pressure spec's are not directly comparable, it's an apple and oranges thing. The .308 Win's spec's are PSI obtained using a piezoelectric sensor by SAAMI, while the 7.62x51's pressure spec's where obtained by the U.S. government using a copper crusher method and then calling it PSI (Hey, they're the gov't, they can call it whatever they want). If you were to take pressure measurements of both cartridges using the same method, you would only find a couple thousand's difference between the two, and you can find that much difference between different boxes of ammo.

Don

 

[Uncle Mike]

+1 ussr

:d

 

[FlyinBryan]

Remember, the 7.62 NATO round is 51 mm long (7.62X51 NATO). I've heard a couple people try the 7.62X54 with poor results . Don't be one of them.

there would be no danger in trying 7.62x54 in a rifle chambered in 308 unless they tried to pound the bolt into battery with a hammer of something. case and rim are much bigger than the 308.

 

[supergoat343]

Thanks for all of the input. I'm reloading reduced pressure loads for her pushing a 175grn with 38 grains of Hogdon 4895. Shoots like a dream!