Bought a bunch of bullets, buyers remorse...

[bobotech]

I saw a box of bullets on a table, about 500 of them. They were 308 caliber 165 grain FMJ bullets with a cannelure. Turns out that they are steel core and that they are actually .309-.310 caliber closer to .309 than .310 in the bunch I measured.

I am thinking that these were bullets pulled from 7.62x54r or some other combloc ammo. They are nice bullets though and I would like to use them. I was thinking on using them for my K31 or my Saiga 308. Are bullets that are .309-.310 in diameter generally safe for true 308 bore rifles?

 

[R.W.Dale]

Are bullets that are .309-.310 in diameter generally safe for true 308 bore rifles?

In my opinion yes provided they're not seated to the lands and your loads aren't full throttle redline. Maybe not so much for the K31, as I understand 7.5mm works out closer to .307 to .3075

I shoot .310" in my .308" bored rifle all the time

 

[bobotech]

LOL. I bought them more for my K31 than my Saiga or FAL. The K31 loves bigger bullets.

 

[R.W.Dale]

LOL. I bought them more for my K31 than my Saiga or FAL. The K31 loves bigger bullets.

adjust the load accordingly and you'll be fine, especially if your K31 is on the worn side. But don't expect anything resembling good accuracy, not necessarily because of the bullet mismatch. But more because of the notorious inaccuracy of pulled military component bullets.

 

[bobotech]

Just how inaccurate are pulled bullets compared to new bullets?

 

[Ben Shepherd]

Well, the last time I ran some "pulled, no marks" 308 slugs in an '06 over a dose of 4350, and couldn't break under 4 "@100. Same powder charge and slug weight in brass from the same lot with new commercial slugs hovers right at 1".

That's what they usually do. So I consider them for what they are(were:banghead: before all the craziness) a source of cheap plinking bullets.

 

[R.W.Dale]

It's not just pulled per sae. You can buy new 147 or 55 grn FMJBT bullets and still get shotgun like patterns

 

[bobotech]

Well I bought these because they were cheap and I wanted some plinking bullets. They were 40 dollars for a little over 400.

 

[Ben Shepherd]

Well there ya go. Cheap 100 yard rock busters. What's not to like?

 

[bobotech]

Exactly. I have 650 Nosler 168 grain HPBT that I'm saving for a very special occasion. I don't want to use those as rock busters.

 

[KenWP]

I have used cast bullets sized 311 for many years so 309 would probbablt fit pretty good. They would make good varmit rounds when the critters are hiding behind dirt piles.

 

[USSR]

I shoot the .3092" Lapua D46 bullets in my .308 Win. FN SPR all the time.

Don

 

[ArchAngelCD]

Make up a few rounds with a "starting" charge of your favorite powder and see what they will do. If that goes well start working up to your normal charge. If they are .309" I highly doubt they will be a problem. 1/100th of an inch is one thing, if it were 1/10th of an inch it would be totally different. I doubt they were pulled from 7.62X54R ammo because those bullets are usually .311" in diameter.