Whether the host (or the writers) meant to indicate the round, or rather the nominal bullet diameter, it's wrong. And it's not a simple technicality regarding tiny fractions of inches, since to claim that the standard round fired by the AK was the ".311" would be equally misleading.
The real issue is that the term ".308", at least when written or spoken aloud without any further clarification, has pretty much one meaning to anyone even casually familiar with rifles - it's shorthand for the caliber known as .308 Winchester and its NATO-spec sibling 7.62x51, which as I understand it has somewhat different chamber dimensions and pressure, etc.
It's a fairly gross error for a show with a technical theme. How seriously would you take a documentary on the weapons of the Wehrmacht that claimed that the Walther P38 was chambered in .357? Which is actually closer to the truth, by one thousandth of an inch, if one is referring to cartridges strictly by counting out to the third decimal place.
The real issue is that the term ".308", at least when written or spoken aloud without any further clarification, has pretty much one meaning to anyone even casually familiar with rifles - it's shorthand for the caliber known as .308 Winchester and its NATO-spec sibling 7.62x51, which as I understand it has somewhat different chamber dimensions and pressure, etc.
It's a fairly gross error for a show with a technical theme. How seriously would you take a documentary on the weapons of the Wehrmacht that claimed that the Walther P38 was chambered in .357? Which is actually closer to the truth, by one thousandth of an inch, if one is referring to cartridges strictly by counting out to the third decimal place.
