Military Surplus in Bolt action rifles

[45R]

Does anyone shoot Military Surplus .308 in there bolt action rifles. Mainly the Remington 700P or CZ rifles are what I am interested in.

I have shot some Mil-Sur in a friends Savage. It wasnt very nice to the bolt.

TIA

45R

 

[cheygriz]

I've used milsurp in ALL of my guns for 50 years. It hasn't hurt one of them yet.

Most military guns were bolt action until after WWll. There are always snobs who say they wouldn't shoot surplus in their "wonderful Weatherby" or "sensational Sako," but that's not to protect the rifle, it's just snobbery.

 

[rugerfreak]

Ran some Cavim through my Browning A-Bolt-------after the first shot the bolt was VERY hard to open----thought it was a fluke------tried one more-------same thing happened.

Two shots was enough for me to say never again---not snobbery----just not subjecting my nice rifle to that surplus garbage again.

 

[makdaddy03]

I do.

 

[Nightcrawler]

Cavim is not really surplus, I don't think. It's cheap stuff made in South America. In any case I've heard nothing but bad things about it.

NATO stock stuff, .308, is good quality, especially Portugese stuff. South African is good, too.

 

[dude]

I had the same problem with Cavim.....but it was with a cherry FR-8 (one of the old & $$$ ones)

I did shoot lots of South African and Portugese NATO .308 through my Savage 10T and an M1A with no trouble at all.

I only shoot the Portugese NATO stuff through my Garand with commerical .308 barrel as I had it 'tuned' to the stuff

 

[goon]

Cavim is icky stuff. My brother had the same problem with his Ishy. Try the Potrugese stuff. You can find it for about $140 for 1000 rounds, and it is good clean ammo.

 

[cheygriz]

Rugerfreak,

Cavim is definitely NOIT milsurp! And I totally agree with you that it's junk!

I've fired several thousand rounds of WWll German 8X57 milsurp (corrossive as all hell) through a fine commercial pre-war Mauser sporter. I cleaned it properly, and the bore is still mint.

 

[goon]

Just put some Port. surplus through my brand new Rem 700 today. It approximates my handloads as far as hitting at the same POA, and it is accurate, clean stuff. I have 1K on the way if those jerks at the Ammunitionstore.com can actually get it sent this time...

 

[El Tejon]

It depends on what it is.

A few years ago there was a bunch of water damaged FRG .308 that I would not touch. However, of the current market, I highly recommend the stuff from Suid Afrika.

 

[dude]

I just recieved a case of Port from AIM minutes ago..........flawless UPS delievery for $139.00 + $15 S&H. Yesterday the 1/2rack of S&B 9mm that was on the same order showed up and was included in the $15 S&H.

It was my first order from AIM since my local supplier has changed warehouse locations to out of state and I am quite happy with their service.


FWIW-- the South African stuff is not 'hot' enough to cycle in my Garand. Shoots great in all of my frined's FALs & Cetmes though. I'm happily buring the remainder of my SA stash in a .308 Mauser!

 

[Byron Quick]

Gee, my M1A and my HK91 have had no problem with the CAVIM garbage.

 

[dude]

While 'garbage' may be a bit strong of a word, any make of ammo that is hard to extract from a bolt action that has no trouble with other ammo is a bad sign.




No worries as my Cetme ate it without any trouble and asked for more!!

..........as an HK 91 is a Cetme clone it should have no problems either. They however are ALOT different than a bolt action rifle. Along with the folks who have spoken up here, lots of folks I've spoken personally with have had trouble ejecting Cavim from their bolt action rifles and we chose to no longer use it.

If I still had a Cetme I would happily shoot Cavim through it!! I will not however run it through my NATO 7.62X51 Styer Mauser, nor would I feed it to something as nice (or $$$) as an M1A or HK91!


FWIW- my first evil so-called assault rifle way back in 1982 or so was a H&K93 that had a serious dislike for IMI 5.56. After not too long the roller-bolt broke and came out in pieces after firing it. H&K fixed it the first time* but warned against using anything but NATO 5.56. My point is that just because the Cetme/G3 design is robust and the ever popular these days- 'tactical'........ they may brake under what some would consider abuse of shooting certian types of ammo with a bad reputation.








*long story......a youth=stupidity/moron sort of thing (I shot somemore IMI)

 

[Dave R]

I shoot a bit of it through my Rem 700 from time to time. I find it not quite as accurate as commercial loads, but that's prolly my rifle. Its seems to like heavier bullets better.

I like the FNM (Portugese) in my CETME.

 

[DAL]

Hirtenberger works well in my Ishapore Enfield .308. I don't have a commercial .308 rifle (I don't need one, I have a Winchester chambered in the greatest jack-of-all-trades caliber, the .30-06) so I am stuck with using my Ishy (a d*** fine surplus rifle, if I do say so myself). I've gotten 2 MOA with this rifle/ammo combo.
DAL

 

[Sir Galahad]

I shoot South African .308 milsurp in my Ruger M77Mk2 International. It works splendidly! I love it! It is pretty darn accurate. Just screwing around with a towel-over-jeep-hood-rest, it placed 3 rounds you could lay a penny over and cover at 80 yards.

The South African is pure all-copper jacket, by the way, if anyone was wondering. I tested it with a rare earth magnet that detects even small amounts of steel and it didn't so much as wiggle. In the 140 round sealed battlepack, it's a helluva deal. And it shoots just as good the name-brand FMJs. The only caveat with milsurp is to be sure you clean as if the ammo is corrosive because it probably is. Nothing to be afraid of, just use the proper cleaners. The bore of my Ruger is still shiny, sharp, and like new and I've fired lots of South African through it. Milsurp is one of the benefits of owning a .308 bolt.

 

[cheygriz]

Byron,

You are fortunate, my friend! My limited experience with Cavim has not been as pleasant as yours. My HK-91 didn't like it, nor did my Bolt guns.

But if it works for you, that's great!