Can I shoot .308 out of a SA M1?
 

My father-in-law was just given, that's right given a Springfield Armory M1 (M14) by his county sherrif. I guess that they got a bunch for some reason or another and can't use them, so he said he'd take one.

Anyway, he asked me if you could shoot .308 Winchester out of it, even though it's chambered for the 7.62x51 NATO round. I said I'd find out. Everything I've found on the internet talks about headspace and such, but I have no idea what all that means.

Thanks.

RE: Can I shoot .308 out of a SA M1?
 

Yes, you can shoot .308 winchester from any rifle chambered for 7.62 x 51 Nato, because the caliber is the same.

.308 winchester is the commercial name for the round known to the nato military as 7.62 x51 Nato.

Only thing is some hunting style bullets/ loads might not feed or cycle as well as FMJ full power Military ammunition, just try and find out what the rifle likes best.


Good luck and have fun,

Vesi

RE: Can I shoot .308 out of a SA M1?
 

I feel that I must interject a couple of things. No offense, Vesi... you are substantially correct. However, the .308 and 7.62 x 51 NATO rounds are not, in fact, identical. There ARE very slight differences. Military rifle chambers are, in almost all cases, somewhat "looser" (machined to a bit looser dimensions) than those found on civilian weapons (which were designed expressly for .308 Win.). In some cases, this will cause headspace issues, when commercial ammo (.308) is used in military rifles. The looser dimensions are for the purpose of ensuring reliable feeding and extraction during periods of rapid (or full automatic) fire - at the expense of ultimate accuracy. This MAY not apply in the case of this particular rifle - IF it is a commercial version (which it very likely is) - it may be chambered for .308 anyway. There is another possibility. Generally, military brass cases (7.62 NATO) have a bit greater wall thickness than commercial brass. So, IF the rifle in question has a "military" chamber..... and/ or doesn't headspace quite right with .308... it is a bit more likely that a cartridge case rupture could occur. M1A rifles HAVE "blown up" as a result. This is not a likely occurance (it is rare) - but I think it not a good idea to take chances.
The solution(s) for these issues are not too difficult. First, check the barrel stampings. If the barrel reads ".308 Win." ... then you are probably fine (the rifle probably has a barrel machined to commercial tolerances). This is likely the case. If the barrel is NOT stamped ".308 Win.".... or if it is stamped 7.62 x 51... then, I would HIGHLY recommend that you take the weapon to a good gunsmith, to have the headspace and chamber issues checked. If there are any questions beyond this, I would recommend contacting Springfield Armory (give them the serial number) - and ASK.
I'm sure that they would be glad to assist you.
The general rule-of-thumb for this issue is: if the rifle is a COMMERCIAL (sporting) rifle type (for example, I have two Remington 700's in .308).... then it is generally fine to shoot 7.62 x 51.
I shoot 7.62 NATO all the time... with NO problems whatsoever.
If the rifle is a MILITARY type, then it is best to stay with MILITARY ammo (unless one performs the above-mentioned checks - and determines that there are no problems).
Finally, it is often true that commercial ammo is loaded to higher pressures than military fodder (again, for reasons of reliability under hard use). IF the rifle in question DOES exhibit the problems mentioned above - this fact only makes catastrophic failure more likely.
Better safe than sorry, I think. Best of Luck with this.

RE: Can I shoot .308 out of a SA M1?
 

The chamber specs for 7.62 is a little looser than for .308, however its not going to be a headspace problem- the minimum headspace specs for 7.62 is a little more than .308, but well within the maximum SAAMI specs for .308.

The problems come when reloading. As mentioned before, some 7.62 brass is thicker than some commercial .308 brass, but this shouldn't make much difference if you size the cartridges correctly. M1/M1A/M14's beat the hell out of brass so you shouldn't use brass for more than 4 loadings anyhow. The casehead failures come when a reloader screws his sizing die all the way down to the shell holder, or worse, does the same using a small base die. The chambers on these rifles are big enough where a small base die should not be used. All that is needed is to set the shoulder of the case back far enough so that it will chamber with finger pressure with a stripped bolt. Any more sizing will weaken the brass and could lead to casehead failure because the shoulder is continually set back and the web of the casehead stretches and thins with each firing. The other extreme is not setting the shoulder back far enough causing the rifle to fire out of battery.


>308 ammo will work just fine in a 7.62 chamber and won't cause you any problems, provided that if you reload this brass you know exactly what you are doing.

RE: Can I shoot .308 out of a SA M1?
 

Despite all the detailed info given above, IF you shoot U.S. factory-loaded .308 Winchester ammo in it, you will have no problems. From your description, I am assuming what you have is the commercially-made Springfield M1A, and not a government-issue M14...... either way, mox-nix!!