Firearms Stack Exchange Archive

Difference between 7.62x51 and .308

posted by: mace on 2012-03-01
tagged: ammunition, rifle, .308, 7.62x51
score: 3

What exactly is different between these rounds? Can they be fired from the same rifles? A lot of places seem to treat them as interchangeable but I assume they have different names for a reason.

Answer 1116

posted by: Gene Temple on 2012-03-01
score: 5

The military adopted the .308 (nominally) as a replacement for the .30-06, but produced their own specification (7.62x51). So the two rounds are very similar, and it's possible to load ammunition that meets both specs, as they overlap (this is pretty commonly done). A bit more info here.

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