will a cetme shoot 308 ammo?

[roland3]

or will I have to find military surplus. could somebody explain the difference please.

[rustypirate]

Commercial 308 ammo is only very slightly dimensionally different from NATO 7.62X51 milspec ammo, and both will fire form the CETME.

The issue with commercial 308 is in the brass casings. In commercial ammo, they make the casings out of thinner brass than the NATO spec surplus stuff.

Because the brass is thinner, it does not stand up well to the stresses of extraction in a semi-auto firearm, and case seperations occur. In the CETME, with it's fluted chamber, the pressure from teh discharge tries to form the soft brass into the flutes of the chamber. this eventually makes the brass bind to the chamber walls and the rear of the cartridge gets ripped off leaving part of the cartridge stuck in the chamber.

NATO brass is thicker especially near the base of the cartridge and does not sugger from this problem.

[97th Signalman]

or will I have to find military surplus. could somebody explain the difference please.

The essence of the issue is well stated above regarding the brass thickness and the extraction issues with a CETME with the fluted chambers. There is one other concern and that related to pressure. The civilian .308 ammo loaded to SAMMI specs operates at higher pressures than the Military or NATO 7.62 x 51 ammo. This contributes to the swelling of the case into the flutes and the vilence of teh extraction.

For a good comparison visit:

http://www.surplusrifle.com/shooting2006/308vs762nato3/index.asp

http://www.surplusrifle.com/shooting2006/update308vs762nato/index.asp

[mistersquiggles]

i use my CETME a lot, and shoot commercial brass all the time, but i DO NOT even begin to suggest that others do so.... i'm just cheap is all... I am well aware of the dangers, and have suffered several case head seperations.... i know it can cause a kaboom if the rifle isnt up to spec, and i check her over after every hundred rounds to make sure she's in spec, and i clean her after every shoot....... the thinner brass can split, and itll cause a great many problems if youre not careful shooting it....... when i have the money i buy surplus, but we all know how things are going with trying to find that, and it doesnt look to get any easier to find........ I've found white box winchester with the NATO cross on the cartriges and try to buy all i can get my hands on..... (and i save the brass too). bottom line is that if you shoot commercial brass, eventually, youre gonna have some problems, so be prepared for em, and shoot it at your OWN RISK....... no one to blame but yourself if you have problems..... its a rifle made for NATO, not commercial, ammunition.

[okie shooter]

If you try to shoot the stuff, Get a broken case extractor for sure, even if you dont shoot the stuff I would recomend a broken case extractor to advoid a bad day at the range ending early.

[mistersquiggles]

hey 97th... i just clicked those links you posted in this thread...... Good find! now i have 2 sources of commercially available rounds..... that's a helluva report they got over there..... Thanks for posting it!!

[nalioth]

Where to find the cheapest 7.62x51 (if any of it is "cheap" nowadays :()

http://rifle-company.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=431

Y'all might want to bookmark the above link, as the content is updated regularly.