This military bullet is less powerful than its civilian variant
By
Miguel Ortiz
Aug 22, 2023
3 minute read
military bullets
U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Michael Holzworth/Released.
Although modern 7.62mm NATO firearms are engineered to handle the .308 Winchester, make sure that the manufacturer rates it for the round.
After World War II, the firearms industry began to embrace the intermediate cartridge. Less powerful than full-size rifle cartridges like the .30-06 Springfield used in the M1 Garand, but more powerful than pistol cartridges like the .45 ACP used in the M1911, a weapon chambered in an intermediate caliber allowed soldiers to carry more ammunition and achieve fire superiority at close range. While the Soviets adopted a true intermediate cartridge with the 7.62x39mm in the AK-series of rifles, the U.S. forced NATO to adopt a faux intermediate cartridge: 7.62x51mm NATO. Interestingly, the civilian variant of this round is actually more powerful.
The M14 was basically a magazine-fed M1 Garand (U.S. Navy)
World War I saw the beginnings of the transition from bolt-action to semi-automatic rifles. As militaries around the world explored the viability of the new action, a logistical question arose: can we use the same ammo? After all, nations amassed huge stockpiles of their rifle ammo, which was often used in their machine guns as well, during the war. Although the U.S. Army was interested in adopting the semi-automatic Pedersen rifle and its .276 Pedersen cartridge, existing quantities of .30-06 from WWI led to the adoption of the M1 Garand and its re-chambering to the legacy cartridge.
In the 1940s, the U.S. resumed its attempt to replace the .30-06 with the T65 series of experimental cartridges. Based on the .300 Savage cartridge, the T65s were ballistically very similar to .30-06 and only slightly shorter. In contrast, the British designed a true intermediate cartridge capable of controllable automatic fire called .280 British. However, unwilling to sacrifice long-range performance, the U.S. insisted that NATO adopt the T65E5 cartridge, which was later standardized as 7.62x51mm NATO.
https://www.wearethemighty.com/tactical/308-winchester-military-bullet-is-less-powerful-than-its-civilian-variant/
