Using .310 bullets in .308?

[K3Gixxer]

Needed some bullets for my .308 Saiga, so I asked my reloading store owner what he had in bulk. He's a little shy on everything 30cal but has a box of 123gr hornady. We look for a recipe using H335 and 47grains is suggested. Great, I head home and notice the bullets are 7.62 (.310) not .308. I call and tell him we must have grabbed the wrong box. No, he says .310 bullet in a .308 is fine and is pretty common.

I did some searches and couldn't find any info on this matter.

Is this safe? Wouldn't the .310 bullet cause excessive pressure?

I don't have an expander die for my .308 so even if it's okay to shoot, the bullets are going to get jacked going into the cases.

[Dutch Henry]

Those 123 grain Hornady bullets are made to load 7.62 x 39 Russian ammo, which is pretty close to .310 diameter; not .308 Winchester or 7.62 x 51 NATO.

Loading oversize bullets in undersized barrels is never a good idea. The bullets, at best will deliver sub par accuracy and pressue could be an issue with moderate to heavy loads.

It might be a good idea to hold off on using those bullets and loading .308's instead.

[lpspinner]

I would not use those bullets in a .308 barrel. Since it's a Saiga, you may want to slug the barrel and make sure it's .308.

[buffybuster]

Needed some bullets for my .308 Saiga, so I asked my reloading store owner what he had in bulk. He's a little shy on everything 30cal but has a box of 123gr hornady. We look for a recipe using H335 and 47grains is suggested. Great, I head home and notice the bullets are 7.62 (.310) not .308. I call and tell him we must have grabbed the wrong box. No, he says .310 bullet in a .308 is fine and is pretty common.

I did some searches and couldn't find any info on this matter.

Is this safe? Wouldn't the .310 bullet cause excessive pressure?

I don't have an expander die for my .308 so even if it's okay to shoot, the bullets are going to get jacked going into the cases.

Your .308Win Saiga almost certainly has a long throat (to fire .308Win and 7.62x51Nato safely). Shooting .310" (jacketed lead core) bullets with a mild or moderate powder charge will be in all likelihood safe (early Ruger Mini-30's did this without incident), but accuracy might be less than expected. Then again, these are not "match" bullets in the first place, so you might not notice. The long throat will swage down the .310" bullet to fit, just don't go loading to the ragged edge.

[Cowboy T]

You'll be fine if the bore's 0.308". The pressure required to swage those bullets down from 0.310" to 0.308" is only a couple hundred PSI or so. In a .308 Win, where pressures are around 60,000+ PSI, that's inconsequential unless you're already right at max.

[K3Gixxer]

Gentlemen, thank you for your responses I appreciate it. I think using .310 bullets in my case is not a good idea. I would slug the barrel if I had a decent micrometer and that would give me the confidence to load these bullets. However, these bullets are getting returned or sold to a 7.62x39 reloader. I have a Saiga in 7.62x39 but the ammo is too cheap to reload.

[bcrich]

Where are you at? I'll trade you for 147g 308 bullets and you'll sleep better!!

[K3Gixxer]

Where are you at? I'll trade you for 147g 308 bullets and you'll sleep better!!

San Diego

[NoNOS67]

Where do you get your reloading supplies down here? Always looking for new places.