.308 Ammo Details

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I'm looking for some inexpensive .308 ammo for practice and need a "primer" on buying.

What's the difference between Berdan and Boxer primed? What's CAVIM?
 
I use alot of the Russian surplus .308 and it shoots fine.
Boxer primed ammo is easier if you reload. It is easier to remove the primer from what I understand.

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"what gives a government that arms the whole world the right to disarm it's own citizens?"
 
Boxer primers have a single central "flash hole" under the primer like virtually all U.S. commercial ammo. This means your reloading setup can punch the old primer out with a single centeral pin. Berdan primers have (I think) two non-centered holes. The brass case blocks the center of the primer. I think it makes sort of an "anvil" for the primer to hit against. The problem is, your reloading setup won't be able to knock the old primer out of the case (and may be damaged if you try too hard). I think you can get some sort of a "claw" device that grabs the primer externally and lets you pull it out, but it probably wouldn't be worth the trouble unless you were reloading some rare old cartridge that was only available with Berdan primers.

As far as inexpensive .308 ammo, I use the British Radway Green ammo that I bought at a gunshow for (I think) $60 per 400 rounds in a GI ammo can. Its Berdan. No good for reloading, but has the benefit that I don't feel guilty for leaving/losing brass.

I almost went with Hirtinberger .308 ammo. It has a good reputation, costs slightly more, might be a little older (at least what I looked at was), but is Boxer primed and reloadable.

I'm no expert on .308 ammo and can't comment on the others available. Good luck.

Doug
 
Berdan primed cases are typically impossible to reload. If you want to reload the cases, don't buy berdan primed cases. Usually overseas mil surplus will be berdan primed. U.S. mil surplus will be boxer primed.

What kind of rifle are you shooting with? I've heard the Russian stuff is notorious for being unreliable.

I personally use some British mil surplus (berdan primed) that I bought. I think it is typically $5/20 rounds.

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"Ray guns don't vaporize Zorbonians, Zorbonians vaporize Zorbonians" The Far Side
 
Try www.aimsurplus.com

They have some of the best 7.62 NATO ammo prices I have seen. I bought 3K of their Portugese ammo @$149.00 a case. They also have South African and Austrian Hirtenberger military surplus. The Hirtenburger is boxer primed, the others are berdan. I don't reload, so I bought the Portugese stuff for $20.00 less a case.

Hope this helps.
 
Brent. This is the second time you mentioned a problem with the South African ammo. I'm curious. In what way did your rifle jam? Was it difficult to open the bolt? Hard to pull it back back to eject? Failure to eject? Does this only occur with that ammo? What brand of rifle?
If it is the ammo, I would suspect a bad lot. If that is the case, you should contact the importer and advise him of your problem. He'll probably ask you to send him the ammo for testing and if it is out of specs, will in all likelyhood replace it with suitable ammo. He might not even be aware there is a problem.
Paul B.
 
I may be mistaken, but CAVIM is surplus Portugese stuff. I tried it and it shot well enough in the HK91 I was shooting.
 
The problem that I had with the South African ammo was that I could not pull the bolt back to eject the case. I had to yank the bolt repeatedly until my hands were bloody.

The rifle is made by Savage (I don't recall the model number). I gave the ammo away to someone else, with a strong warning about the problem I encountered.
 
CAVIM is Venezualen. FNM is Portuguese. I read on Cole distributing's page that the CAVIM won't function in a G3 type weapon.
 
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