European vs.U.S. .308 Ammo

fmjcafe

New member
I recently reported extraction problems with Portugese milsurp .308 in my Navy Arms Enfield Jungle Carbine.I was having to tap on the bolt handle with a plastic mallet to extract fired rounds.I tried some Winchester 150 gr.soft points and had no problems.

I took the rifle to my gunsmith to have the black paint it was finished with replaced with an oxide finish and asked him to have a look at the chamber while he was in posession of the rifle.It really looks sweet with the new finish,by the way.Anyhow,he told me there was some of the black paint present in the chamber and that he had cleaned it out and polished it.

So now I`m thinking,maybe the paint in the chamber was a contributing factor with the extraction problem and that the Portugese ammo might have been ok.I had returned the ammo to the person I got it from believing it to be the cause of my problems since the U.S. mfg.ammo functioned fine.This was before I knew about the paint in the chamber.I bought 1 box of Sellier and Belliot 150 gr.fmj`s thinking it was of better quality then the Portguese to test when my rifle was returned to me.I also bought a few boxes of UMC 150 gr.fmj`s at a show yesterday.

Well,I picked up my rifle last night and went to the range this morning.First up was the S&B.The first round I fired stuck in the chamber just like the Portugese stuff had done.I was not a happy camper as I believed the cleaning and polishing of the chamber would solve the extraction problem.Next I loaded a few rounds of the UMC.I fired a round and holding my breath cycled the bolt.The round popped right out.Wheeeeewwwww.

Now I`m wondering,is there a dimensional difference btwn.Euro.ammo and U.S.?I`ve used S&B .223 in my AR-15 with no problems.My gunsmith say`s that the Euro ammo uses thicker brass and that it doesn`t spring back after firing like the U.S.mfg.ammo does.What do y`all think?
 
Is this 7.62x51mm versus .308 Winchester? There is a slight difference in the cases between the two. The Portugese is military 7.62x51mm and the Remington UMC is commercial .308.
 
I don`t remember what the Portguese ammo was marked as but the stamp on the S&B say`s,SB .308 WIN and on the UMC it`s RP .308 WIN.Also both boxes are marked .308 Win.The Portugese boxes were marked 7.62 X 51.
 
fmjcafe, is your Navy Arms rifle really a rebuilt Ishapore Enfield? If so, it should be marked "7.62" on the back of the receiver. I have an unmodified, plain old, Ishapore Enfield, and it fires surplus 7.62x51 (Argentine and Portugese) and commercial S&B .308 Win just fine.

By the way, the black paint is standard for the Ishapore Enfields.
 
LMC,yeah,it`s a modified Ishapore and is marked as you described.It just does`nt seem to like European ammo.I wish it did because UMC isn`t that easy to find around here,though I did manage to get 100 rounds for $35 recently.

As far as the black paint,I figured it was standard.I just didn`t like it.It was flaking off in a couple spots.
 
I recall reading that Ishapore-modified .308 enfields often (?) have extraction problems due to the fact that the enfield action is designed for a rimmed (.303) cartridge and the .308/7.62 cartridge is rimless.

I don't own one, so I dunno.

Mike
 
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