is this safe to shoot in my Ruger Scout?

it doesn't matter. the two are virtually the same. the differences in pressure are almost nonexistent and all of the internet hubbub is from people failing to realize that the pressure from one is measured in US standard and the other is metric. you can fire it from your rifle regardless of which it is.
 
I appreciate the feedback tahunua. I understand their are two schools of thought on this but after reading through all the "can I shoot NATO in my 308. rifle?" threads, I have decided to join the group that says no and only shoot what it says on the gun.

If anyone actually knows what this round is I would appreciate the info.
 
I shoot surplus 7.62 NATO in my scout, generally speaking there may be some .308 Win. loads that are hotter but in a bolt gun I don't see the problem.
Best,
Rob
 
it lists the caliber on the side of the box as "308. (7.62NATO)"
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It sounds like PMC doesnt think its an issue, if they are listing it as both. Im sure if it was an issue, their engineers and lawyers would had advised them so.

I understand their are two schools of thought on this but after reading through all the "can I shoot NATO in my 308. rifle?" threads, I have decided to join the group that says no and only shoot what it says on the gun.
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Ive been using either/or in guns chambered in either/or, for about 45 years now, and so far, have never had an issue. I have used both(factory and reloads) in bolt guns, semis, and belt feds, and that same brass was reloaded and used in all of them again, and again, until signs of failure, or actual failure. Never had anything catastrophic, or out of the norm by doing so.

If it were really an issue, Im sure we'd see 7.62x51 dies and load data for that specific caliber, in all the manuals. The only specific load data Ive seen in that respsect, has been in a couple of the governments Lake City manuals.
 
I think Nato ammo is actually a lower pressure than commercial .308. I'd verify that, but either way, I'd be comfortable shooting it.
 
While I'm not a regular .308 guy, I've had a couple of bolt guns, and have friends with .308 bolt guns. Neither I nor any of them has had any problem with any sort of NATO ammo. Pull trigger, make go bang, rinse and repeat. :)
 
NATO should be, theoretically, less pressure since the cases are thicker. In reality, they are functionally identical and it's nothing to worry about. This is not the same issue as 5.56 vs .223.
 
" I don't have a micrometer and I have no idea"
I don't think you'll be able to differentiate between the two with a micrometer.
 
Somewhere I saw the letter posted from Ruger saying it was fine. Maybe on scoutrifle.org. I've got maybe 500 rounds of 7.62 through mine and no issues at all. Just last week I put 50 rounds of the PMC in question through mine and had no issues there either.
 
I have shot a lot of PMC through my GSR there is nothing to be worried about. The PMC .308/7.62 Nato is loaded on the weak side.
 
I've shot piles of NATO 7.62 through my 308. 7.62 IS loaded to a lower maximum allowable chamber pressure, plus it's usually shorter in OAL so it will always chamber reliably in auto-loading guns. I shot a couple boxes of PMC bronze 308 Win (7.62 NATO), it wasn't bad, had it grouping about 3/4. The only possible problems you might have interchanging the two, was if you had a custom handload for a 308 bolt gun and had the OAL way out to the rifles sweet spot (probably wouldn't chamber in something like an AR10). Even if the 308 bolt gun load was really hot, I'd probably be fine.

I don't understand the OP's issue. The PMC boxes clearly say "308 Winchester (7.62 NATO)." Why wouldn't you shoot ammo that is clearly marked as the correct cartridge for your rifle??
 
I don't understand the OP's issue. The PMC boxes clearly say "308 Winchester (7.62 NATO)." Why wouldn't you shoot ammo that is clearly marked as the correct cartridge for your rifle??
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Just playing it on the safe side man. there are alot of people out there that say it is not the same round, and I just want to do my homework before I risk my 900 dollar rifle over a few cents savings on some ammo is all.
 
Good call, nothing wrong with having all the info, but if you are going off of what "a lot of people are saying". DON'T DO THAT. A quick look at SAAMI specs or two minutes worth of phone calls to the gun/ammo manufacturers is much more reliable.

BTW, who are all these people saying not to shoot. 7.62x51 in a 308? Even the posters on this forum have been unanimous in their opinion (and that never happens, lol).
 
So I went ahead and emailed Ruger and as shown in the attached email, they indicated that ya'll were right and I can shoot NATO rounds out of the Scout.

Thanks folks!
 

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I know this is a couple months old but thanks for posting your response from Ruger. I was just buying ammo for my GSR and pondered scooping up some 7.62 myself :)
 
Just a heads up, we tried some of that stuff in our Remington 700 and it did not want to eject at all... many bruised palms resulted. Traded the rest of the box to another shooter for some Federal .308
 
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