p-man
Gold $$ Contributor
For any of you buying cheap ammo just to punch paper - beware using American Tactical also known as MKE in 7.62 x 51, made in Turkey, in your 308. At the range this weekend with a couple of young friends - both have Remington factory 308's. They had bought several boxes of this stuff - after the first couple of shots, they both came to me and said their bolts were a little 'stiff' when ejecting spent brass. Upon inspecting the fired brass, both rifles' spent brass had flattened, cratered primers and bright extractor marks on the brass. There are no lot numbers on the boxes - ironically, printed on the back of the box is "THIS HIGH QUALITY AMMUNITION IS MADE TO NATO SPECIFICATIONS AND LOT TESTED TO ASSURE LESS THAN ONE MINUTE OF ANGLE AT 100 METERS." Being retired military, I've seen this problem before but I believe the average consumer, and in many cases the average sporting goods dealer (who is not an experienced gunsmith) buy this stuff as inexpensive "target ammo". I don't know what current NATO specs are but for the US military, the 7.62 stuff we fired in auto or crew-served weapons was hot and NOT recommended for target use in indiv weapons. I remember (showing my age) that when we divested ourselves of the M14, the only 7.62 was shot in M60's and miniguns and it was loaded to higher chamber pressures/velocities. Please pass this info on to your inexperienced shooters to watch carefully when buying military-sourced ammunition.
