.308 out of a .30/06

gerrycaruso

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I found a .308 case at the range that was blown out straight. It appeared to have been fired out of something with a much longer chamber. My first thought was .30/06 because if it was something with a smaller bore like a .25/06, the shooter would have been wearing the gun and I would have heard about it. If someone fired a .308 out of a .30/06 would the pressure and accuracy be affected? My guess is that both would be slightly decreased. What are your thoughts?
 
Just like the post I saw regarding .308 Win fired in a K31 (7.5x55mm), it fired and the shooter had no clue until he gathered up his funny looking brass. The .308 case mouth barely extends past the shoulder of a .30-06 case, but most bullet profiles do extend to the area where the .30-06 neck would be. As long as the .308 round stays intact behind the extractor, you should get light-off and the bullet should find its way down the barrel.
I suppose you could do this in a do or die scenario, but I wouldn't make a habit of it.
You've probably read about fighters in Serbia (was it?) that used .308 in Mosins by wrapping solder around the extractor groove to headspace in the Nagants... I read this someplace.
 
There was a post on the CMP forums recently along the lines of “hey everyone- look at what mistake I made!” The concensus that that particular combination .308 fired from a .30-06 rifle wasn’t dangerous, but the OP was a moron for letting it happen.
 
There was a post on the CMP forums recently along the lines of “hey everyone- look at what mistake I made!” The concensus that that particular combination .308 fired from a .30-06 rifle wasn’t dangerous, but the OP was a moron for letting it happen.

The OP in this thread didn't fire it, he found a casing that had been fired in something other than a .308.
 
The OP in this thread didn't fire it, he found a casing that had been fired in something other than a .308.

Yes- I didn’t intend to call the OP of this thread a moron. I understood that he only found the empty casing. Hopefully people didn’t read is that way.
 
could have been in an 8mm rifle too

I can tell you with absolute certainty......it was NOT fired in anything chambered in 8mm Mauser.

The taper on the 8mm chamber would preclude both 30.06 and .308 from even coming close to chambering. You wouldn't even come close to being able to close, let alone lock the bolt on any 8mm gun. See pics.image.jpegimage.jpegimage.jpeg

I just happened to have a 1919a4 barrel in 8mm Mauser handy.

The first pic is .308 in the 8mm chamber......NO GO

The second pic is 8mm in 8mm chamber......GO

Third pic is 30.06 in 8mm chamber.........NO GO.
 
I can't take a picture because I'm too dumb to have a smart phone. I didn't take offense because I figure everyone knows I just found an empty case. The round could have been fired from something other than .30/06 like 7.7 Japanese but that's uncommon and the mouth of the case matched the beginning of the shoulder of a .30/06.
 
I can't take a picture because I'm too dumb to have a smart phone. I didn't take offense because I figure everyone knows I just found an empty case. The round could have been fired from something other than .30/06 like 7.7 Japanese but that's uncommon and the mouth of the case matched the beginning of the shoulder of a .30/06.

Yes, anything that would have swallowed a .308 whole and had a bore diameter to allow the bullet to pass is possible but it wasn't an 8mm as jpm suggested. It would have resulted in a catastrophic case failure/ kaboom if it were ever able to fire.....which would be impossible with a bolt 1/2 inch short of closing.
 
Few years ago my friend shot a cmp match with me at a local 100 yard match. Ran out 5 sight in shots and walked down.
Only to find his ok group a little off his normal zero. When policing the grass he had that WTF whisper going on.
Then he turns with a palm full of straightwall cases.... Brought the wrong gun.(He said with a hint of joking) he does not really know for sure how or why 308 ended up in his little MTM case but it did.
 
Would not surprise me if you could find several straight wall 762 NATO in the grass after the nationals.
 
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