Have a chance to pick up some Spanish surplus 308. It's Santa Barbara 1962 vintage. Question: is this stuff corrosive and I hear that some of it is underpowered. Have also heard good things about SB surplus 308, but it is usually referring to later production years. Can't find much info on the 1962 production. Any info would be appreciated so as to establish price and suitability for use in a CETME.
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Santa Barbara 308?
- Thread starter Bt74
- Start date
From what I have learned Santa Barbar 308 is non corrosive, could be wrong
Pre NATO ammo made by SB is a light bullet and made for the CETME full auto.
Lighter bullet and faster powder....that's all I remember.
Pre NATO ammo made by SB is a light bullet and made for the CETME full auto.
Lighter bullet and faster powder....that's all I remember.
I'm no expert on SB ammo nor can I guarantee that Wikipedia is 100% accurate, but it appears as though the "reduced charge, plastic-core bullet" ammo was designed specifically for the CETME rifle.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7.62×51mm_CETME
Other forum posts seem to indicate this ammo won't function reliably in an FAL, but that shouldn't concern you.
Come down and shoot it in my FR-7, if all else fails. If it's berdan-primed, I'll even give you scrap value, since I do reload these when necessary.
FWIW, Spain entered NATO in 1982:
http://www.nytimes.com/1982/05/31/world/spain-enters-nato-as-first-country-to-join-since-1955.html
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Thanks guys. I went ahead and bought them,(about 625 rounds), paid .40cents a round. Sounds like they are the low recoil, plastic core 7.62. I assume they are corrosive, will treat them as such. If they were designed for the CETME I would think they will function in the delayed roller blowback system.
I bought some of the '62' vintage for my CETME years ago. It would not cycle the action when using the 'C' carrier, but would by switching to a 'B' carrier. The B carrier has material machined from the sides making it a good bit lighter. That said, there are some over on the MF forum that have fired it both SA and FA in CETMEs and G3s without issue. As to being corrosive... normal cleaning worked fine so I would guess not. As usual, YMMV
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