Times;51mm NATO or .308, Either Way it Packs a Punch

The 7.62×51 NATO or .308 Winchester offers nearly the same ballistics as a .30–06, but in a more compact cartridge.

First, let’s start this discussion with a comparison between the 7.62×51 NATO cartridge and its civilian counterpart, the .308 Winchester. The differences between them are very small, but they are not precisely the same.

Since the cartridge was designed to be the NATO standard military battle rifle cartridge, the military specification for the NATO round required a thicker brass cartridge case, and established a maximum chamber pressure of 50,000 psi. On the other hand, the commercial .308 Winchester has no such brass thickness specifications, and the SAAMI established maximum chamber pressure is 60,000 psi.

There are some other very minimal differences, but in practice it is generally safe to use the two cartridges interchangeably. If using .308 Win. ammo in a rifle chambered for the 7.62×51 NATO round, the shooter should pay close attention to the overall condition of the rifle, as the commercial round is loaded to higher maximum pressures.

The cartridge was developed in the 1950’s as the NATO standard small‑arms cartridge. Standardizing a single cartridge for use among all the NATO allies provided a substantial advantage over the previous situation whereby each NATO nation was armed with its own cartridge with little, if any, interchangeability.

The US military at the time was still armed with the M1 Garand .30–06. NATO adopted the cartridge as its standard in 1954. Winchester ammunition offered the commercial version of the cartridge to the marketplace in 1952, a couple years earlier than the NATO adoption. The US Army adopted the M14 rifle in 1957, and chambered it and the M60 machine gun for the 7.62×51mm NATO round.

As an aside, I entered the US Army in 1960, and the M14 hadn’t yet reached Fort Gordon, Georgia by then. We were still using the old M1. I don’t remember when I saw my first M14, but it was sometime after that. I was on a couple military rifle teams during that era, and for our competitive shooting, we were using National Match M1 rifles. The M14 had a very short service life as the main battle rifle. Not very many years after its introduction, Vietnam got hot and hotter as time passed.

The M14 was one of the first battle rifles specifically chambered for the 7.62×51 NATO cartridge. The popular semiautomatic M1A is also fed the round.

In that jungle atmosphere, the M14 posed several problems.

It was a long and reasonably heavy rifle, neither of which was well suited for the steaming jungles of RVN. In addition, the weight of the ammunition restricted the amount that could be carried by the individual soldier. The DOD folks did numerous studies and conducted countless tests finally arriving at the conclusion that in this case anyway, smaller really was better. They deduced that an 8‑soldier unit armed with AR‑15 rifles and .223 Remington ammo could outgun an 11‑soldier unit armed with M14 rifles and 7.62×51 ammo.

On the other hand, the .308 Winchester is still going strong. There is good reason for that fact.

The difference in power between the .30–06 and the .308 Win is, on average, around 100 fps, using the same bullet weight. The cartridge will fit through a shorter action than the .30–06, which to some might offer an advantage. We could probably come up with other nits, but in reality no animal that ever lived could tell the difference in being squarely struck with a good 165 grain bullet traveling at 2700 fps, and the same good bullet 100 fps faster.

I recently picked up a very nice .308 custom rifle built for someone else, with metalsmithing by Dave Talley. I haven’t been able to determine with 100‑percent certainty who crafted the stock, but all indications point to the late Jere Eggleston as the maker.

It is a terrific little rifle. It is built on an intermediate length Mauser action, and shoots like a dream. With the unlikely exception of another Cape buffalo hunt in Africa, I could comfortably and efficiently do all the remaining hunting I have left in me with this one rifle. So could most everyone else.

Chapter 10

The Life‑Saving .357 Magnum

The .357 Magnum became a popular law enforcement choice, after it was found the .38 Special did not have the stopping power to save officers’ lives.

This powerful‑for‑the‑time cartridge was introduced in 1934 and was an almost immediate success. It is, in essence, a .38 Special case lengthened by ¹⁄₈^th of an inch to prevent the possibility of firing the higher pressure round in chambers designed for .38 Special pressures.

Wikipedia credits Elmer Keith, Phil Sharpe, D.B. Wesson of Smith & Wesson, and Winchester, for the development of the cartridge. The 3rd Edition of Mike Bussard’s Ammo Encyclopedia credits only Smith & Wesson.

Elmer Keith writes in his book Sixguns as follows: “Next we have the .357 magnum Smith & Wesson cartridge. I worked with Doug Wesson on this development and sent him the first Keith bullets used in developing the load. We also put 1000 rounds of 173 grain Keith solids backed by 11 grains No. 80 through a .38/44 Heavy duty S.&W. Revolver just to see if it would take them or blow up. They developed an average of 42,000 pounds and the gun held them with no danger.”

Phil Sharpe, in his book, Complete Guide to Handloading, wrote “The .357 Magnum cartridge was born in the mind of the author several years ago. On a hunting trip with Colonel D. B. Wesson, Vice‑President of Smith & Wesson, a pair of heavy frame Outdoorsmen model revolvers were used with a large assortment of handloads developed and previously tested by the author. In the field they proved entirely practical, but Colonel Wesson was not content to attempt the development of a Magnum .38 special cartridge for ordinary revolvers, and set to work on a new gun planned in the field.”

However, a bit later in the same chapter, he wrote, “The author is not connected with any arms or ammunition maker and desires this fact clearly understood. He did not design the gun or the cartridge, although he cooperated and collaborated in a minor way.” Why he chose to distance himself from the project, I have no idea. Perhaps he was concerned about liability issues.

Both Keith and Sharpe mention Colonel Wesson and also Winchester in their writings on the .357 magnum, so it’s a safe bet that all were involved.

The .357 Magnum is simply a .38 Special cartridge that has been lengthened by ¹⁄₈ of an inch.

For many years, starting around 1902, through essentially WWII, the chances of finding a police department armed with anything other than a revolver, either Colt or Smith & Wesson, chambered for the .38 Special cartridge, were about the same as finding a rooster with lips!

Police files are rife with hair raising details of police shootings which involved multiple hits on criminals and still having the perp wound or even worse kill the officer(s) involved. I personally witnessed such an event many years ago. The policeman involved was a friend of my family.

A few weeks before the incident, he had reluctantly accepted the job as Chief of Police of a small town. The town provided no equipment support and each LEO was required to provide his on handgun. The only one my friend owned was a WWII surplus 1911 auto in .45 ACP.

He caught all manners of flak about carrying such a cannon, so he traded it in on a new S&W Chief’s Special. A few weeks later, while serving a warrant, he was involved in a shootout. He shot the perp several times, putting him on the ground, down but no where near out. The perp shot him from the ground and killed my friend instantly and he expired from his wounds later that evening.

Had the LEO still been armed with the 1911, I’m sure the outcome would have been far different.

Many police officers across the country upgraded their arms by adding a revolver chambered for the .357 magnum, often doing so at their own expense. While many Police Departments frowned on the practice, the officers could use either .38 Special or .357 magnum cartridges in the same revolver.

These days, most PDs around the country have armed their officers with semi‑auto pistols. Quite a few switched to the 9mm Luger, but it is my sense that many have gone to larger calibers such as the .40 S&W, 10mm, or even the .45 ACP.

As I write these words, the US Army has announced that they are looking to replace the standard sidearm, the Beretta 9mm, with a larger, more powerful handgun/cartridge combination. I thought that they had learned that lesson in the Spanish‑American conflict before the turn of the twentieth century.

I guess the old adage, the more things change, the more they stay the same, applies.

Chapter 11

Sizzling Varmint Medicine, the .22‑250

Whether as a wildcat or factory cartridge, there has always been something mystifying about the high‑velocity .22‑250.

There is some considerable confusion as to when this popular varmint cartridge was developed, and who developed it.

Its name comes from the fact that it uses a .22 caliber bullet, and the parent case is the .250 Savage. The parent case came out in about 1915, so it was sometime after that.

The names associated with the cartridges development most often include Harvey Donaldson, Grosvenor Wotkyns, J.E. Gebby and J. B. Smith. Considerable development work went on in the mid‑1930s.

At least one version was called the .22 Varminter, and others, the .22‑250. Wotkyns is generally credited with developing the forerunner to the .220 Swift, although Winchester chose to use the 6mm Lee Navy case, rather than the .250 Savage. Author, gunsmith and consummate handloader, Phil Sharpe, was an early fan of the .22‑250.

For many years the cartridge languished as a popular wildcat, until Browning announced in 1963 that they were adding the chambering to their rifle line.

My old pal, mentor, and good friend, John T. Amber, wrote in the 1964 issue of Gun Digest, the following: “Browning did an unprecedented thing this year – they added a caliber to their High Power rifle line, the Wildcat 22‑250, for which no commercial ammunition I available! As far as I know, this is the first time a first line arms maker has offered a rifle chambered for a cartridge which he – or some other production ammunition maker – cannot supply.”

The cartridge also has, in a way, a powder named for it. H‑380 was an unnamed spherical rife propellent when the late Bruce Hodgdon first used it. When a 38.0 grain charge behind a 52 grain bullet gave one hole groups from his 22 caliber wildcat (now called the .22‑250), he appropriately named the powder H380.

Ever since the .22‑250 has gone from wildcat to factory cartridge, varmints have been shaking in their boots.

I’ve also heard that the velocity delivered with that load, around 3800 fps, played a role in the decision though that may also be just so much fluff.

I have owned at least a couple rifles so chambered for many years now. When I tire of one and get rid of it for something, at the time anyway, that’s more spectacular, I end up down the road always picking up another.

I currently have two, a heavy varminter from Savage that has had a few custom touches added to it (another stock for one thing) and a Mark VII medium weight varminter from E.R. Shaw. Both are superbly accurate.

I don’t do a lot of varmint shooting here in southeastern Arizona, but when I do go out, one or the other of these two rifles goes with me.

Chapter 12