[Coyote1309]

Hey all, your favorite walking popsicle from the great north here.

In case you haven't heard, the Anointed One (aka O'watermellon-patch, aka Butkrak Obola, aka Premeire Obama aka Papa Obama) is trying to make it difficult, if not impossible for us Americans to get our hands on M855 ammo.

This development got me to thinking on restocking my supply of ammunition, which brought me to think of what kind of ammunition to get for my M1A.

My M1A IS chambered for the military 7.62x51 AND .308. Now I have plenty of .308 hunting rounds. What I want to know is what kind of 7.62 does the military use for general purpose stuff? Such as the 7.62 that is used in the M240Bs and the like?

I know there is the M61 and M62 (armor peircing black-tip and tracer orange-tip respectively) but what is used for general purpose and where can I get it, in bulk or by the box?

The same goes for 5.56 also. What rounds should I be stocking up on? I do have a fair amount of the M855 but what else should I have plenty of?

~Auslander

 

[tubist]

My understanding is that the standard 7.62x51mm round is simply M80 ball. It is just a 150gr FMJ bullet. It is equivalent to the 30-06 loading used in WW2.

I believe that "real" 7.62 AP is either difficult to find or is illegal. Something about a handgun made in .308 a while back and the BATFE getting involved... Anyway, you CAN take one of the M2 black tips from the ye ole' 30-06 and reload the projectiles into a .308 cartridge. You can even find the black tip bullets already pulled if you look in the right places.

You can buy tracers and all the other specialty rounds pretty easily. It is just hard to find AP or API/APIT rounds.

 

[tubist]

Now for 50bmg, you can get basically every type of round made for that... Even API! If you really want to damage hard targets look into that.

 

[stephpd]

I just happen to be currently reading the USMC sniper traing manual. FMFM 1-3b.
http://cdn.survivalschool.us/wp-content/uploads/US-Marine-Corps-Sniper-Manual-FMFM-1-3B.pdf

On page 2-9 they list the most common rounds used.

At the top of the list is M118 match ammo. It's a 173grain boat tail.
Next is the M80 ball ammo. 147 grain boat tail bullet.

This page has a lot more information on all the different ammo the governments used for the 7.62 x 51 over the years.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7.62×51mm_NATO

 

[Illuminum3415]

Whichever you can get, get fast, and get reasonably priced. Scarcity governs choice, not the other way around. :