I've read that the .308 Win round is the same as the 7.62X54 NATO round.  Then again, I was told that .223 and 5.56 NATO were the same until I discovered that there are some differences.  I've been advised that a rifle chambered for .223 may not take the pressures of the mil round, whereas a rifle chambered for 5.56 can shoot either safely.

I want to get a bolt action hunting rifle in .308.  Would there be any problems in shooting the 7.62 military rounds in it?

You mean 7.62x51 right? 7.62x54 is Russian and was never a NATO standard round.

I personnally would say go for it because they most likely are the same, but I don't have much knowledge on 7.62 NATO/.308(Don't have one yet) so YMMV.

The deal with the .308/7.62x51 is opposite of the 5.56/.223.

If you have a rifle chambered in commercial .308, you can shoot 7.62 surplus in it all day.  The .308 commercial loads are generally higher pressure than the 7.62, so a commercial rifle can take it.  It is not recommendable to shoot hot commercial .308 loads in a military rifle chambered in 7.62.  As far as chamber dimensions, I think they're identical.  

So I guess that all of us shooting 168gn. .308 Federal are playing with destruction? I would think the Military stuff would be hotter.
GG

Matthew_Q knows what he is talking about on this topic, Brohawk.  DanM

Quoted: The deal with the .308/7.62x51 is opposite of the 5.56/.223. If you have a rifle chambered in commercial .308, you can shoot 7.62 surplus in it all day.  The .308 commercial loads are generally higher pressure than the 7.62, so a commercial rifle can take it.  It is not recommendable to shoot hot commercial .308 loads in a military rifle chambered in 7.62.  As far as chamber dimensions, I think they're identical.

Nope the chamber dimensions in the 7.62NATO are a few thousands of inch longer. The 7.62NATO rounds are stronger to take the longer chamber size. Search the Fulton-Armory site, they have a good discussion about differences betweent the military 5.56 & 7.62 NATO and the civilian 223Rem & 308WIN ammo.

I'm not sure about length, but here are some width #s:
                   7.62/           308
Base above rim:     .470           .466
case shoulder:      .452           .450
bullet @ case edge: .308           .308

I mic'd these because my carbine was feeding .308 okay, but wasn't ejecting milsurp.  It was driving me crazy working the bugs out of it.  I determined after much trial and error that DSA had a "match chamber" on my badger barrel and that the minute dimensional differences were adversely affecting reliable operation of this particular FAL.  a little valve grinding compound on the outside of an expended milsurp case chucked up into a drill fixed that situation.


Jim

Brohawk:SAAMI tells us on their Unsafe Arms And Ammunition Combinations page tells us not to load 5.56mm NATO ammunition in .223 Remington chambered rifles. There is no similar warning for 7.62x51mm ammunition in .308 Winchester chambered rifles.

The bottom line is you should not have any problems firing military surplus ammunition out of a .308 Winchester chambered rifle.

Thanks, guys.  I appreciate the responses.

Just because it may be safe to fire 7.62x51 out of a .308 rifle, it doesn't mean you won't have problems.

I have several bolt action .308's and most of them will occasionally encounter a piece of milsurp brass that the bolt won't close on.  Using .308 brass exclusively in these guns has eliminated that problem.