Winchester 7.62NATO load?

jtmarine0831

I am looking for a load using Winchester 748 and 147/150gr FMJ bullets. I have some info on Winchester's 147gr FMJ load in 308Win brass, it is 45.2 grs of 748 MAX. But I have pulled down more than a box of their 147gr load in NATO brass and it is exactly 1 grain less.

I am wanting to duplicated this load exactly! Ofcourse with a 150gr bullet on occasion.

Does anyone have any other info I may need on this particular Load?

nononsense

jtmarine0831,

The NATO cases are built with thicker walls than the commercial cases. This means that the NATO cases will hold between 1 and 2 grains less powder than there commercial counterpart depending on the tested burning rate of the powder. The grain less that you are claiming when pulled down from the NATO cartridges bears this out. You can check this for yourself by weighing the cases with a used primer and then fill them with water and weigh them again. Subtract and you have the case capacity in grains of H2O.

If you intend to use the NATO cases then I suggest that you start your testing at a lower charge and work your way up, looking for signs of pressure since various lot numbers on powder can show a difference in burn rate. Use an accurate chronograph to achieve better records of the powder and bullet performance. Remember to check the neck tension on the NATO ammunition as opposed to the commercial loads.

147 gr. FMJBT__ 748__ 2.800"__ MAX 45.2__ 2730 FPS__ 45,500 PSI

150 gr. SP____ 748__ 2.800"__ MAX 48.5__ 2865 FPS__ 48,000 CUP

The data that I have is for other military powders and I don't want to confuse this issue.

Best.

jtmarine0831

nononsense, Thanks for the input.

What I am doing is reusing a bunch of WCC NATO brass that I have collected over the years from factory Winchester 7.62NATO ammo. I have Winchester's recipe of powder, bullet, and primer but it is loaded in their commercial case(the same load that is sold in their white box marked 308Winchester(7.62x51mm)). I have pulled and weighed over 100rds now of their 7.62NATO and they have all had powder charges of 44gr +/- .2gr. Same bullet, powder, primer, just different case. I am very aware of the differences in commercial and NATO cases because I shoot alot in 223/5.56 and finally found my pet loads that shoot identical in my ARs.

My intentions is to reload my WCC brass back to the exact load I bought to be shot in my M1A and AR-10. I won't be spending time working up a load for them because it will be form blasting. The reasons I mentioned the 150gr bullet is because I have about 1000 Hornady FMJ bullets that are factory seconds and weights range between 147.6 to 148.3 grains, go figure.

My planned load is WCC brass, Win LR primers, Win 147gr FMJ, and 43.5 gr of 748 all seated together at 2.785". The .5 gr lower is to make up for any hotter lots of powder.

I guess I should have explained a little better on my intentions. I was curious if anyone else on here duplicated this particular load in NATO brass. And as far as neck tension goes I will be factory crimping like I do in all of my shoot-for-fun ammo.

Does this explain what I am after a little better?

Wulfmann

If you want to duplicate that load with that powder you should know it uses Magnum primers not standard primers.

Most of us prefer to tweak the loads to the rifle as no two guns are alike so you may find a better load making the search worth while, IMO

Many NATO loads are with BL-C2 or H335 so while the WCC is (what are the odds?) 748 many are not.
I have used a batch of 308 WCC94s since 95 and they are still fine after 25-30 reloads

Wulfmann