Accuracy International 0.308

AI perfector

Well-Known Member
I've just acquired one of the above and would appreciate any guidance/recommendations that may be out there on best bullet types/weights for target (<600 yds) shooting and reds down to Sika/foxes. It has a 1:12 twist and a 26" barrel

Also, one armourer has said he wouldn't use FMJ through it, but cupro-nickel would be preferred. I've had couple of target sessions with the German Nato rounds currently available through clubs. What is the problem with FMJs? Is it just increased wear rate and if so to what degree?
Any views?

Thanks in advance.
 
I can't see why FMJs are not recommended, I mean surely that's what the main diet of a service AI would be surely?

The NRA sells cupro-nickel ammo, I've heard it's a pain to clean out the fouling though on cupro-nickel.

My recommendation for target bullets: Lapua Scenar 155 grain
 
Your AI should 7.62 x 51 according to the proof stamp on the barrel ?

155 grn work best in mine i have tried 190/180/150.

Not ideal for fox as they don't expand enough due to them being for deer.
Fallow and muntie have fallen to the AIAE.
 
AI have a good look at your rifle and the caliber it is made for! .308 Winchester and 7.62 x 54 Nato are NOT the same. Surf the internet and you'll find enough info.
 
7.62 x 51 and 7.62 x 54 nato are different to !!

One is very old and a rimmed case ! and Russian !

You would have to be unlucky to have a problem with .308 in an AI all the people i have met use .308 withOUT any problem .
But it is every owners own risk.
 
splash said:
Your AI should 7.62 x 51 according to the proof stamp on the barrel ?

155 grn work best in mine i have tried 190/180/150.

Not ideal for fox as they don't expand enough due to them being for deer.
Fallow and muntie have fallen to the AIAE.

.308 Winchester and 7.62x51 NATO are different rounds. As far as I know, AI only sell .308 Winchester rifles.

Edit:

On the 308/7.62 calibre question, as far as I know, AI sell only .308 Winchester rifles, not 7.62x51, to the retail market (along with a number of other calibres incl. 243 & .338).
 
Armo said:
splash said:
Your AI should 7.62 x 51 according to the proof stamp on the barrel ?

155 grn work best in mine i have tried 190/180/150.

Not ideal for fox as they don't expand enough due to them being for deer.
Fallow and muntie have fallen to the AIAE.

.308 Winchester and 7.62x51 NATO are different rounds. As far as I know, AI only sell .308 Winchester rifles.

You are wrong there;

The british army have 500+ L96 rifles that are made by Accuracy
international and are in 7.62mm. They have also made a load of L115A3s in .338 Lap Mag.

Dave
 
Sorry team, typo, I meant the 7.62 x 51 earlier.

As an example the Hornady manual gives 44.9gr of Varget as max for the .308 with a 155 bullet for 2700 fps, but 43.2 for the 7.62 x 51 Nato for 2600 fps as maximum.
 
Thank you all for your guidance. I bought some Radway Green from Bisley having told the armourer explicitly that it was for an AI 308 and was given 7.62 x 51 x 155 grns. Had a great day on targets yesterday at 200 yds (mist) and 600 yds. The marker at 600 offered congratulations and said he got feddup with marking V bulls!! I don't mean to blow my own trumpet but clearly those rounds were better than the German surplus, though, in fairness, designed for the job.
Mat, your point taken on FMJ gun fodder- I just wonder why the Bisley armourer was guiding against it.
Splash, I'll try the 150 and one or two others for comparison as I gather harmonics can play a part. Splash, where do you hail from? Do you hand load?
Armo, you are correct in that AI retail 300 WINMAG, 308 WIN , 338 LAPMAG as well as 243. See:
http://www.tacproshootingcenter.com/PDF/AI_Brochure.pdf)
 
Armo said:
splash said:
Your AI should 7.62 x 51 according to the proof stamp on the barrel ?

155 grn work best in mine i have tried 190/180/150.

Not ideal for fox as they don't expand enough due to them being for deer.
Fallow and muntie have fallen to the AIAE.

.308 Winchester and 7.62x51 NATO are different rounds. As far as I know, AI only sell .308 Winchester rifles.

Edit:

On the 308/7.62 calibre question, as far as I know, AI sell only .308 Winchester rifles, not 7.62x51, to the retail market (along with a number of other calibres incl. 243 & .338).

Hi Armo

My AIAE has 7.62x51 stamped on the barrel. Although in the booklet that came with it it states .308 .

AI perfector

I am from nottingham and do hand load . i to find v bull's easy with the AI . AI also chamber in .260 now !
 
Armo said:
splash said:
Your AI should 7.62 x 51 according to the proof stamp on the barrel ?

155 grn work best in mine i have tried 190/180/150.

Not ideal for fox as they don't expand enough due to them being for deer.
Fallow and muntie have fallen to the AIAE.

.308 Winchester and 7.62x51 NATO are different rounds. As far as I know, AI only sell .308 Winchester rifles.

Edit:

On the 308/7.62 calibre question, as far as I know, AI sell only .308 Winchester rifles, not 7.62x51, to the retail market (along with a number of other calibres incl. 243 & .338).

Hi Armo

My AIAE has 7.62x51 stamped on the barrel. Although in the booklet that came with it it states .308 .

AI perfector

I am from nottingham and do hand load . i to find v bull's easy with the AI . AI also chamber in .260 now !
 
I 'm pretty sure mine has 7.62 x 51 on the barrel but can't check til the w/e. Not quite sure where that leaves us with AI advertising 308 and the consensus being that 308 is not the same as 7.62 x 51!

Splash, pm awaits you
 
AI perfector said:
Mat, your point taken on FMJ gun fodder- I just wonder why the Bisley armourer was guiding against it.

I'd be surprised if Fred recommended against FMJs, on the other hand if it was one of the other 'less qualified' guys in the range office... :mad:

Another tip: the NSRA sells the 155 grain HPS ammo which is better than RG (and the brass is reloadable) - the NRA does not sell it as it competes with their RG sales. The HPS ammo uses the 155 grain Sierra MK. RG is a bit hit and miss, when it's good, it's great, but it can be utter rubbish.
 
7.62 x 51 nato is not the same as 308 winchester. You can generally get away with feeding 7.62 nato through 308 rifles with loose tolerances but do not feed them through your AI AW.

If you were to take 10 service rifles and measure the headspace, etc of each, you'd be amazed at how much they differ. 7.62 Nato is generally manufactured to similar tolerances.

My service AW was not stamped 308 winchester and we were issued with selected lots of 7.62 - not the usual crap. However, i've since seen 'civilian available' rifles that are stamped 308 winchester and i assume they are chambered for specifically 308.

AI would not intend for you to run obsolete (often mothballed) crappy rounds through your rifle. An armourer would have ripped my balls off if i had used some of the dodgy stuff currently being sold off to civilians.
 
Mat, It wasn't Fred but another. My rifle barrel is stamped 7.62 x 51. The inbvoice shows 0.308. So, do I go for 0.308 per promotional literature and invoice or 7.62 ammo per barrel stamp?

Scotsgun, I take it you're ex forces. I spoke to some RAF Regiment guys at a tournament yesterday, who said their snipers get the first 10% of RG, which I'm assuming makes it good stuff. But maybe not?

All, you've probably guessed that I didn't buy a good rifle to put poor grade ammo through it. If 0.308 = 7.68 I assume it wants to be fed 0.308 but 7.62 is OK if you can't get the real thing. So, with the barrel stamp in mind, (where) do I get 0.308 ammo (made up rounds for now) of a quality that leaves me as the only weak link in the equation? Later I'll be home loading and I take it that I shall be able to buy 0.308 bullets to go into 7.62 cases or do I also need to get 7.68 brass? Do you have any recommendations as to source of quality components?
Finally, I had my first go at 800 and 1000 yds. last w/e. Did OK at 800 yds but had a shotgun spread at 1000 yds. I used 3 types of ammo but had no real consistency with any. Enjoyed the day but very disappointed with my shooting. Ideas?
I know this is a stakers site but I'd feel a lot happier eliminating margins of error before shooting dear - and No, I'll not be taking deer at 1000 yds.
 
RG is snot!

What you have to appreciate is that after ditching the SLR, the main feeder for the 7.62 is the GPMG. When training we were given crates full, a vernier, scales and a micrometer and instructed to sort them into batches. It may seem like a wasted exercise until you actually do it and see how much rounds can differ.

By sorting into batches you can at least confirm marginal consistency.

If shooting out to 300-500 yds then you could invest in Privi 308 rounds. It'll set you back about £40 per hundred - they're not great and you'll soon ditch the brass if reloading but you'll be feeding the round chambered for the rifle and they'll prove more consistent.

If you intend to regularly shoot 800-1000yds then you're fooling yourself by using cheap ammo. You'll never establish consistency. For those ranges i'd suggest Federal Gold Medal...around the 155grain mark with a Sierra matchking, hollow point boat tail bullet. A result if you can get them for less than a quid a round so start gathering reloading gear!

If serious then why not come anlong to one of our Practical Rifle comps ..... it'll do wonders for your range estimation, wind reading, scope correction and show you what the rifle is capbale of.
 
AI perfector said:
I spoke to some RAF Regiment guys at a tournament yesterday, who said their snipers get the first 10% of RG, which I'm assuming makes it good stuff. But maybe not?

When I were a lad (yawn!) our bog standard 7.62 came from RG and the primers had a purple coloured glaze around the rim. We were also issued ammunition for sniping purposes which had a green glaze around the primer. This was ammunition that purportedly conformed to much tighter tolerances. It came in special bandoliers with a circular black plastic tag attached and was known as Black Spot ammunition. I have also heard it referred to as Green Spot - presumably because of the green glazed primers.
 
Scotsgun, The reality is that target shooting is going to keep me going between stalking trips until I can get established stalking which is appearing to be not as easy as I thought. Most target work will be at or below 600 yds.
I'm certainly serious and interested in the Practical Rifle comps you describe - geared to AWs? Tell me more.
Does Privi stand for anything and where can it be bought? Are you saying that Privi 308 actually is 308 and not 7.62?
Yes, I'll be hand loading by year end, I hope. Just gathering advice on which items to go for, at present.

Bandit Country (now that must be a ways away from Suffolk!), thanks for your pointers/comments
 
AI perfector said:
Bandit Country (now that must be a ways away from Suffolk!),

I dunno, I hear Stowmarket can get pretty rowdy on a Saturday night! :eek: Sorry to disappoint, but Bandit is the name of my dog! :lol:
 
AI perfector said:
Scotsgun, The reality is that target shooting is going to keep me going between stalking trips until I can get established stalking which is appearing to be not as easy as I thought. Most target work will be at or below 600 yds.
I'm certainly serious and interested in the Practical Rifle comps you describe - geared to AWs? Tell me more.
Does Privi stand for anything and where can it be bought? Are you saying that Privi 308 actually is 308 and not 7.62?
Yes, I'll be hand loading by year end, I hope. Just gathering advice on which items to go for, at present.

Bandit Country (now that must be a ways away from Suffolk!), thanks for your pointers/comments

Have a look at: http://www.practicalrifle.co.uk/

Also, there are 'Service rifle' competitions organised in the name of the NRA, so keep an eye on the NRA website, Apparently there's a match this coming Sunday (see highpower rifle website below).

I personally shoot 'Highpower' which is the US version of Service rifle, it's basically a bit of a cross between service rifle and target rifle, it's a blend of positional, rapid fire and slow fire, look here for more info:
http://www.highpowerrifle.co.uk

Strictly speaking, Highpower is supposed to be ironsights only, but no one minds if you turn up with a scope and bipod. Most of the Highpower guys shoot practical and service rifle too and in fact the 'NRA' service rifle is mostly run by guys from the Highpower club.

Also, if you're planning to reload, forget RG, it's virtually all Berdan primed and practically not reloadable.
 
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