What caliber is this cartridge?

[bulldogparts]

I found these cartridges that my nephew left at my house a few years ago. I believe he thought that they were for his dad's old British 303. They clearly don't show 303 on the base. I think what I'm seeing is L C , 6 6 , MATCH, and what looks like a circle with an X in the middle....it's a VERY tiny mark, so I'm not 100% sure on that one. Diameter, and shape is almost identical to a .308 cartridge. It is about 1/32" shorter than the .308.



Does anyone know what they are?

 

[Buckeye76]

7.62x51?

 

[alleycat]

Lake City '308?

http://www.ar15.com/forums/t_1_5/30...______andapos_66_andapos_72_headstamp___.html

 

[GAgunLAWbooklet]

I think you've got the military version of the .308. Technically, it's the 7.62 x 51mm NATO round. That circle with the cross or plus sign inside it is the symbol for NATO-specification ammo. They use that little mark on other military calibers that are loaded to NATO standards.

If you think it's a little bit too long or short in overall length, keep in mind that OAL is somewhat flexible depending on the bullet weight and profile and the condition of the tip.
For positive ID on a cartridge, a better measurement is from the base to the mouth of the case.

P.S. It's definitely not .303 British. That round has a full rim, and no extractor groove between the rim and the rest of the case. The case length (not counting the bullet) of a .303 Brit is about 56.4 mm.

ONE LAST THING: The round in your photo looks like it's loaded with a soft-point bullet. So that would make it a reload.
The U.S. military 7.62 x 51 MATCH ammo was called the M118 load, and it featured a full metal jacket 173-grain boat-tail bullet.

 

[bulldogparts]

This may make sense because there are some .308 cartridges in the mix. But, I can't imagine why my Brother-in-law would be firing them in a 303. I've had these for a few years, and maybe I should research the gun they were using a little more. All I remember is that I saw a mix of cartridges that my nephew was "using" in this rifle, and took them from him for safety reasons. B-I-L is not very knowledgeable about guns in the first place. I'll have to do some checking on this. I was just cleaning up the safe and ran across these.

Thanks for your knowledge guys.

 

[Winks]

There have been 303 conversions to .308, 7.62 x 51 in the past.

http://www.theoutdoorstrader.com/th...hapore-carbine-like-no5-enfield?highlight=303

 

[bulldogparts]

There have been 303 conversions to .308, 7.62 x 51 in the past.

http://www.theoutdoorstrader.com/th...hapore-carbine-like-no5-enfield?highlight=303

This is also a "possibility". But, the last time I remember seeing the rifle, it was loose as a goose, and it really worried me that they had fired it at all. My nephew was 16 or 17 at the time. I don't think its been fired since I took the small amount of ammo he had.


Also, GAgunLAW, the case on the mystery shell is about 1/32 to 1/16" shorter than the stamped .308's I have. Everything else looks identical. It would be an EASY mix-up.

 

[GAgunLAWbooklet]

The case length of a 7.62 x 51mm round should be 51mm or just a hair over 2.0 inches. It's like 2.008 inches.
WHen reloading a case over and over, when it gets to 2.015" you should trim it back to 1.995 inches.
Maybe you're comparing a recently-trimmed reloaded case to others that have been shot a few times and stretched but not trimmed yet?
The difference between 2.015" (the maximum length of the case before you MUST trim) and 1.995 inches (minimum length) is .016" or sixteen thousandths of an inch.
That's about 0.4mm
If the difference between what you know is a .308 case and this case you have is 1/32" (about 0.8 mm), then that's too much of a difference. I can't explain that.