Probably not new questions

[barretcreek]

My supply of arsenal brass is getting low. So a) how does commercial brass stack up in terms of durability compared to it? and b) I have an H&R receiver which I am leaning to building into a 7.62. Any disadvantage to that?

[Litt'le Lee]

I have a 308 Garand--it will shoot MOA --it has a Barnett/Douglas barrel--that's all you need is a new barrel--great shooter--less recoil--
less problem on gas system--clips work on 308--less powder use for 308

[p246]

Your brass question is broad based and will garner different opinions. Much of it depends on and the Manufacturer, how hot you want to load it, how many reloads you want to get out of it etc. I use a lot of Federal and Hornady in 308 and have had good results. Like you I use to have a bunch of 7.62 X 51 mil surp brass but it's long gone. (I'm still deep in 30-06 Lake City though) The Federal case weighs close the the mil surp stuff with the Hornady being about 20 grains lighter. When I reloaded the mil surp the necks would crack before anything else went. Once one cracked I pitched the 100 lot. Since I began annealing I track the flash hole size with a pin set. I usually average 8 to 9 reloads (44 grains Varget). Every once in a great while the Hornady neck will crack around the 7 reload count before flash hole wear has kicked in, but not often. So to answer your question if your wanting similar case by weight go with Federal cases. Now back in the day I did not measure volume by H20 so I can only compare by weight. There may be other cases in 308 that will fit the bill but I only have experience with those to. Hope this helps. I have a CMP Special in 30-06 that came with a new barrel loves M2 ball. Run the sight to 600 yards and I can ring our 15 X 22 inch gong. Makes me smile.

[m1ashooter]

Try ZQI ammo in 7.62x51 and then save the brass.

[nf1e]

My suggestion would be to use a quality barrel chambered in .308 rather than the mil 7.62. You will find that the brass is worked much less.

[psteinmayer]

Is your brass question pertaining to .308/7.62x51, or to 30-06/7.62x63? If you're talking 30-06... then why not obtain HXP brass? It's quality is right up there with the best, and there's literally dookie-loads of it running around! Ever since I started loading milsurp brass (PS, HXP, LC, etc.), I no longer keep any civilian brass for my Garand. The milsurp brass is far superior to civilian!

[barretcreek]

Yes, the brass question pertains to '06. I'll look around for the HXP brass, as I am running low on M2. Just didn't know if there was any disadvantage to building a Garand in 7.62.

[Sunray]

A) Case life depends entirely on the load used. Been using nothing but commercial brass for roughly 40 years myself. Haven't replaced any of it.
"...a Garand in 7.62..." Gas hole needs to be larger. Don't think the receiver maker makes any difference. Certainly didn't when the USN put proper barrels on after the insert experiment failed.

[Ted Brown]

I don't load .30-06, but I've found that 7.62 GI Match brass will usually start coming apart with about 3 reloadings in my M14 which has minimum head space. Garands will be about the same.

[p246]

Sorry thought you meant 7.62/308. Yes all my 06 brass is either HXP or Lake City mostly 69.

[nf1e]

Me too. Thought you meant 762x51. HXP and LC works great. I am still working on a stash of 06 LC Match '62 brass I acquired over 50 years ago.

[barretcreek]

My fault.

[Liam]

Had some HXP73 that was so soft that many of the fired brass were unusable for reloads. When extracted and ejected, the brass was damaged either in the case mouth (mostly fixable), or the rim was deformed (unfixable). Would not even fit in a .30-06 shell holder. Fairly common to specific runs of HXP. For me, besides this single year 1973, no problems at all with HXP brass.