Reloading 7.62 Enfield - 7.62 NATO brass vs commercial .308

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7.62 NATO brass vs commercial .308

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Category: Reloading
Forum Name: Reloading 7.62 Enfield
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Printed Date: March 26 2026 at 1:20pm
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Topic: 7.62 NATO brass vs commercial .308

Posted By: Canuck
Subject: 7.62 NATO brass vs commercial .308
Date Posted: December 12 2025 at 2:31pm

Question....is the 7.62 NATO brass of thicker case wall dimension than commercially available cases?

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Castles made of sand slip into the sea.....eventually

Replies:

Posted By: Irish Blonde
Date Posted: December 12 2025 at 5:46pm

Yes

Posted By: A square 10
Date Posted: December 12 2025 at 9:35pm

yes , for certain ,

Posted By: Sapper740
Date Posted: December 13 2025 at 4:39am

Surplus 7.62 NATO brass is fine for reloading....just be sure to lower your powder charges and don't expect exceptional accuracy. I reload for my Anderson Arms AM 10 which is chambered for .308 Winchester and have loaded for accuracy and loaded for cheap plinking. I bought 2,000 M80 Ball pulled bullets and a bunch of Lake City brass for cheap shooting and have been only able to achieve 2.25 MOA with those components. Compare that to 1 MOA when I use Hornady .308 Winchester match brass, 168 gr. SMK bullets and Varget powder.

Posted By: Irish Blonde
Date Posted: December 13 2025 at 5:11am

Commercially, Alpha & Peterson brass is fantastic! Primer pockets last a long time and can handle some pressures.

Posted By: Canuck
Date Posted: December 13 2025 at 8:37am

I'll be shooting 7.62 out of my Parker Hale T4 target rifle and my DCRA No.4 rifle. Obviously segregating ammo to each rifle. I'll need to find the proper loading inforfmation. So far, I have found info as follows: Hornady 168grain BTHP on 41.2 g's IMR4064 and LRP's. I have the bullets and the primers. My Speer reloading manual states that most military cases have primers that are crimped and to remove that crimp before loading LRP's. The book also mentioned to reduce commercial load data whenn loading military cases by at least 3%. This is going to be a fun time!

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Castles made of sand slip into the sea.....eventually

Posted By: Zed
Date Posted: January 22 2026 at 12:47pm

The crimp is quite easy to remove; I use a Lyman electric case prep machine. It does a good job on the primer pockets.

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It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice!

Posted By: Shamu
Date Posted: January 22 2026 at 1:14pm

A good generic starting point it is to drop or raise your current load by 1.5 Gr depending on which way you're transiting to.

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Don't shoot till you see the whites of their thighs. (Unofficial motto of the Royal Air Force)

Posted By: Canuck
Date Posted: January 22 2026 at 3:38pm

All great informatin fellas! I thank you all and will refer to this thread often.

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Castles made of sand slip into the sea.....eventually

Posted By: britrifles
Date Posted: January 22 2026 at 4:58pm

41.2 gr IMR 4064 will be a mild load with 168’s and a 7.62 NATO case.

A chrono is a useful tool in load development.

If you’re looking for long range accuracy in your DCRA, here is a great recipe that will give MOA accuracy at 800 yards from a mid band bedded No. 4 DCRA Conversion:

Case - Lapua

Primer - CCI BR-2

Powder - 44.0 gr Varget

Bullet - 168 Sierra TMK

OAL - 0.02 to 0.03 inches off the lands, do not seat to 2.81 inches

Drop charge by at least 1 grain if using 7.62 cases. This load should be considered maximum for the No. 4 action, so work up to it and watch for signs of pressure.

Posted By: Canuck
Date Posted: January 22 2026 at 5:18pm

Thank you for this! I have marked it all down in my loading book.

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Castles made of sand slip into the sea.....eventually