interchangeable ammo

[1Bearguide]

Can anyone help.
I have a .308 savage lever action a friend of mine gave me some military ammo and told me i could use it in my gun I tried it and it jammed in the breach these are the type he told me they could be
308 WCF
7.62 NATO
7.62 X 51mm
Can I use any of this ammo or are there any others available
Thanks for your time
1 Bearguide:confused:

[inplanotx]

Hi 1Bearguide and a big welcome to TFF. If you have a Savage model 99 lever action with either a rotary or detachable box magazine, there should be no problem with the Nato 7.62x51 round for plinking or target shooting. However, for hunting purposes, this is a full metal jacket bullet and I would not use it on animals. Just my opinion. Hope this helps.

[Cow Caregiver]

Check the barrel and make sure it does not say ".303 Savage" on it. If it does, it is a rarer cartridge, kind like a .30-30. It is not .303 British either. If it says .308 Winchester on the barrel, you should be good to go.

[merc]

hi there Bear guide
Inplano and cow caregiver are both right.
The 7.62 x 51 is the Nato round which is the civilian .308
The main difference is that that military round is a FMJ and will not expand the way a commercial hunting round will.
There really is no reason why the military round would jam and the commercial round not.
Double check the barrel to insure you have a .308
The Nato round will also produce a tad more pressure than store bought. If the chamber is a bit on the lage side you may be expanding the shells during firing causing the jam.
Try measuring the cases before and after shooting both the ,308 commercial ammo and the 7.62 military ammo.
Let us know what the results are so we can learn something with ya.