This 7.62x51 NATO was developed in 1950's as a standard for small arms. Its like a twin for Russian 7.62x54mm R bullet so it should not be confused with it.
The most popular works of this bullet are in M-14 sniper rifle and M-60 Machine gun. but before 5.56x45mm NATO bullet was made it was used as a standard ammo for most of the NATO guns, since the infantry adopted to 5.56mm because of its size and weight this bullet was discontinued to be used in ARs.
But in case of sniper rifles you need a long range and killing power instead of more ammo and rate of fire so this bullet is still used in sniper rifles and machine guns, in both machine guns carried by the support type infantry and vehicle mounted weapons this bullet is used.
Although identical this bullet is not similar to .308 Winchester bullet in terms of muzzle pressure, powder load, cartridges thickness and kinetic energy and that is why its a military bullet and not a very commercial one.
Some 7.62mm ammo types used by military and hunters.
- 7.62 ball type NATO round: 9.8 grams a further development of initial T65 cartridge (M59)
- 7.62 NATO high pressure test cartridge (M60): not for field issue just for weapons testing.
- 7.62 Armour piercing (M61): 9.81 Grams AP round with black cartridge tip.
- 7.62 Tracer round (M62): 9.2 Grams with orange cartridge tip.
- 7.62 Dummy round (M63): only for testing weapon mechanism.
- 7.62 Grenade (M64): this has no bullet and is blank it simply provides the pressure to throw a rifle grenade & is identified by a rose petal of cartridge.
- 7.62 Ball type (M80) round: 9.5 grams, its a high velocity version of M59.
- 7.62 Ball type "lead free" (M81a1): 7.4 grams round to be issued in 2014, its a lead free round.
- 7.62 Ball type (M118lr): 11.3 grams this bullet uses a sierra hollow point and boat tailed bullet designed specificity for long range sniping.
- 7.62 Tracer (M276): also called "Dim tracer" with reduced tracer effect to be used with night visions.
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