Seeking advice about what to feed a SA M1A.

I know it is not surplus but it is about as close as I will get to my old M14 in this lifetime. ;) I have quite a bit of South African surplus and a case of what I believe is the blue box S&B that says .308 Winchester on it. I know that .308 Winchester is different than 7.62 Nato and the S&B seems a lot hotter than the Nato, too, so it is reserved for my Enfield 2A1 and G3. My question is, will it be okay to fire the Australian and South African Berdan primed surplus in the M1A or should I just buy a good brand of commercial. It IS an expensive rifle and will be treated like a queen. Thanks, guys. Sarge.

Mine has eaten everything I feed it for the past 19 years. Commercial ammo I never shot over a 150 grain bullet unless it is commercial match with the Sierra 168 MK. Surp and mil spec. I never use more than the 173 grain Match FMJ. Photo of mine is linked ( view photos by JBS ) under my avitar, and yes that is a real Leatherwood and mount.

SGTHurley

For practical purposes, 7.62x51 and .308 Winchester are interchangable.

Specifically regarding the M14 / M1A (and M1 Garand):

(1) Conventional wisdom is to avoid bullets heavier than 175 grains in gas guns. Reason being heavier bullets = higher pressure at the gas port = faster, higher energy operation of the action = bent or broken op rods.

If you must use heavy bullets, vented gas plugs are available.

(2) Any 147 or 150 grain surplus ball with the NATO headstamp should be OK. The NATO headstamp is a circle with a cross in it.

Folks seems to like the: British, Aussie, South African and Portugese stuff. The Korean outfit PMC makes good ball ammo

(3) Some folks caution against using soft point bullets in the M14 / M1A / Garand. The thought is lead might be shaved off the bullet tip as the round is chambered. If the sliver ends up on the shoulder of the cartridge in the chamber it could act like a long headspace cartridge. I dunno about this one. I do not hunt with these rifles so I stick to FMJ ball and match bullets.

Regards

Jim

Have used south african in my m1a,very good results. fine accuracy , have shot out to 300+ yards. have also used in fal and ptr91 good results with all. not sure what weapon was intended to be used with it. believe s.a. used fal and g3 at times , could be wrong. maybe someone out there has the scuttlebut.