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- This cartridge was developed by the Ordnance
- Dept. of the U.S. Army in the 1940's through 50's
- under the name T-65. After extensive testing, it
- was to become the first NATO-adopted standard
- cartridge, the 7.62mm NATO, or 7.62x51mm NATO
- cartridge.
-
- Winchester requested and received permission
- to introduce the cartridge commercially as the
- .308 Winchester. The result has been worldwide
- acceptance in a range of sporting firearms.
-
- The military endeavor was to improve upon
- the .30-06 Springfield round, which had been in
- service since 1906 (or 1903 if one considers it's
- real origin as the .30-03). The result was a
- round of substantially less weight and size,
- while retaining the same bore diameter as well as
- only a negligible drop in ballistics (muzzle
- velocity was within 100 fps of the larger round).
-
- The .308 has been neck-sized successfully to
- a variety of commercial calibers. These include
- the .243 Winchester, the 7mm-08 Remington and the
- .358 Winchester. All are excellent choices for
- short-action rifles, covering a wide-range of
- applications.
-