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Bullet is 174grain FMJBT with exposed core in the tail. Was in old.308 180 grain SMK HPBT box. Did some poking around. Maybe old m1118?

thanks!

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Maybe? Lake City sold 172 Match bullets in bulk 20 or so years ago. Non hollow point boat tail. I have loaded thousands of these.
They shoot good but not quite as good as 168 Sierra Match Kings (SMK).
Are you able to measure them? They could be .311 SMK for use in .303 British.
Good post .311 vs .308.
 
So i measured the diameter the guy i got these from only shoots .308 and 30.06 he said he doesnt remember the brand but gor them a while ago maybe 6-7 years posted pics on them in the dial caliper i have a super tight clamp on it it seems to match the SMK i have will post pics of those in a moment 893C9C0C-065E-48DA-83F8-E425E0856C8B.jpeg EA5DF44D-DFC8-4CE1-B564-A52AFBA8036F.jpeg
 
Could they be 175 grain? I remember seeing some imported (Prvi?) brass cased ammo in 175 boat tail. Maybe these were pulled from that?
 
They could be pre war ( WW2 ) .30-06 match bullets.
These bullets were of the FMJBT type in the 172-175 weight range.
Just a guess here....
Andy
Edit to add :
Or maybe .30-06 M1 Ball ammo*...this was in the 174 grain weight range and of the same type
( FMJBT )
* Not a typo...before the M2 Ball ammo ( 150 grain ) the US used M1 Ball ammo
 
Last Edited:
Thanks for the info everyone. I am guessing they are possibly a millitary surplus round. Old man mentioned getting them at a gun show here in town. I went out and bought a new scale last night because the old one only measured to the whole grain and not a 0.0. I read something on a few forums that when the millitary first introduced the .308 the 174 grain was what they stuck with after a few tries. Another forum mentioned these same looking bullet, where general consensus was they were M1118 ? These seem to weigh out right on the 174 mark. However when i do a search and recent info points to. The .303 having a 174 grain.

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Sir, it is NOT a notion, the .303 British IS a 174gr bullet. Period.

In 1957, when the US adopted the 7.62x51 cartridge, followed closely by the rest of NATO, the bullet weighed 147gr. Special requirements for a longer range cartridge for sniping and 'special applications' led to the development of the M118 bullet - read -

Specialized loadings were created for 7.62×51mm NATO-chambered sniper rifles. They used heavier and more streamlined bullets that had a higher ballistic coefficient than standard ball rounds, meaning they shed velocity at longer ranges more gradually. Loss of velocity is important for accurate long-range shots because dropping from supersonic to transonic speeds disturbs the flight of the bullet and adversely affects accuracy. The standard M80 ball round weighs 147 gr and has a muzzle velocity 200 ft/s (61 m/s) faster than the M118LR 175 gr sniping round. However, the M80 drops to subsonic velocity around 900 m (980 yd), while the initially slower M118LR is supersonic out to 1,000 m (1,100 yd) due to its low-drag bullet.
 
Last Edited:
Sir, it is NOT a notion, the .303 British IS a 174gr bullet. Period.

In 1957, when the US adopted the 7.62x51 cartridge, followed closely by the rest of NATO, the bullet weighed 147gr. Special requirements for a longer range cartridge for sniping and 'special applications' led to the development of the M118 bullet - read -

Specialized loadings were created for 7.62×51mm NATO-chambered sniper rifles. They used heavier and more streamlined bullets that had a higher ballistic coefficient than standard ball rounds, meaning they shed velocity at longer ranges more gradually. Loss of velocity is important for accurate long-range shots because dropping from supersonic to transonic speeds disturbs the flight of the bullet and adversely affects accuracy. The standard M80 ball round weighs 147 gr and has a muzzle velocity 200 ft/s (61 m/s) faster than the M118LR 175 gr sniping round. However, the M80 drops to subsonic velocity around 900 m (980 yd), while the initially slower M118LR is supersonic out to 1,000 m (1,100 yd) due to its low-drag bullet.

so are you saying these bullets are for a .303 brit?

My follow up would be arent the bullet dimensions off of the bullets i have off for that round? Isnt a .303 brit .312 in diameter?
 
The .303 British bullet is .311" diameter and was originally flat-based. Later marks got the boat-tail especially those made for machine-gun use

If you read what was said in post #11 by Andy - he posits that they might be pre-war match bullets.

To sum up -

IF they measure .308" and they weigh 174/175gr, then they likely as Andy notes, are match bullets for the .30-06 cartridge - the .30-06 bullet measures .308", that's why the US had such a push to adopting the 7.62x51 - because it was a .308" diameter and all the machinery was already in place.

IF, OTOH, they measure .311", then they are NOT for any .308" cartridge, but the British .303", which began as a black powder load in 1888 with the attendant deep grooves, and was an old-fashioned paper-patched bullet. The lands were .303, and the grooves for this black powder load were deep - with a diameter often as much as .314". Even some early 1900s-production SMLEs had similar deep grooves and bullet makers used to make bullets accordingly.
 
M1 30 cal bullets.

Excellent in the 30-06 with 45- 46 grains of IMR 4895.


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