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7.62 × 51 mm
Region
Egypt
South Africa
Argentina
Brazil
Chile
United States
Indonesia
Malaysia
Singapore
India
Iran
Pakistan
Israel
Turkey
Czech Republic
Finland
Norway
Sweden
United Kingdom
Greece
Italy
Portugal
Austria
France
Germany
Switzerland
Category
Ammunition, Missiles and precision weapons
The case is rimless and bottlenecked, brass or lacquered steel, Berdan or Boxer primed. Cartridges manufactured to the relevant NATO specification will be marked with a cross-in-circle symbol on the head, forming part of the national pattern of headstamp. The standard ball bullet is lead-antimony cored in a GMCS jacket. The 7.62 × 51 mm cartridge was devised in the early 1950s as a compromise between the full-sized 0.30-06 and a proposed British 7 mm round; it is little more than the 0.30-06 with a shortened case.
Improvements in powder technology allowed the new round to essentially retain the same ballistics as the 0.30-06. Despite this, many of its competitors were far more advanced. The USA used its considerable influence to override all allied objections and the 7.62 × 51 mm was made NATO standard. The 7.62 mm NATO cartridge is too powerful to be a practical assault rifle round, resulting in development of the 5.56 × 45 mm cartridge only a few years after its adoption. The 7.62 mm NATO cartridge remains in wide distribution for use in general purpose machine guns and sniper rifles. Applications include all weapons chambered to NATO standard dimensions; notably FN FAL, G3, M14 , BM59 rifles, FN MAG, L4, MG3, M60 machine guns.