re: Official AR-15 thread

Sig 716 Manual

Take a look. .308 is fine according to the manual.

When you call, I imagine they are going to tell you what they have told everyone else who's called. 308 is fine to shoot.

Reloading may be a different monster. Commercial ammo is fine, according to SIG and numerous owners who have commented on the subject.

Also found this read interesting...

The difference between .308 and 7.62 is chamber size, slight pressure differences due to powder burn rates, not external case size. Both cases will have the same external dimensions while the .308 has a slightly higher pressure 60Kish vice 50-55 CUP psi for NATO**. NOTE: This is OPPOSITE from the 5.56/.223 rule of thumb. The NATO chambers have greater tolerances to help with reliable functioning of military ammo. The NATO chamber is ever so slightly longer at .013". This is significant in that for reloading purposes, 308 brass will stretch more in a military chamber upon firing, thereby reducing the life of the brass and possibly promoting case head separation. But that additional chamber length will allow a round to chamber in an incredibly dirty weapon, which is a requirement for military applications. Also be aware this is why mil NATO brass is thicker vice 308 commercial brass. You will also see this "thicker brass fact" posted about 5.56/.223 brass which is a fallacy.

**As a side note the reason the pressure issue is confusing is becuase the military measured 7.62 NATO chamber pressure (PSI) via CUP (in the 40s) vice the normal commercial rating of PSI measured (now) with electronic means. You will see many cling to the 50-55K PSI figure for 7.62 Nato becuase that is what the old Army TMs have in them. Since there is no conversion for the CUP measurement to the newer electronic measured PSI, they are two different numbers i.e no direct comparison. Many people will assume the CUP PSI is the same as SAAMI/Commercial PSI. It is not. Commercial PSI is derived from the direct pressure in the chamber through electronic means (piezo transducer or strain gauges). CUP is a crush measurement of a copper slug that has been fired, again not the same test.

That means any newer weapon will be able to fire 308 Commercial ammo as manfs would not let them out the door if they could not, due to liability. Don't believe me, run the numbers/powders in any internal ballistics calculator and they will all be close to the 60K mark. BTW the proof load for the 308 commercial is 75K PSI, so don't worry about the 60K.