Seeking information on 7.62 x 51/308 headstamp.

longarm said:

Well, AAC seems simple:

https://palmettostatearmory.com/brands/aac-ammunition.html

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Well it should be simple but it is not. Totally different AAC. The brass in my stash has been in storage since around 1987, hence that 83 head stamp makes me think I bought it around the time I bought that 308, 1984. Due to military service, then a divorce, that gear got packed up and moved where it is now, in 1994, so it is old stuff. That is why it is surprising. Since then they invented the 300 AAC or 300 Blackout.

Much more recently the invented the Palmetto company which now sells a brand of ammo they call AAC. Palmetto is a conglomerate made big by the bankrutpcy of Remington. The are owned my JJE Capital Holdings, LLC as the Successful Bidder with respect to the DPMS, H&R, Stormlake, AAC, and Parker brands and they are the parent company of Palmetto State Armory. Longstory but the ACC ammo at Palmetto is a brand new company in Columbia, SC, start-up was 2021 but ammo just came out in 2023. Palmetto the company started business in 1994 but only as an AT type store.

OK more this one from: What’s Up With Palmetto State Armory And AAC Ammo? | Ronin's Grips (roninsgrips.com)

More history.Uh… wait … isn’t there already Advanced Armament Corporation (AAC) using a similar logo? Why yes, there was. Emphasis on “was”. You see, AAC was a brand owned by Vista along with Remington. When Vista tanked, the parent company of PSA, JJE Capital, bought them so AAC is a sister company to PSA.

JJE Capital also now owns DPMS Panther Arms, Stormlake, AAC, H&R and Parker Brands. The JJE website doesn’t mention those but I read them in another post about the sell-off of Vista. JJE does identify PSA Defense (safety and training), Palmetto State Armory (PSA), and Palmetto Outdoors Shooting Facility.

PSA now has a new sister company – Caliber Coffee. Plus there is an insurance company that they’ve had for a while that I overlooked – Right to Bear – that sells carry/self-defense insurance.

PSA itself is actually a family of companies including: DC Machine, Ferrous Engineering, Special Tool Solutions, Spartan Forging and Lead Star Arms. This means these firms are owned by JJE Capital as well.

Okay, returning to Advanced Armament Corporation’s fate: Going forward AAC was split into two divisions – AAC suppressors and firearms (which are to be resurrected) and then AAC Ammo adopted the slogan “America’s Ammo Company”.
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So, this very shine brass 308 case marked 83 with a Berdan type primer is not recent. Just curious since it had the AAC headstamp. It does not show up anywhere in the collector or military history cartridge database.

havanajim said:

The takeaway here is...... only one .308? What? How's that even possible?

You need a FAL!

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Actually I had two, the other was a carbine also and I like longer range guns. I did carry and qualify expert with the M14 and love it. I was a combat MP for a while and I was one of a few that got to fire the M14 full auto a lot. The Army did not like troops to fire either the M16 or M14 full auto, big deal. But I was in a place where I trained that way. I was also an M60 guy. You can light up a hillside with an M 60, but with the M14, you can light up a car or single door or window in a house at 400 meters. From the prone you fire the gun with the little butt stock flap on top of your shoulder. It kicks like hell but you have control and can put most of the 20 rounds in a mag inside a door if you need to. Kind of like suppressing sniper fire, except each time you send 20 rounds. If you hit a car, some or all of the occupants will be deceased, nothing in a car stop the NATO round.

I wanted an M1A Tanker but never got around to it. I have Mini 14s, 30, SKS, AK, ARs and others just no 308s.

I have killed 8-10 deer with it, one big boy at over 300 yards and a couple mule deer, the rest have all been white tail bucks. I shoot flatter guns than the 308 for most hunting. I like the 308 because it has lower recoil than most that I hunt with, just only have the one. It is darn near perfect, by the way. That is why I decided to load up about 250 rounds and fire it a while.

Now as a battle rifle....no question about it.

riposte191145 said:

I have some Hirtenberger .308 (7.62 X 51) that has that little circle with the cross. As someone above said I think it might be the NATO symbol, which is sort of strange because it is soft point ammo, but the head stamp on mine is RG 84

It sure is good ammo! giving 2950 fps from my 26" M-70 and 2850 from my 22" M1a!

I'd love to find some more of it!

Riposte

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I bought a lot of 308 ammo at gun shows back in the day. My buddy had a table at least once a month and my gun club had a table advertising the club so I was at a dozen per year and would jump on bargains and just store it. I still have ammo from 30 years ago and I assume this was part of those days.
I saved this brass because it is fine looking brass, I had no clue it was not boxer primed. I will look some more and maybe I can find a box or packaging.


2,850 from and M1A or any 308 is pretty darn good. My only 308 is the carbine, not getting them quite that fast. I have maybe 500 rounds of that old military stuff and will spend the summer working on those 200 yard steel critters and then load up this brass for the future. The surplus military ammo as I recall was cheap, 10-12 cents per round, more than the 5.56 and 7.62 x 39, but still cheap by today's standards.

SG ammo has the cheap plastic bullet training ammo in stock, 22 cents per. I would love to have some, just not willing to spend $109/500 plus tax plus shipping or about $140 for them. If anyone is interested here is the link. They are supposed to be accurate to 150 yards. Anybody have an experience with this stuff?

ELCid85 said:

My understanding is that AAC 83 headstamp in 5.56x45 and 7.62x51 ammunition was a made by Igman of Yugoslavia for Nordac Manufacturing Corp. (NMC) in Fredericksburg, Virginia, with the initials standing for “American Armaments Corporation”. The contract's intent was to deliver sanitized ammo to El Salvador.

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Congratulations. You win the prize. There was no actual American Armaments Corporation until
1994.

The AAC headstamp peaked my interest because of the AAC Blackout etc. No such company as the AAC ammo companies or the AAC suppressor company existed then. The AAC headstamp was a fake company, more below.

We found lots of NATO ammo with a WCC headstamp but none with the AAC. The reason is because none of the federal or collector databases shows it. However. ,..you found the source...



NORDAC MANUFACTURING CORPORATION 1977 - 1985 - FIELD & PERSONAL GEAR SECTION - U.S. Militaria Forum (usmilitariaforum.com)

That article is fascinating. It says the ammo was defective but I do not recall ever having a problem. I need to dig out the old stash, this stuff appears collectable. Maybe I still have some unfired, I dunno. Looks like they made 18 million rounds of 5.56 that went mostly to El Salvador but very little to the US. It appears very little was made or sold to the US market, lucky me. LOL



Thanks for the ammo, first time I recall ever being stumped.

riposte191145 said:

Ranger; The Hirtenberger JSP load gets around 2600 or a little over from my 16" DSA (copy of FN), I haven't tested it out of my SOCOM-16.

I bought three cases of the stuff and put it away before I tested it and it disappeared from the market not long afterward - I bought it as cheap shooting ammo but I'm glad I didn't dip into it as my son shot a big buck with it from the M-70 and it performed perfectly, found out later it was has a bonded bullet!

I have some other military ball that doesn't get much over 2500 fps from my 22 and 24" guns - some of it won't even operate my Imbel FAL with the gas bleed shut off (it will function in the M1a though).

Riposte

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I have not ran across any of the military import 308 that was good soft point hunting ammo but have found some in 7.62 x 39. That Wolf and Tullamo and Herters 154 grain soft point ammo is good stuff and is hotter than the American made ammo. I was surprised to learn that is was pretty common for cow elk hunters in Colorado years ago, hunting with the SKS. Not a gun would hunt with but one guy claimed he had killed 6 or 7 cows with that combination. Before the ARs got popular lots of people hunted deer with the SKS, they were popular in Oklahoma and Arkansas for both deer and hogs. Kind of a poor man's Browning, lol, short range one.

I killed one big deer with a Mini 30 and set out to find the cheap import soft point ammo. The best I found is the Silver Bear 125 grain BTSP. Excellent ammo. Bullet is much like a standard Hornady Interlock.

I think the days of the cheap bulk important ammo are behind us and not likely to ever happen again.