DAC Headstamp Question

[Lee T.]

I happened on a strange headstamp in what's left of my DAC (Dominion Arms Canada) .30-06. I 've only seen the NATO symbol on 7.62x51 ctgs - so what is doing on this '06?

[Tuna]

When NATO started about that time the most often encountered firearms were US military ones so the 30-06 was used. US arms aid was through out the world and just about every country in NATO used US arms.

[Lee T.]

Thanks Tuna.....are you saying that the symbol was used from the beginning of NATO, and it is common?

My question remains - if .30-06 was so commonly used by NATO countries in the 50's, why is this headstamp so rare (at least to me)? I have never seen another '06 stamnped with NATO acceptance, and have been messing with 06's since the 60's . This one was in a bunch of DAC and DAQ I've had for a long time, maybe 250-300 total. Which isn't all that many but it is great ammo and I have tried to save it.

When did the 7.62x51 become the NATO standard?

[Tuna]

Winchester and the miltary were developing the 7.61x51 in 1954 and it wasn't all that long after that it was adopted by the US and later NATO. The symbol was used from the start by NATO and while some NATO spec ammo which was USGI spec was made the vast majority of the ammo used back then was USGI and a lot of it was left over from WW2.

[Lee T.]

From some internet searching (don't know how to insert a link):
1. The US developed the T65 ctg and the T25 rifle in 1950, which became the 7.62x51 (M80) and M14 rifle. The ctg was accepted by NATO as the standard in 1953.

2. The cross-in-circle symbol does not mean "NATO spec". It means the particular ctg is of proper "design" to be "interoperable" and only means it will chamber and fire in the correct firearm. It does not indicate comparable ballistics or performance, which is apparently a widely held misconception, including myself before I learned all this.

3. The design symbol was accepted by NATO for use in Aug. 1959.

4. So I'm still left wondering - what is the symbol doing on a D.A. 55 .30-06 ctg ?? That was 4 years before NATO used it, and it's not on the right ctg !!

Tuna - I appreciate your input, but after researching it, I have to disagree about NATO usage.....the various countries may have used '06 from where ever, but the symbol and standard agreements (STANDAG's) weren't in place until the dates above. Once the caliber and ctg design were in place, the 14 countries developed their own versions of firearms to use on future battlefields, with ctgs that would work in each other's weapons, but would not necessarily work the same.

[kcw]

I suspect that the symbol, and its meaning, had been floated around for some time prior to its actually being officially accepted by NATO. It could be that whomever contracted with Dominion went ahead and adopted it, if only for their own purposes of ammo standardization. I can see where some small nation, newly equiped with U.S. weapons, might be confused with array of military 06' around during that era. To them the symbol would assure that ammo stamped with it would at least function OK for the purposes they thought important.

[Tuna]

When the concept of NATO started there were only four countries involved. The US,Canada,UK and France. Three of the four used USGI M1 and other small arms as their standard weapons. The UK was still with the .303 for most of theirs. The other countries came into NATO much later on and then finally France officially dropped out of NATO. Inter-operable would in essence mean it's made to a specific standard to function in all weapons made for it. In other words NATO spec. which was USGI. Winchester was developing a whole family of cartridges based on the 308 in the early 1950's when approached by the military about a new cartridge and that became the 7.62x51. If I remember right the T65 was not the same as the 308 which was finally adopted with a few minor changes as the 7.62x51.

[Lee T.]

See if this URL works for you. It's where I got the historical information, and has detailed technical data to support it. The title of the article seems to be about the 7.92(8mm) but is mostly about the NATO ctg. - I don't know why the title is different........
http://www.cruffler.com/trivia-June01.html

There's no doubt Dominion made a lot of '06 ammunition, as did the U.S. in the 50's. But in my experience there are no others that have the cross-in-circle stamp. My original question is still the same. If D.A. (Dominion Arsenal Quebec Canada) produced .30-06 with a NATO design symbol, why aren't there more around? There are 2 possible answer-
1. The contract was so small that they got all used up by the contractee
2. The headstamp was deemed to be inappropriate once the 7.62x51 was accepted by the NATO countries, which was right in the same year or years, and DA immediately dropped the symbol.
In either case, it would make the headstamp pretty scarce, at least unusual, wouldn't you say? Unless, of course, someone has information to the contrary.
Maybe Ray Maketa will chime in........