I found some XM80 .308 ammo online for a reasonable price. Since .308's in demand, I figured there had to be a catch, so I did some searching. The stuff is copper-gilded steel. So the logical next question would be: is the copper gilding thick enough to prevent the rifling from engaging steel? If I had a polygonal-rifled barrel perhaps I wouldn't be as concerned, but unfortunately I don't (yet). Now, I couldn't find information on the thickness of the copper, though I did find some interesting sites.
Ammo Oracle - Copied from AR15.com
5.56mm Ammunition - From "Gary's U.S. Infantry Weapons Reference Guide"
Naval Gun Ammunition - Has very interesting diagrams of cannon rounds
Gunshot Wounds - A book digitized by Google containing some useful-looking info from a quick scan
The only way I can think of to check the jacket thickness is to buy the stuff, pull the bullet, and mill it in half. Two problems with that: The ammo is in 500-rd packs, and I don't have a drill press or mill to do the cuttin'.
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