One of the concerns with the formation of NATO in 1949 was interoperability (that is, commonality) of ammunition. Col. Rene Studler was the head of the U.S. Army's Ordnance Corps at the time and championed the T44 rifle (later adopted by the U.S. as the M14) built by Springfield Armory and the new T65E3 cartridge for it. The T65E3 cartridge was type classified as the 7.62x51 NATO as the common round for infantry rifles and general purpose machine guns.
The T65E3 cartridge is essentially a repackaged and product improved version of the venerable .30-06 cartridge introduced to the Army in 1903 and upgraded in 1906. The new 7.62 NATO round is the ballistic equivalent to the .30-06 at all but extreme ranges. The M80 Ball cartridge (7.62 NATO) differs from the M2 Ball cartridge (.30-06) primarily in the kind of powder it uses and the amount, the weight of the bullet (147 grains vs. 150 grains), and the shape and length of the case (the 7.62 is about 1/2 shorter and slightly fatter at the neck than the .30-06).
The 7.62 NATO (and its civilian counterpart, the .308 Winchester) are very popular cartridges among shooters. However, the cartridge is entirely too powerful for the standard infantry rifle capable of both semi-auto and full-auto fire. The Germans realized this in WW2 when they scaled down the standard 7.92x57 Mauser rifle cartridge to 7.92x33 for use in their MP43, MP44, StG45, and VG1 series of assualt rifles and carbines. The Russians were impressed by the German's new caliber and this led to development of the 7.62x39 intermediate caliber that continues to see worldwide use.
Col. Studler was one of the "old school" Army ordnance officers and his thinking was with that of the Army Ground Forces at the time. The Army wanted a new rifle that: (1) weighed about as much as an M2 carbine; (2) was selective fire; and (3) would replace the old M1918A2 BAR, M1 rifle, M1/M2 carbines, and M3 series submachine guns; and would have roughly the same range as the venerable .30-06.
Now, the fact that a rifle that had light weight, would shoot full-automatic fire, and would fire a cartridge in the .30-06 class was totally impossible by the laws of physics did not stop the U.S. Army in its quest. The new wonder rifle was in protracted development for over ten years before final adoption as the M14 in 1957. To this very day, the M14 (and its descendents) is a very accurate, hard-hitting rifle in semi-automatic only. Put a selector switch on it and you'll be lucky to get two of 20 rounds on a man sized target a 25 yards.
The M14 on full-auto gives new meaning to "spray and pray" because it dumps its magazine very fast -- cyclic rate is 750 to 775 rounds per minute. Throughout the late 1950's and early 1960's the Army tried to make the M14 into a replacement for the old M1918A2 BAR. What they came up with was the M14E2 (later M14A1). This rifle had a special stock with a rubber butt plate and two pistol grips, a bipod, a special compensator, and it still was innacurate in full-automatic. The M14E2 or M14A1 was replaced by the M60 general purpose machine gun in the rifle squad. The M60 was a much superior gun. At 23 pounds, the "pig" had the weight to handle the recoil of the 7.62 NATO round and the gun was belt and not magazine fed. That meant you could carry more ammo without having to keep changing magazines. The only drawback was that the riflemen now had to hump not only the loaded magazines for their M14's, but two belts of 7.62 NATO, linked, for the voracious appetite of the M60! No good deed ever goes unpunished.
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