The velocity on a box of Federal vital-shok, .308 180gr. high energy is 2740fps. The lyman manual has 2578fps as the maximum for the 180 grain. What gives? Thanks

Hey bones

The Nosler #5 manual gives a load for the 308 in 180 gr bullets that is max velocity of 2718 fps which is closer to the factory round. Typically, manuals are conservative, they have to be. That being said, if you ever load over Max load according to the manuals (which most of us do occasionally) start below or at max load per the manual and work up slowly and carefully looking for signs of pressure.

Same thing goes with different manuals and cartridge overall length. When I first started reloading I read through a few different manuals. I forgot which cartridge I was loading but each manual gave quite a different OAL for the exact same bullet.

So much for industry standards huh??

I think you guys are missing the question. The Federal High-Energy and Hornady Light and Heavy Magnum loads use a different powder that increases velocity without increasing pressure. You can't claim a "max" velocity fo a bullet because different guns shoot differently. I may get close to max or way below the publishes velocity. You can't really say "this weight bullet will never go any faster than X fps".

Has anybody chronoed the high energy loads to see if their numbers are correct? Would Federal use more powder or a different type powder? Any guesses?

It's a different kind of powder - slow burning - and a loading techniquie which really packs it in. I'm told by friends who've tried that if you pull the bullet and empty the powder you can't get it back in!

The Federal 180 Nosler Partition High Energy went 2,700 fps in my last 22" bbl'd 308.

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Has anybody chronoed the high energy loads to see if their numbers are correct?

I have chrongraphed several of both federal high energy and hornady light magnum loads and none produced the advertised velocity.All were from 50fps to over 100fps slower than advertised.Accuracy ranged from fair to very poor.

quote:

have chrongraphed several of both federal high energy and hornady light magnum loads and none produced the advertised velocity.All were from 50fps to over 100fps slower than advertised.Accuracy ranged from fair to very poor

I`ve found most factory ammo runs 75 -125fps slower then advertised in my rifles. The light mag stuff in three different cartridges I`ve tried has been at least 50+fps faster the same bullet wgt non lite-mag factory loads. They might not give advertised vel but they do beat the std stuff by a notable amount.
Accuracy is on par with other factory loadings, some shoots good, some doesn`t. Accuracy in any rifle is a "iffy" thing, you can`t say any one load will or won`t shoot in any given rifle without trying it.

in my 06 with a 26 inch tube i was getting 2930 fps, in a 24 inch tube im getting 2850-2880 dependind on the batch of ammo used
daniel