Here are my velocities from my 20.1 inch barrelled FN-FAL.
Remington once-fired cases, 150 grain Sierra HPBT, IMR-4064 and
CCI-250 primer. Gas setting 4.5.

43 grains: 2703, 2696, 2719 Ave. 2706
44 grains: 2734, 2673, 2668 Ave. 2691
45 grains: 2736, 2732, 2754 Ave. 2740
46 grains: 2803, 2816, 2846 Ave. 2821

Remington Factory 150 grain Corelokt:
2571, 2542, 2536 Ave. 2549

What gives? I don't get this. Either Remington is severly
underloading or I am severly overloading which I do not believe is
the case. My primers are just showing the rounded cup edges being
sharpened up with the 46 grain load, none have any sign of
splashing and ejection is very positive. The interior of the cases are
carbony with less than 45 grains and clean up with 45-46 grains. I
think 2800 is excellent with this short barrel but am I over. The
Nosler book (from which I pulled these powder weights) uses a 24"
Lilja barrel and I am supposed to LOSE ~26fps with each inch. I
should be getting 100fps less shouldn't I?
I think I will load up some with RL-15 and see what happens.
Any comments welcomed.

Remington shows those bullets at 2820 fps. If that is a new box of ammo I would have no idea, except bad quality control.

Your load looks fine.

Good Luck,
Steve

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Every man dies, but not every man really lives!!

I sure Remington rates their velocity for this loading from at least a 24" pressure barrel and more likely a 26" barrel and your post says your barrel length is only 20". I would expect 20 to 30 fps loss in velocity for each inch of barrel shorter than the Rem test barrel. As an aside, I can't remember the last time I got the velocity for any cartridge that was shown on the box and I use a dual-channel Oehler chronograph.

Besides barrel length, who knows? I've chronographed a variety of factory ammo in a few different rifles and rarely come close to factory advertised velocities even with the same barrel length.

On one end of the spectrum in .30-06 we have Federal Premium 180-gr. Nosler Partition which was 250 fps under listings. Federal High Energy with the same bullet was right around factory listings but gave pressure signs in both my rifles!

The flip side was the .270 Federal Classic 150 RNSP which exceeded advertised velocities despite only a 22" barrel.

Anyone ever try writing to the manufacturers about this?

John

I got 2975 avg from the same factory round in a Remington 700 Titanium over the course of 20 rounds. I used an Oelher Proof channel chrony.

The action of you gun probanbly contributes to the decrease in velocity.

Did you try shooting the same ammo out of a bolt gun?

So, you've discovered the dirty little secret: American factory-loaded centerfire ammunition is in desperate need of Viagra.

99% of shooters have no access to chronographs, and have no idea what kind of performance their ammunition is turning in. Underloading ammunition is (1) cheaper and (2) a bit safer for the ammo companies. And since nobody but people like us know the difference, and knowing the difference just makes us reload more and consume more components, underperforming factory loads are a win-win for the factories.

It also creates a market for "high-enegy" and "super-premium" loadings at inflated prices, which in reality, just about reach factory-claimed velocities for the regular loads. Ain't it a wonderful country!

I've never actually done this myself, but I'd like to see the results of taking 3 or 4 or 5 identical rifles -- let's say Remington 700s in 30/06 -- and firing them one after another with exactly the same loads under exactly the same conditions and chronographing the results. I'd be willing to bet that the velocities would differ by at least as much as 100 f.p.s., and probably as much as 150 f.p.s.

My point? Every rifle is unique, even if they're from the same manufacturer or gunsmith. This applies to accuracy and velocity, as well as other aspects of the rifle. So what you read from any published ballistic source applies to the particular gun and test, but YMMV.

LE270

You are correct. I have never done it with 3 or 4 rifles but have tried 2 identical factory Sako 223s and 2 custom 7 x 57s with the same barrel length. Depending on the load, velocities varied between 100 to 200 fps from rifle to rifle.

I have also seen velocities vary as much as 8 % just by changing lots of the same type powder.