.243 Superformance non-performance

[Gota6.5]

Hi everyone,

I was wondering if anyone else had chrono'd this ammo and found it dissapointing velocity wise?. I tried both the 80gn GMX and 95 SST with the following results:

Tikka T3 22" barrel
95 SST average 3002 vs claimed 3185 fps
80 GMX average 3295 vs claimed 3425 fps

My research so far is showing that most calibres match up to Hornadys claims of increased performance, but not for the .243....

If anyone has any data for the .243 and superformance ammo, I'd love to hear about it

 

[Joe King]

your shooting a 22" barrel, what was the barrel length hornady tested with? Bore finish, throat on each barrel? Just because one barrel produces on velocity doesn't mean the next will match that. Some barrels are just fast some are slow and there's a whole host of reasons each performs in it's own manner.

 

[FEENIX]

Agree with Joe!

Hornady uses 24" barrels in most of their test unless otherwise noted.

http://www.hornady.com/assets/files/ballistics/2012CatalogCenterSpread.pdf

100 FPS (based on ~50 FPS gain per inch of barrel length) explains part of the difference.

 

[Gota6.5]

Sure, I understand that I would see a drop in velocity due to the difference in barrel length, but I think that 185fps for 2" is just a bit much. I can get Winchester supreme 95 BST going faster than that in this barrel.

Anyone else have similar experiences?

 

[Lefty7mmstw]

I've seen up to 300 fps difference in a load from one rifle to another. The next load will be similar between the same dang rifles. That's why they say every rifle is a law unto itself. Barrel length, throat, barrel diameter all have bearing as to velocity, as do smoothness of bore, ambient air temp., rifle temp., how stiffly you hold your rifle, distance from chronograph to muzzle, and chronograph accuracy. I'm sure I forgot a few other variables too.

In short, 100 fps difference or so + - don't worry. Much more than that, and unless you have a really short barrel, you probably want to look at another load.