Interesting finding today.

[MagnumManiac]

G'day all,
Just returned from an interesting weekend of hunting in dubious thunderstorms, sighting in and testing a few cartridges in recently finished or built rifles I haven't had a chance to do for some time. Very happy with my new Rem 700 Sendero II 300WM, put 5 shots into one ragged hole with shoot 1 and clean for 2 lots of 5 shot strings.
Still can't bring myself to shoot that custom shop Rem 700 5R I picked up cheap. LOL.

Friday and Saturday were set aside for deer hunting, I passed on a young chocolate Fallow deer doe as it was too small and, that was the only deer I saw within shooting range unfortunately.
Anyway, I decided to run some ammo over the chrono starting with my new 300 RUM.
This is where the interesting side of things took place. Set up my Chrony and made sure it was level and square to line of sight, fired a known load with my 300WM and all was tracking as it should be.
Tried the Barnes 165g TTSX bullets first, got 3383fps, 3385fps & 3368fps thinking this is good, the box says 3360fps.
Then went to the Barnes 180g TTSX and proceeded to get 3081fps & 3112fps. I stopped there as the box says 3250fps.
This has me bewildered, as normally I find my own loads do not vary this far from published data. I do not normally use or test factory fodder, so this has me puzzled as to why the 165's are close to advertised but the 180's fall so short of the mark.
In this to be expected?
Anyway, it's not a real bother to me, it will still kill deer just as dead, just curious I guess.

Cheers.

 

[Dosh]

It's been proven often in past threads, many bullet manufacturers embellish on their velocity published on their ammunition boxes and websites.

 

[ShtrRdy]

Sounds like you've been having some fun!

As for published velocities there could be many reasons for it to be close in one case and quite different in another. For example the company may have taken the first measurement when a cartridge was developed and then had 1 million cartons printed with that information. In the mean time the load could have been tweaked slightly to work well in a wide selection of firearms.

 

[MagnumManiac]

All very good points. I had considered that there may be differences lot to lot, but having worked where ammo is made, each batch is verified to obtain the desired ballistics on the box, this I know is done.
To be honest, it could have been many factors, as I didn't re-zero the rifle, the bullets may have not been going perpendicular to the screens, which would alter the outcome.
I was impressed though, my previous experience with the TSX out of my 25-06, 270 and 300's were very poor. Gave those bullets away I was that disappointed with them.
These TTSX's both shot very close together, the 165's went into a nice clover about 9/16" with the entire 12 shots fired.
The 2 180's were right next to each other too.
In total, sighting in the new Sendero, (which was miles off after I bore sighted it?) the 338WM and testing the RUM, I fired nearly 50 shots, am a bit sore, but not as much as I thought I would be!
Getting out again next weekend to hunt as well, see how I go.

Cheers.

 

[ShtrRdy]

Good luck with your hunt. Is this a normal time of the year to hunt where you are?

 

[MagnumManiac]

Good luck with your hunt. Is this a normal time of the year to hunt where you are?

Nooooooo!
It is Spring, getting really warm and the deer are up high in the hardest places to get too.
Even if I sit over known game trails, there's no guarantee at this time of year the deer will be moving from those bedding areas to feed and vice versa.
I normally hunt during Winter only, but due to Covid and lockdowns, this is my only opportunity.

Cheers.

 

[ShtrRdy]

Okay, that makes more sense when I compare to animal behavior and seasons in the US. Thanks for clearing that up for me.

 

[MagnumManiac]

Okay, that makes more sense when I compare to animal behavior and seasons in the US. Thanks for clearing that up for me.

I'm only looking to put meat in the freezer, most of the deer here will have shed their antlers by December.
If push comes to shove, I will take a stag with no antlers!

Cheers.