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Are ammo companies lying about muzzle velocity?
200K views
Jun 9, 2024
To learn more about popular hunting calibers, visit: https://huntingguns101.com/optin1615146914565?utm_source=YouTube&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=HG101&utm_term=YT&utm_content=MVmay2024 ______________________________________________ HUNTING AND SHOOTING GEAR I LIKE AND USE Hearing Protection: https://thebiggamehuntingblog.com/earbuds My favorite scopes (blog article): https://thebiggamehuntingblog.com/best-rifle-scopes-for-hunting/ My favorite budget hunting rifles (blog article): https://thebiggamehuntingblog.com/best-hunting-rifles-under-500/ My favorite budget hunting rifle slings (blog article): https://thebiggamehuntingblog.com/best-hunting-rifle-slings/ The above links, or the pages referenced, contain affiliate links. Commissions earned. ______________________________________________ In this video, I conduct a detailed investigation into what sort of muzzle velocities 23 different 6.5 PRC, 270 Winchester, 7mm Rem Mag, 300 Blackout, 300 Win Mag, and 45-70 Government factory loads from Barnes, Federal, Hornady, Nosler, Remington and Winchester are actually delivering afield when fired from rifles with 24" barrels (or 16" in case of the 300 Blackout). Here are the specific loads and rifles I used in the test: Bergara Premier Divide 6.5 PRC (24" barrel) 6.5 PRC Federal Terminal Ascent 130gr Terminal Ascent
View Video Transcript
0:00
Hi there, John McAdams coming to you from the range out here in East Texas
0:04
In this video I'm going to do some more velocity testing for you here today
0:08
Specifically, I'm going to test the velocity of 23 different loads from a variety of manufacturers
0:14
in six different cartridges. Now the unique thing about this video is in each case, I'm going to shoot this ammunition out of a rifle
0:21
with a barrel length equivalent to what the manufacturer uses when they get their performance
0:27
specifications for the ammo. For the most part, manufacturers are publishing their ammo velocities using a 24 inch long barrel
0:36
That means if you shoot that ammo out of a barrel that's 22 or 20 inches long, you're going
0:42
to be getting velocities slower than advertised. So what can you expect with these cartridges from these manufacturers if you're using
0:50
a barrel of the appropriate length? That's what we're going to test out here today
0:55
So we'll start with the 6.5 PRC. I have a Brigara Premier Divide rifle out here, 24-inch long barrel, and we will be shooting ammo from Nossler, Barnes, Hornity, and Federal
1:09
Next, we got the 270. I have a Browning A-bolt, 24-inch-long barrel
1:16
We'll be shooting all of that stuff out of. And I have ammo from Hornity, Remington, Federal, and Winchester
1:23
Next, we have the 7mmmmmmington Magnum. We've got ammo from Federal, Hornady, and Winchester, and we'll be shooting that stuff out of a Remington Model 700 with a 24-inch-long barrel
1:35
Next, we got the 300 Blackout. The 300 blackout is unusual with these cartridges here, in that most manufacturers use a 16-inch-long barrel to publish their velocities with
1:46
So that's what I got out here today. I have an AR in this case, Diamondback AR, 16-inch-long barrel
1:52
And we'll test out some. Hornady subsonic, Federal, Barnes, and Winchester. Those last three are all supersonic loads for the 300 blackout
2:03
Next up is the 300 WinMag. For this one, I have a Ruger Hawkeye, FTW Hunter
2:09
also a 24-inch long barrel. And we'll be shooting Federal, Remington, Winchester
2:15
and Hornady ammo in it. And finally, we have the 4570. I have a somewhat unusual Marlon Model 1895
2:24
that has a 24-inch long barrel, and we'll use that for this Hornady Lever Evolution and Barnes Vortex ammo
2:31
As always, I will use a Garmin chronograph to measure those velocities
2:36
For each one of these, I will shoot a three-shot group, measure all the velocities, let the barrel cool
2:42
then shoot the next load out of each rifle. So let's go ahead and get shooting
2:48
Okay, before we get started, realize I'm not going to show you a clip of the Garmin with every single load
2:54
I tested in this video. Though I will show you a clip with the garment from every cartridge and every manufacturer
3:00
I tested just to give you an idea of what was going on. I will give you a rundown of all my results at the end, both by cartridge and by manufacturer
3:09
And I didn't mention it earlier, but it was about 85 degrees Fahrenheit when I was shooting
3:14
Every rifle was unsuppressed. The 6.5 PRC rifle has a muzzle break
3:18
Everything else just had a bare barrel. Okay, let's get started shooting
5:11
the results, starting with the 6.5 PRC. As you can see, this rifle shot everything pretty close to advertised
5:19
The Precision Hunter ammo was a little slow, but just a little, and not enough to make a difference
5:23
The Nossler and Barnes ammo were a little fast, but all three loads were almost exactly dead on
5:29
Interestingly, the terminal ascent ammo from Federal was over 100 feet per second or nearly 4% faster than advertised
5:37
We'll talk more about the implications of this in a second. All in all, this was really good performance out of the 6.5 PRC, and this rifle was shooting almost everything very close to advertised
5:48
All right. Next up, we have the 270 Winchester. Things also performed very close to advertise with this rifle
5:54
Everything but the Hornity Precision Hunter Ammo was almost right on the money, with less than 30 feet per second, or less than 1% deviation from the advertised velocity
6:04
This was true across the board for the Hornity Superformance, Winchester PowerPoint, Remington Corlock, and the Federal Power Sheport
6:10
shock loads. The precision hunter ammo was 119 feet per second slower
6:16
than advertised on average, or around 4% slow. Once again, more on the implications of this in a minute
6:23
All right, next up we have the 7mm ton Magnum. I only shot three loads from this rifle
6:28
in this test, but as you can see, all of them were slower than advertised. Now, I did not
6:33
include them in this particular test, but I've also chronographed two other loads in this same
6:38
rifle recently as well, a 150 grain Barnes Vortex load and a 175 grain Remington Corlock load
6:46
Both of those loads were also 100 to 200 feet per second slower than advertised
6:51
I've mentioned this in the past, but there are what people call quote unquote fast rifle barrels and quote unquote slow rifle barrels
7:00
Based on the results I've obtained with these three loads, plus the other two I shot outside this test
7:05
It sure does look like this particular Remington Model 700 has a quote unquote slow barrel
7:11
The Winchester Expedition Big Game long range load with 168 grain acubon long range bullet came pretty close to advertised, but it was still a little slow
7:21
However, the Hornity Precision Hunter and the federal power shock loads were both over 100 feet per second slower than advertised
7:27
Once again, we'll talk more about the implications of that later in the video
7:32
All right, next up we have the 300 blackout. everything here was almost exactly on the money
7:37
Since this rifle has a slower advertised muzzle velocity than everything else I shot
7:42
some of those percentages are artificially inflated. Even so, we had a deviation of 51 feet per second or less from the advertised velocity
7:52
with everything I shot on this test on average. Interestingly, the Hornity Subsonic ammo was shooting the fastest over-advertised
8:00
Now, the speed of sound does vary. and it depends on what the ambient temperature is
8:07
The speed of sound is basically a 1,050 feet per second plus the ambient temperature in Fahrenheit
8:14
So the speed of sound does increase with temperature. It was about 85 degrees Fahrenheit when I was shooting this test
8:21
and that meant the speed of sound was around 1,144 feet per second
8:26
So this particular load was still subsonic, even though it was going faster than advertised
8:32
For reference, that ammo would still have been subsonic down to about 45 degrees Fahrenheit at that average velocity
8:40
Okay, 300 WinMag. Once again, everything here, very close to advertised. The Remington ammo was performing literally almost exactly as advertised
8:49
but even the Winchester PowerPoint and federal terminal ascent loads were performing very close to expected
8:56
Same was true with both Hornity Precision Hunter loads. Okay, finally we have the 4570
9:01
the Hornady Lever Evolution ammo was both extremely consistent and going almost exactly as fast as advertised
9:09
The Barnes ammo was definitely an outlier, though, and I'm not sure what was going on there
9:14
Percentage-wise, that was the largest change from advertised performance in the entire test
9:19
More on that in a second. On the whole, I shot 23 loads in this test
9:25
10 were faster than advertised. 13 were slower than advertised 13 of those loads are about 56 were delivering an average velocity within plus or minus 1 of advertised
9:39
16 of those loads are about 70% were within plus or minus 2% of advertised
9:45
Here's the roll-up by manufacturer. As you can see, two out of three barns loads were very close to advertise, but then we had that one outlier with the Barnes 4570 ammo
9:55
This is really weird to me, especially considering how the Hornity load for the 440
9:58
4570 was performing almost dead on. Maybe that rifle and that type of ammo don't mesh well together, velocity-wise
10:06
Might just be an outlier with this particular batch or lot of Barnes 4570 ammo
10:12
Hard to know for sure, especially since I only had two loads to shoot for the 4570
10:17
All right. Next, we have the Nossler load, almost exactly as advertised
10:20
I only had one, but it was performing almost dead on. Same thing with both ton Core Lock loads
10:26
There was a little bit more variation with the federal amort. but with the exception of the 7mm rim mag load, which I think can be attributed to a quote-unquote slow barrel, all of these were actually going a little faster than advertised
10:39
Usually not by much, aside from that one 6.5 PRC terminal ascent load
10:45
Now, the Winchester loads were all a tiny bit slower than advertised, but once again, not by much
10:50
All four loads deviated from advertised velocity by 55 feet per second or less
10:55
It was a mixed bag with the Hornity ammunition, though. The 270 superformance, 4570 lever evolution, the 6.5 PRC precision hunter, and both 300 wind mag precision hunter loads were all very close to advertised
11:09
Even the 300 blackout subsonic load was only off by 51 feet per second, even though that was about a 5% deviation from advertised since the advertised velocity is only 150 feet per second
11:21
Now, the 270 and 7 rim mag precision hunter loads were both considerably slower than advertised
11:27
And yes, interestingly, the 270 and 7-rimag precision hunter ammo both had the same average velocity for me
11:35
That's not a typo. Now, you could potentially chalk up that 7-rim-mag ammo to a slow barrel, like I mentioned earlier
11:42
That's not the case with the 270, though, which was very consistent in performing close to advertise with the other four loads I shot through it
11:50
Maybe this is an outlier, like I mentioned earlier, with the Barnes 4570 ammo
11:55
maybe this hornity stuff just shot slow out of my rifle and it will be faster in someone else's 270
12:02
Maybe this is an issue related to the specific ammo lot I have for the 270 here in the same vein like I discussed in my 7mm PRC velocity video
12:14
Once again, it is hard to know for sure exactly what the heck is going on here
12:19
Like I said, maybe I would get different results if I shot this same ammo in somebody else's 270 rifle or
12:25
or maybe if I got a different lot of this Hornity 270 ammo
12:29
and shot it in my same rifle. But at the same time, it is also worth asking
12:34
How big of an issue is it if your rifle is shooting a load 100, 150 feet per second
12:40
slower or faster than advertised? Well, let's dig into that. I calculated the trajectory of four different loads
12:47
I tested in this video, and I compared the advertised velocity versus what I actually measured at the range with this stuff
12:53
The 6.5 PRC terminal ascent load was 119 feet per second faster than advertised
13:00
The 270 Precision Hunter, 7mmmmmmmmmmmm precision hunter loads, were all over 100 feet per second slower than advertised
13:11
As you can see, it makes a difference but not a gigantic difference. Yes, the faster load in each case has a flatter trajectory and more energy at all ranges
13:21
But look at those numbers closely. There was less than one inch of change in trajectory at 300 yards with each load
13:28
Those discrepancies do turn into bigger problems as the range increases, though
13:32
and in each case, we're either near or at the point where using an incorrect elevation hold at 500 yards based upon the wrong velocity is enough to potentially cause a miss to the vitals of an animal
13:47
It's less of an issue with the higher BC loads, though, but it does get worse with all of them as the range increase
13:52
increases. So like I said, 100 to 200 feet per second of change of velocity doesn't make a difference
13:58
most of the time. If you shoot a deer at 175 or even 275 yards with this stuff, you probably won't
14:07
even notice But at 475 575 675 yards yeah it can make a big difference Now that what 100 to 200 feet per second of change of velocity will do with these higher velocity loads out at several hundred yards I would not worry about losing 100 to 200 feet per second of velocity for something like a 4570
14:27
where you're very unlikely to take a shot past 150 yards anyway
14:32
You could say the same thing about the 300 blackout as well. Both are best utilized at shorter range, say 150 yards and closer for both
14:39
There will not be an appreciable difference in trajectory or retained energy
14:45
due to any change that I observed in difference between actual versus advertised velocity for any of those loads
14:54
say at 150 yards and closer for both cartridges. And since that's the ranges I'd be using both cartridges at anyway, don't even worry about it
15:03
Now, let's go back to the higher velocity stuff, the 270, 7 rem mag, 300 wind mag, etc
15:09
Now, I would rather have that extra velocity than not, but it is most important to know
15:15
or verify your velocity and or trajectory, whatever it is so you can dial appropriately
15:22
Even if your rifle is shooting a load 200 feet per second slower than advertised
15:26
as long as you have verified your velocity or trajectory and you know this is what is going on with it
15:32
then it is a simple matter of holding or dialing appropriately at extended range
15:37
If that load is shooting accurately and consistently out of your rifle
15:41
and assuming you have it zeroed properly and you do your part as a shooter
15:47
there's no reason why you can't make a shot at extended range with it
15:51
Yes, it will have less retained energy as you go down range, and yes, that bullet will reach its minimum required velocity for expansion
15:58
at a closer range than would be the case if it were starting off faster
16:03
but most of the time it's still going to be more than capable of cleanly killing an animal
16:08
out way farther than most people have any business shooting. Now, it's also important to note that your mileage may vary with these velocities I measured here
16:19
This is what I obtained out of my rifles with these particular loads, these particular lots of ammo under these conditions
16:28
Even if you take the exact same load and exact same lot of ammo shoot it in a different rifle, under different conditions, you will get a little bit different results
16:39
Like I said, the lot makes a difference and the specific rifle can make a difference
16:44
Furthermore, there will be shot-to-shot variation. Every shot is probably going to be a different velocity
16:52
Some may be faster than advertised. Some may be slower, even with the same string
16:56
I will say, though, that in general, I observed here that published muzzle velocities are, for the most part, reasonably accurate, provided your
17:09
are shooting that ammo in a rifle with the appropriate barrel length
17:14
But especially if you're going to be shooting out past several hundred yards
17:19
it is still best to verify your velocities and or your trajectory at the range
17:25
before you try and go hunting out past a couple hundred yards
17:29
But with that being said, you should expect performance pretty close to advertise with
17:33
most factory ammo with the proper barrel length. Yes, there are outliers
17:38
Yes, I do recommend that you verify this stuff for yourself. But like I said, I was pleasantly surprised to see that most of this ammo was performing pretty darn close to advertised
17:50
And yes, you will lose velocity with shorter barrels. If a manufacturer advertised velocities with a 24-inch barrel, and most companies do
17:59
well, you'll probably be getting slower than expected velocities with a 22-inch barrel, for instance
18:05
How much of a loss and velocity can you expect? well I have a future video coming soon on that topic
18:12
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18:16
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18:31
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18:36
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18:45
Now I'm going to turn it over to you. What have your experience has been with muzzle velocities from factory ammo
18:52
What factory loads from what cartridges, what rifles, barrel links have you actually measured what velocities have you obtained with that stuff
19:00
Let me know by leaving a comment on this video right now. Thanks for watching. Have a great day and good hunting
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