Thread: 308 Short Barrel Ammo Advice

Greetings @Jim356,
My 20 inch barrel in .308 delivers 2,750 fps with my handloads which should work out to 2,700 fps in an 18 inch barrel which is not all that short. You really need to chronograph the load to see what you are actually getting. The chronograph will tell you if it is a slow load or not. If it is slow, say under 2,600 fps, chronographing the load in another .308 will tell you if it is a load problem or a rifle problem. My guess would be a scope problem or perhaps different holds used at the two ranges. Chronographing will narrow down the problem to the actual cause. When testing everything needs to be the same. Same position, same hold, scope power unchanged and preferably same day and conditions. Otherwise you learn nothing.
Lastly a plug for handloading. Using factory ammo leaves us at the mercy of the manufacturers. Some ammo is good most of the time, some good some of the time and some no good whatsoever. Taking charge of this variability via loading your own gives you much more confidence in the ammo that you shoot.
Regards and best of luck Grandpamac.