Oldelk, I have never destroyed a barrel either to see. I have to go off of test reports from magizines. I got two 308' s and one shoots almost 100fps faster than the other one. Same maker, same barrel length. But your data is what you saw. Anyway it goes, as long as I can 2700fps or higher, I am not too worried about velocity. My older 300RUM was the slowest RUM I have ever seen. 3090fps with 180gr Partitions. Slower than any weatherby. But I knew the drop up to 500 yards and didn' t worry too much about it. My newer RUM is the fastest I have ever seen. Still don' t care as long as I get those purty clover leaves. This gun gets 3400fps with 180gr bullets with pinpoint accuracy. As long as I know what to expect I am not too worried about it. Sure, if I had a 270Win that shot 130gr bullets only 2600fps, I would start to worry.