thndrchiken

Like has been said, you have to try them in your gun. Some guns shoot them well enough, some not so well. I've also heard complaints about higher recoil, though I imagine it's mostly perceived.

Slamfire

Recoil couldn't be anything but higher. Using the same bullet, and rifle, with increased velocity, recoil must increase to keep the formula in balance. [8D]

texhookem

Someone commented on reduced barrel life, well i have heard that hornady has powders which are more efficient than others and are not available to the general public. This is why they achieve those advertised velocites. Without using the powders that they have it is very difficult to load a 30-06 to 3100 fps or a 308 to 2990 fps. Without those more effiecient powders a 30-06 or 308 loaded to those velocities would be a very hot load indeed and possibly unsafe in certain rifles. My advice for you is to not use the light mag, just use normal loads for your 308. I know its enticing to speed up your bullets but when that deer walks out it wont make a difference. If you wanted that extra speed you should of bought a 30-06 and if you really wanted more speed you should of bought a 300 win etc.

bigcountry

Tex, barrel life reduction would be much the same as a hot 308 load or one with real slow powder compressed. Cause this is mostly dependent on pressure and amount of powder used. So I don't think that would be an issue. The way I believe it is its not a Hornady powder, but a hornady blend. They like weatherby gets the same powder from the same sources we reloaders get. But I believe they are able modify the cut, and modify the blend to get desired results. I have disassembled a 308 150gr light mag and its a very compressed load. You have to actually dig out the powder.

Slamfire

Actually the slower the powder burns, the hotter it makes the steel inside the barrel. The Hornady light magnums and Federal high energy laads use a powder not available to the public. It is so slow, they can compress it twice. I assume you couldn't do that with H1000 or BMG50. You may do what you want with your rifle, but I'm not burning anythng hotter than 4350 in mine.