Cranked up my savage 110 Haymaker and a recently picked up SSK encore barrel, both 18". Already had a load worked up with Hornady 250gr FTX over LilGun, which cuts a 5/8" hole @ 100 yards out of the Haymaker.

Set up the Garmin Xero to document velocities. Hornady factory FTX 250s were spot on at 2200 fps as per the box. Larry's was dumping these a while back at a price too good to pass up and had picked up a few boxes as back up. Was expecting the same out of the LilGun reloads, or possibly slightly less, based on the velocity from the Hornady load book. Eyes popped when they recorded slightly over 2400 fps for both Haymaker and encore. That's 200 fps over expected w/ no pressure signs. Talk about a deer thumper.

Picking up a Garmin Xero definitely a good decision. Stays in the range bag and easy to use. No fiddling around setting up a shoot through chrono or varying readings because of lighting.

The 450 is a great round. Very accurate too.

Wow, that’s approaching 444 Marlin energy levels. Pretty impressive!

Picked up a 450 upper to play with. Hope to thump a pig or two soon.

I'm liking my encore w/ the SSK barrel. You don't realize how much shorter they are w/o that bolt action. Slapped on a muzzle brake, which noticeably helped w/ recoil. Average velocity is 2432 fps.

Won’t be any doubt when you hit something with that. The impact should be heard for miles around

Unfortunately my Warne mounts aren't robust enough for the recoil. Had two scopes walk on me w/ the encore. Will need to find something with a little more grip.

Your joints may not be robust enough for the recoil either. LOL