What does this mean?

[kamlooky]

[URL=http://s614.photobucket.com/user/kamlooky/media/Kamloops%20Gun%20Show%20Purchases%202014/DSC08527_zps3c646b92.jpg.html][/URL]

Some ammo I found in my ammo locker and dint notice these stickers on the back side of the factory boxes.
Why would these non factory (?) stickers be put on the factory boxes?

 

[LUTNIT]

Since it says IVI and specifically refers to it as "Reference Ammunition" I would guess it was from some sort of testing that took place to gather data. It could have been a known good batch that was kept in storage for reference or perhaps they were looking at producing military 6.5x55 ammo for someone at some point and needed a baseline for comparison with their civilian ammo.
All the manufacturers out there buy lots of each others ammo for testing and comparison and store samples from their own batches for future testing as a reference point. This could have been from that.
I'd say there's a good chance it is a factory sticker but not one meant to go to retail or ever leave the factory.

 

[Eagleye]

Looky; This is likely some of a lot of IVI ammo that was sent to an independent lab [or was intended to be sent there] for testing to see that
it met SAAMI [Sporting Arms & Ammunition Manufacturers Institute] specifications.

As LUTNIT noted, it was probably not intended to get into the retail circuit with the sticker intact.

Regards, Dave.

 

[Ganderite]

IVI has their own ballistics lab to do pressure testing.

Each lab has "reference ammo" in each caliber it tests. This is ammo known to have a certain pressure. It is fired along with the ammo being tested. If the new ammo is 10,000 psi hotter than the reference ammo, then the new ammo is considered to be the reference ammo pressure, plus 10,000 psi, rather than just the numbers generated in the test.

If a manufacturer turns out a lot # of ammo that is particularly consistent for velocity and pressure, it can be used as SAAMI ref ammo, and many labs will buy it for that purpose.

Here is what a raw pressure test looks like. The reference 308 ammo in this case was made by Winchester. The pressure lab was at Expro, Valleyfield, PQ, the maker of IMR brand powders. This test would have been 4 to 8 pages of tests, all in 308, and starting with reference ammo. The ammo submitted included some quality ammo that we had on hand (Norma Match and Lake City Match) that we wanted tested so we could use it as our own "in house" reference ammo in our pressure gun. As you can see, the Lake City was about 57,000 psi and this was the pressure range we did not want to exceed in our ammo.

By the way, Lake City is quality USGI ammo, and you can see why I have often posted that the pressure limit of NATO 7.62 ammo is about the same as 308 Win. The limit of 50,000 for NATO is CUP, not psi. The psi limit for both 308 and 7.62 is over 60,000 psi.