Because a certain portion of muzzle velocity is dependent on the friction that is in the barrel. Friction in the barrel is what allows the pressure to grow, and higher pressure creates higher muzzle velocity---not sure I am explaining it right. Anyway, if you do your research well, you will see that the published claims are that MV is reduced by close to 50FPS. You can probably regain some, maybe most of that back again in load workups, as the peak pressure is reduced in a melonited barrel, so your individual rifle max pressure would be lower, allowing you to increase powder safely to probably regain the lost MV. Unfortunately, I can't give you real world numbers to show all of this, because my barrel was melonited before it was ever shot, thus taking away the comparison ability. The factory barrel was a Rem 700P 338LM barrel at I think 25" plus brake, but the new one is 34", so we cannot compare there either.