Even if it's not announced that a bullet is discontinued, and a current bullet with the same manufacturer desgnation is available, it may not be the same bullet. And it's rarely announced that a change has been made.
Speer and Nosler seem to be the worst at this, but Hornady and Sierra do it too. If you bisect a .308" 180 grain Partition from 1995 and do the same to a current one, you'll see the internal partition has moved, and also if you put one half of the old bullet up against a half from the newer bullet, you'll see the ogive has changed as well.
Bottom line, if you find a bullet you really, really like, stock up on it with as many as you may think you might ever need, because there's no telling when it will go away, either through discontinuation, or via design change.
