Megalodon Varget Kernel

[MartyK2500]

Loaded a fresh set of 100 rounds today.
Same usual recipe for me, 42.7gn Varget in a 308 casing.
Have FX120 auto trickle auto throw, and rarely overshoots the way I tuned it, and if it does it never does it past 0.02gn.
Today I had a 0.24gn overshoot, looked in my powder pan and had a huge powder kernel in there.
I opened the bottle new myself and never contaminated it.
Put it on the scale and weights a whopping 0.20gn.
My velocity always has a very tight and constant 2702fps AVG.
This summer I will try one round with this big kernel and load totalling 42.7gn to see what gives, just for s**** and giggles!

Anyone else stumbled on one of these?
Put a regular 0.02gn kernel next to it for comparison.
When you closely observe it, it does have same texture and look as a varget kernel.

 

[pounder]

Did you look for any others in the powder ?

 

[MartyK2500]

It’s at the end of an 8lb jug that i found this.
Got maybe 1/2 pound left, I’ll pour it out and examine just to see.

 

[Mystic Precision]

I would shift that bottle of powder and see if you have any more 'gifts'... looks like cannon powder. Odds of causing an issue is not high but .....

Jerry

 

[Ganderite]

Shoot it. Velocity should be slightly lower.

If you can find 5 of those, Varget will exchange for an ice cream...

 

[MartyK2500]

I would shift that bottle of powder and see if you have any more 'gifts'... looks like cannon powder. Odds of causing an issue is not high but .....

Jerry

I won’t shoot it in competition obviously,
But am curious to see the Labradar results with that fat kernel in.

Shoot it. Velocity should be slightly lower.

If you can find 5 of those, Varget will exchange for an ice cream...

Now you really got me motivated to go pop a beer and sift through that jug!

 

[Big bore dinosaur]

Lot number

 

[MartyK2500]

Found over 12 under 3 minutes,
Just noticed my jug is filled with these!

7 pounds later you would guess i would of found more before then,
Although theoretically heavier kernels stay more in the bottom.

My heaviest one is 0.22gn, and they weight 0.16gn in avg.
A picture with 2 normal varget kernels, and a small primer.
Also another picture with what i think would be lot number.

This particular batch is the one that got me 1/2 moa 10 shots at 300M (1/2’’ vertical X 1.5’’ horizontal),
Got a hard time believing i wouldn’t of noticed these big suckers before!

Oh Ganderite, can it be beer instead of ice cream?

 

[257Wby]

I would contact Hodgdon about the issue...

 

[coyoteking]

I’ve been loading a bit of varget lately and I’ve not seen anything like this in my stash. You must’ve got the first jug that came off the line after a production change.

 

[Hitzy]

I had a few 1" long kernels in some 4064....guess it missed the cutter.
It's tough stuff to cut with scissors too.

 

[hunter5425]

Looks like you the first of a run with some leftovers from the previous run as a bonus.

 

[MartyK2500]

Looks like you the first of a run with some leftovers from the previous run as a bonus.

I wonder what caliber would use fat kernels like that,
So fat they won’t even pass through a large primer flash hole!

 

[todbartell]

This is the new Enduron Varget 2.0 which is phasing into production now.

 

[Chilly807]

Interesting times.. I'd definitely be on the phone with Hodgdon. That batch is from
May 2016, so it's mates are long gone but they might offer you an olive branch.
You have a pound of powder left that is suspect, after all. I think they'll be able to tell you what the batch number is, as soon as they hear what you found. Yours wasn't the only one.
You probably had a few fat boys go through the reloading process without noticing, if they dispensed early in the metering cycle the charge wouldn't weigh heavy. That one was probably pushed out right at the very end, which is why the charge weighed high.
If it is indeed even Varget, the larger kernel SHOULD burn slower, as Ganderite said. I don't see how this could happen with an extruded powder, unless the hopper was contaminated with a previous production run, or there was an oversize hole in the extrusion plate. The hole that extruded those kernels was hell and gone larger than "normal".
It's like finding Rice Krispies in your Raisin Bran..lol

 

[icdbko32]

call Hodgdon for sure and please update us with what happens.

may not seem like a big deal but quality control needs to be very stringent on this stuff and imagine somebody gets even more of these and it puts their load data off which causes an accident and inuries.

 

[MartyK2500]

I am not that fluent in English so I’d rather use email communication form,
They have a write us section on their website i have sent a message a few days ago, but they have not replied.

 

[Dave&Dar]

Surprised you didn’t hear it land in the pan as the load was dispensing. *whir,whir,whir,KLANK!,whir,whir,beep*

Interested in Hodgdon’s response.

 

[MartyK2500]

Just a FYI Hodgdon never replied to e-mail.
And I have finished that jug, I have sifted all remaining powder and tweezered out the fat ones out one by one.
It was easy as they we're obvious.
Had maybe 40 of these all in all in the bottom of my 8lbs jug, not too bad at least I noticed.

All ammo that had probabilities of having some in it was shot, from 200-600M.
Vertical never went bad so I am guessing either I didn't have any in or either having 1 big kernel like that didn't affect velocity that much.