Varget addiction!!!!

pzkw108

pzkw108

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can someone tell me what is so great about Varget powder...!!!!!. when I started reloading (.223Rem ) thats the first powder I bought cause everybody was talking about Varget....
I'm not saying that is not a good powder, I got good result with Varget , but I had good result with other powder too. I found that Benchmark is great for .223 and a lot faster than Varget...

I don't use Varget anymore , cause she got a BIG downside.... TOO HARD TO FIND!!!!!!! that's the reason why I don't develop load with it CAUSE IT'S NOT RELIABLE!!

my 2 cent.....
 
I have one pound of it too. Bought 2 to see what it would do and made a load but what is the point of using it unless you can afford to buy a couple 8 pound jugs at a time.
 
I have read any number of threads touting its great consistency with a tremendous variety of calibers. Great for 204 Ruger all the way to great for 308, so I bought a Higginson 7 pound box just in case I liked it, and I do. FS
 
It's universally near the best for all small to medium calibres. Each cartridge likely has something that is better, but if you are going to buy one powder, that will do a very good job for most of your loading, it's Varget. That is why it is so popular. It's not that it's the best powder, it's just the most versatile. Kind of like Unique, for handguns. Jack of all trades, master of none (well, maybe some).
 
i use h4895, very similar to varget in terms of specs, but it has a complicated name. People prefer buying varget where I get my powder because its easier to pronounce than Hodgdon 4895, they leave it all to me.
 
If one is only concerned with minute of moose, the choice of powder is of little consequence. But consider the target shooter who might have to compete in temperature ranges from zero to 40C during the season. Varget is a good choice for him due to the consistent velocities he will observe across the range of temperatures he will experience.

Consider the difference in velocity when measured from 0F to 125F with powders commonly loaded in the .308 behind a 168 gr bullet:
Varget - 8 fps
Win 748 - 114 fps
Re-15 - 50 fps
Vit-150 - 50 fps
IMR 4064 - 46 fps
A-2520 - 63 fps.
Now, consider that your rifle chamber will be warmer than the ambient air temperature! Loads tend to be worked up and loaded prior top the start of the season, and typically temperatures will be cooler then. The more uniform the velocity across the temperature spectrum, the less likely there will be any unwanted surprises down range.

Load density has a correlation to accuracy, and the small granules of Varget produce greater load density than other extruded powders. Hybrid H100V has taken this a step farther yet, but it seems to be a bit slow for the capacity of the .308.
 
I started using for my 7mm-08 with the 140g accubonds. Just used it because of the data I got from the Nosler website.

I quickly found a good load so I stuck with it.

I bought a bunch of it so I'd have it handy for when I needed it again.

The groups I was getting with my 22-250 using H380 were okay but not consistant when the shooting temperature changed so I try some Varget for that and it worked out.

With the H380, I built a load last winter for mny 22-250. Shot 5 shots into pretty much the same hole at 100 yards. When the temperature warmed up, the groups looked like I shot the target with a shotgun.
 
Varget

I use Varget in my customized Mini-14 with 69 gr Match Kings because it worked best however my Bench/Varmint rig uses H4198 with 55 gr Vmax to great effect albiet only 3100FPS.
 
Varget is also the flavour of the month, as a relatively new powder there is still is the percieved coolness of shooting the latest greatest powder. The only rifle that I ever owned that had summer/winter load worries is the 17 Remington, mainly because of the small bore and high velocity. Most of the new Hodgdon powder is "Extreme" now havinging the same hot/cold stability, Varget is only one of the ten Extreme powders.

http://www.hodgdon.com/extreme.html
 
I love the smell of Varget.
I found an 8lb. jug.
Should last me for a little while.
I've used it for .223 with great results
and currently use it for loading 6mmbr.
A friend used Varget for his 6mmbrx ,but switched to
Benchmark and likes the results with Benchmark.
I may have to give Benchmark a test.
 
Varget is fairly insensitive to temperatures, and it gives me +/- 3 to 5 FPS in my 308 Winchester loads (it's very, very common to get identical or off-by-1 or 2 readings from the chronograph). I've also made a habit (not 100%, but fairly regular) of putting 3 bullets into a sub 1/4 inch group at 100 meters with my stainless Tikka 'beater rifle' using Varget fueled hand loads and nosler accubonds. Can't argue with any of that.

Varget isn't perfect (it's almost 100FPS shy of the velocity I can get out of Reloader 15), but for what it is (consistent accuracy, velocity, and temp insensitive), it rocks.
 
Howdy

My 2 cents

Several years back, I was testing powders for my Rem 700 PSS in .308

It came down to two powders. Varget and Reloder 15. The bullet was Sierra's 175 BTHP MK

Both powders gave great velocities and good 5 shot groups. But the kicker is when each would give me a bad group. The RL 15 loads, a good group was one ragged hole at 100Y. A bad group was 5 individual holes, but they were all in the 10 ring at the point of aim. Varget's bad groups, the point of impact would shift high the the left.

So I use RL15 for my several .308s, .223, 7.5X55 Swiss.

A friend uses RL15 for his .303brit and 8x57 loads with good results.

If people out there like Varget, hey that's great. Leaves more RL 15 for me.;)

Sticker
 
If a powder load is shooting....it will always shoot.

If the group all of a sudden opens up or moves around it's either the barrel going south, throat erosion (which means chasing the lands with the bullet) or shooter error.

Sticker said:
If people out there like Varget, hey that's great. Leaves more RL 15 for me.;)

Sticker
Click to expand...

Switch that around and that's the same way I feel :D
 
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