IMR 4166 for .308

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HondaVTEC

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Just wondering if anyone has done anything with IMR4166 with the .308 ? I am current using IMR4064 and Varget with the 175SMK bullet and I am looking to develop a backup load in case powder supply doesn't improve in the reasonable future . I also wanted to test VV N150 but that is also unavailable through my local supplier for at least another 3 months .
 
I've used it with a few different bullets. It will give similar speeds to your Varget / 4064 loads. Temp stability is almost as good as Varget
 
Got a couple of pounds to develop an alternative to Varget. Tested with eld-m 168 and my groups sizes and SD/ES were much higher than Varget. Pressure signs appeared from nothing to stiff bolt/ ejector marks within 0.5grains. Will still test with smk175 but for now not very promising unfortunately.
 
I tried 4166 this morning in the .308 with the 175SMK in Lapua Palma brass . I have no real data for a load so I took my best guess . It seems to have potential . Groups weren't quite as tight as 4064 , but , this was just a start . I think that it can be tuned to work quite well . It shot about as well as what I've seen Varget shoot in this particular rifle . I will make some adjustments to the load and give it another try . Next range trip I'll chrono it to see what's what .
 
I did a Varget/4166 comparison of 100M groups using an accurate 308 which gave similar results. Did not chrony.
 
Fastestmanalive said:
Got a couple of pounds to develop an alternative to Varget. Tested with eld-m 168 and my groups sizes and SD/ES were much higher than Varget. Pressure signs appeared from nothing to stiff bolt/ ejector marks within 0.5grains. Will still test with smk175 but for now not very promising unfortunately.
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Recently made up some loads with 150 gr BT’s. Used Magnum primers, FC brass, as per Hogdons data, trimmed cases, and minimum starting load. Some flattening of primers and 1 out of 5 rounds had stiff bolt opening. Not promising.
 
Here’s all I could find of some 100M groups with both Varget and 4166. The two Varget groups were .5 but looks like the load development with the 4166 was a bit better on the days I shot.

 
LeadMonkey said:
Personally I think IMR 4166 is a superior powder to Varget. It also has the virtually identical temperature stability and is widely available with stable pricing while Varget is neither anymore.

Interesting read: https://precisionrifleblog.com/2016/06/19/powder-temp-stability-hodgdon-extreme-vs-imr-enduron/
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I have a little less than 7 pounds of it and I would give you, or anyone who would like to trade me, 6 pounds for 4 pounds of Varget.
I have not been able to get close to Varget or IMR 4064 accuracy and it wasn't from a lack of trying.
I tried 175 SMK's, 178 ELD-M, and 188 Juggs.

I switched to Varget and I'm getting 1 hole groups on the Juggs.
 
So , 2nd time out testing a few different loads with the 175 SMK and IMR 4166 in Lapua SRP brass . Accuracy is "ok" , but , not as good as IMR4064 . So , I am going to transition over to Lapua LRP brass and try it one more time . If I don't see much success in LRP brass , I won't chase it any further .
 
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