M14 Pet Loads??? Is Varget powder okay?

[Jay]

Hey Guys;

Anyone care to share their pet loads for the M14???:beerchug:

For hunting, I plan on using 165 grain Hornady Interbonds, 44 grains of Varget Powder with a CCI mag primer and a Norma case... I'll be picking up the projectiles at the Fredericton Gun Show this weekend and doing some home rolling...

To date, I've had great success (out of my old Savage 12FV in 308) with that recipe/powder load and either 165 grain Sierra GameKing HPBT & 168 grain HPBT MatchKing projectiles... I just haven't tried them out of the M14 yet...

Any insight guys?

Cheers
Jay

 

[back40sniper]

No, although it is used by some shooters in the states for match shooting it is generally considered too slow. H4895, IMR4895 and powders in this burn rate are generally accepted to be correct powders for this rifle.

 

[Craig67]

I thought magnum primers were for magnum calibers only ?

 

[Hitzy]

Varget is fine, next slowest Hodgdon powder after H4895. Speer manual even recomends it for semi auto match loads.
M14 has a regulated gas cylinder, once it has the pressure it needs to start moving it blocks the port off, gives you a little wiggle room for powder speed. Any powder suitable for a match .308 load will be fine for the M14.

 

[Splatter]

It is generally accepted that M14 powder burn rates should be no slower than IMR 4064 and no faster then IMR 3031.
My powder chart lists four (4) powders between 4064 and Varget.

Yes, like Hitzy says, the gas system is self regulated and you should be able to shoot 190 grain bullets in front of a big charge of 4831, in theory.

In practice, heavy bullets and slow powders are much harder on the gun.

Is it going to destroy the rifle with the first mag? No, that would be very unlikely.

 

[Bob]

Playing with Varget and RL15 right now but only up to 42gn's so far. Last year I tried 168 Sierra gamekings but found they had trouble feeding from the mag so will go with Hornady SST's this year. Will add that load later from home...Bob

 

[Jay]

Hey Bob, I picked up 165 grain SST projectiles from the local gun show... I'm looking forward to trying them out...

Anyone else playing with Varget and their M14??? I'm asking again cause it doesn't seem that there is a general consensus on the issue from the previous replies...

Cheers and Thanks!
Jay

 

[RifleDude]

Hey Bob, I picked up 165 grain SST projectiles from the local gun show... I'm looking forward to trying them out...

Anyone else playing with Varget and their M14??? I'm asking again cause it doesn't seem that there is a general consensus on the issue from the previous replies...

Cheers and Thanks!
Jay

Yes, I use Varget almost exclusively. My pet load is 168gr Sierra or Hornady match bullets and 44.5gr of Varget, Winchester cases and primers. My M14 wannabe just eats these pills without a hick-up If you go to the American gunboards that have M1A/M14 discussions, you'll find that a lot of shooters use Varget in their M1A/M305's

 

[Jay]

Thanks RifleDude and Hitzy... Time to load 'em and shoot 'em...

Cheers
Jay
P.S. I also picked up a Lee 308 Crimp Die... Don't need any high pressure bullet setback situations...