New reload .223 burn dirty

Dom08

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Hey guys
Got the chance to shoot my new reloaded ammo
.223, 55 grain. Varget powder.
We are finding that these are burning dirty. Leaving shells and chambers quite sooty, leaving a lot of residue.
We are loading at 25 grains.


Thanks guys!
 
Semi or bolt? I found the same in my AR but in the bolt it seems fine. I wouldn't worry about it. It's more important how it shoots.
 
Per your other thread, Varget is a slower powder for the .223 burn range.
There are better powders for the 55 grain bullets you are using, and likewise, better bullets suited to the use of varget in .223.
 
Some powders need near max pressure to burn clean... WC735 comes to mind and Alliant Power Pistol...

Never favored Varget for .223 so can't help ya there... H4895 and WC735 always got the desired results.
 
I run 24.5gr of Varget behind a Hornady 55gr FMJBT. I don't see any unburned powder and I get pretty good accuracy from my DD M4V5 and 12.5" AR. It's not the cleanest burning powder (as in dirty) and it stinks but it works for me.
 
I run 24.5gr of Varget behind a Hornady 55gr FMJBT..... It's not the cleanest burning powder (as in dirty) and it stinks but it works for me.

Right, but if you ran a heavier bullet (say a 69-77 gr. SMK) behind that same charge, you'd see that Varget is actually quite a clean burning powder with very little residue.
 
as mentioned lots, bring your charge up if safe to do so..

iv run varget in multiple 223s, 308s , different barrels on same actions etc and a friends 6br when we traded rifles for a bit. in each case i found that i had to be near max pressure ( i wont say "max charge" as some rifles reach max pressure before published max charge) before things ran nice and clean
 
You can't put enough Varget in a 223 case with a 55 gr bullet to produce excessive pressure. Load er up.
 
I shoot a Remington 700 VSSF II (.223). With 55 grain VMax bullets I have had some success with 24.6 grains of Varget, consistently shooting under 0.5 MOA. An earlier post suggested using MAGNUM primers. If you were to try this I would recommend reducing the powder charge by 10% and working up. Generally, if you use the data in your reloading manuals, or from the Hodgdon website, you will find a couple of accuracy nodes within the safe published charge range.
 
That load needs to be hotter. More powder and magnum primers should do it. That being said, I would try a different powder that is more suited to the bullet weight. W748, H335, BLC-2 are excellent powders for 55 grainers and burn clean when used with magnum primers. W735 is about the best IMHO, but it is gone and is near impossible to locate now.
 
As with anything to do with the internet... take everything with a grain of salt. Build your loads incrementally and watch for pressure signs.
 
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