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One Lung Wonder

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I'll be damned if I can buy gunpowder for love or money. I bought the SA M1A thinking it was like any other gun and then found out this thing only likes 4895 and a handful of other powders. Some fellas are saying Varget is fine, others say no it's not...and we all know this sport is full of gas bags that will make something up if they don't know the answer to an honest question! (Present company excepted, of course...).

Can I burn 3031 in my M1A? I have a metric ton of Nosler BT's and the Nosler manual is recommending a start of 41 gr and going on up to 45. Any comments on this before I try it?

When are we going to get more friggin gun powder in Edmonton anyways?!?!? Dammitalltohell...I have to stock up!:(
 
There is literally NO gunpowder to be had in Winnipeg either!
Of any kind other than blackpowder... its literally ALL sold out.
My M305 liked reloader 15 too but I've heard its a little slow and hard on the oprod.

This hoarding in the states is really starting to hurt us here too!!
 
It's about burn rates and some people think Varget is a wee bit too slow. Now I shot a lot of reloads using Varget before I became aware of that nugget of information and I had no problem but with your SAI Loaded you may want to err on side of caution - one thing to screw up a $500 Norc and quite another to pooch a $2k+ Springfield.

Now, to your question - if burn rate is considered the important issue go look at your manual and you will see that burn rates are listed and on the .308 page for example the various loadings are listed using powders with burn rates fastest to slowest. IMR 3031 is usually listed above Varget so you will likely be fine.

When you are able to do so, get some 4895 and make up loads using a 168g pill - SMK are best but Hornaday (for example ) will be fine. 40.5 - 41.5 of 4895 pushing a 168 projectile will likely yield some good results.

EDIT - Please reduce a load that is given for bolt guns. The M1A/M14 cannot safely handle a load that a bolt gun can. For example I often load 44.6g Varget under a 175 SMK for my PGW Coyote. I would NOT run that load thru my gas guns. Many manuals have a separate section for 'Service Rifle' - make sure you are on the right pages before proceeding 'kay.
 
39 grains of 3031 under a Hornady HPBT is my best accuracy load at 100 yards. 3031 as you might know is at the fast end of the range used for the M1A platform so your rifle may or may not like it. Best thing to do is to give it a try, just be cautious at first and work up.

I've been stocking up and placing order with Higginson and Hummason well in advance of needs. This has been working for me so far, except for 3031 which I only ordered as a sampler only to find that it worked really, really well.
 
One Lung Wonder said:
Some fellas are saying Varget is fine, others say no it's not...and we all know this sport is full of gas bags that will make something up if they don't know the answer to an honest question! (Present company excepted, of course...).
Click to expand...

If you ask questions on the Internet you get what you pay for.
If you think people are full of sh!t, why not go out and load a couple thousand rounds of ammo with Varget and run it through your gun and see how it handles it? Or if you maybe think credibility is lacking, do some research into it.
By all accounts that I have read the general consensus is that it is a poor choice due to excessive port pressure and will needlessly beat you rifle. I've heeded the advice of others firstly, because I have no reason to believe the predominant players coming to that determination would have any reason to steer fellow shooters wrong. Secondly, I believe it when those same players say something like that, they are speaking from experience and lastly, my ego and wallet are not big enough to completely disregard such folks that have decades of trigger time behind the M14.
You mileage is likely to vary.
 
My Speer Reloading Manual has a section on reloading for M1A match rifles.

Says to use 168gr Match BTHP

any of the following powders are recommended.

Varget
IMR 4064
748
Reloader 15
IMR 4320
AA 2460
AA 2520
IMR 4895
IMR 3031
BL-C(2)

It notes that charges listed are for a bolt action rifle and to reduced charges by 3% for M1A match rifles.
 
I only ever used 4895 before last week. But after waiting nearly six months to get a hold of some powder I decided I needed to try some others.
I dabbled with Varget and got some interesting results.
But I will stress that I had the gas turned off and was using a really light load.
No indications of undue stress on the brass or the gun.

And my cheap old Norc means more to me than a lot of peoples Match M1A's do to them.
 
IMR 3031 was the prototype propellant used to develop the 7.62 NATO. It was also the propellant used in the first 7.62 match ammo. It still works very well in the M14. Other old stand-bys worth a try incl IMR4895, IMR4064, H4895, BLC2, H335 and W748.
 
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