Varget alternatives for 223?

[DA07]

As titled I’m looking to id an alternative to Varget for my 223. Hands down it’s the best powder I’ve used for my rifle but availability and price seem to be an issue. So, I’m looking to test out some back up powders. Looking to get over my target through some logical suggestions. Before suggesting anything consider this:

R700 HB, 20”, 1/9” twist. I have tested H335, H322, Benchmark, H4895 and Varget. The rifle does 3/4” with 40gr and 53gr VMAX, and 69gr SMK’s, all with Varget. All other powders, the groups open up to 1-1.5”+. Velocities with the lighter bullets and other powders go way up, but accuracy diminishes. With the 40gr VMAX, H4895 and Varget give me the exact same velocities per grains of powder, but groups with H4895 are larger across the board. Primers haven’t made a difference, but powder has. The bullets I’ve had the best luck with all don’t like to be jolted out of my barrel. They seem to like the easy ride that Varget is providing. I’m assuming it has to do with the faster barrel twist.

What other powder would be a second best that might be worth trying? From looking at burn rates, seems Varget is the slowest I’ve shot. Faster hasn’t worked well. Perhaps there is something close or slower that someone has had success with?

 

[Ganderite]

RL-15 has worked well for me with 69s and 80s.

 

[Oldly]

As titled I’m looking to id an alternative to Varget for my 223. Hands down it’s the best powder I’ve used for my rifle but availability and price seem to be an issue. So, I’m looking to test out some back up powders. Looking to get over my target through some logical suggestions. Before suggesting anything consider this:

R700 HB, 20”, 1/9” twist. I have tested H335, H322, Benchmark, H4895 and Varget. The rifle does 3/4” with 40gr and 53gr VMAX, and 69gr SMK’s, all with Varget. All other powders, the groups open up to 1-1.5”+. Velocities with the lighter bullets and other powders go way up, but accuracy diminishes. With the 40gr VMAX, H4895 and Varget give me the exact same velocities per grains of powder, but groups with H4895 are larger across the board. Primers haven’t made a difference, but powder has. The bullets I’ve had the best luck with all don’t like to be jolted out of my barrel. They seem to like the easy ride that Varget is providing. I’m assuming it has to do with the faster barrel twist.

What other powder would be a second best that might be worth trying? From looking at burn rates, seems Varget is the slowest I’ve shot. Faster hasn’t worked well. Perhaps there is something close or slower that someone has had success with?

I've had really good luck with benchmark and 53 vmax,I think it was 25.5 at 2.25 on a savage 24 inch as well as tikka 3x.the 69 not bad but not varget good.orderd some imr 4895 from bullseye to try as varget is hard to find

 

[Ruger007]

CFE223 has worked well for me. Also 748, BLC2. 3031.

 

[DA07]

CFE223 has worked well for me. Also 748, BLC2. 3031.

Seeing as the CFE was introduced as 223 specific I’d be inclined to give that a try. Listed as a touch slower than Varget.

 

[Ravage]

cfe223 or 8208xbr are designed for 223, I believe I read somewhere that 8208 is what the Australian military made ammo is loaded with

 

[Peecos]

Try VihtaVuori N140, right beside Varget on the burn rate chart and cleaner burning. Replaced all my Varget loads with it.

 

[chrismc]

^^^ I did the same - n140 is a really good 223 powder

 

[IvoB]

R-10x

 

[DA07]

Try VihtaVuori N140, right beside Varget on the burn rate chart and cleaner burning. Replaced all my Varget loads with it.

I referenced this chart and it seems to explain a lot for me.

https://hodgdon.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/burn-rate-color.pdf

In my case the faster twist barrel just does not tolerate faster burning powder. Benchmark sounded like a great idea when I bought it, but the results proved otherwise. Velocity was superior but did not have the accuracy I am looking for.

Next step will likely be the CFE223. Will try that with 53gr VMAX and a 68-69gr HPBT (Hornady Match or SMK). I’d definitely be open to N140. Just want to make sure whatever I move into is somewhat economical, and available.

 

[DA07]

I've had really good luck with benchmark and 53 vmax,I think it was 25.5 at 2.25 on a savage 24 inch as well as tikka 3x.the 69 not bad but not varget good.orderd some imr 4895 from bullseye to try as varget is hard to find

What twist rate is your Savage barrel? Just curious; all this stuff is different for each individual barrel but rate of spin can be a good indicator for comparisons. If it’s working, great! Stick with it!

 

[ted_dent]

I did a lot of experimenting with .223 when tying to find a good load for my target AR (24" stainless bull barrel with 1:10 twist). My best results were with Benchmark (24.5 gr.) and Sierra Match Kings (52 gr.). Best group was 5 shots in .28" at 100 yards. I also tried 2230, 3031, BL-C 2 and Winchester 748. None of them were bad but Benchmark worked best for that gun & load combo.

 

[thump_rrr]

Imr 8208 xbr.

 

[DA07]

Imr 8208 xbr.

What twist rate, barrel length, and which bullet?

 

[jimbo14]

See if you can borrow some D4064 from a buddy, or consider buying some from Canada Ammo to play with. I’m only starting to play with it, but it chronos almost identical to Varget with my .223 shooting 90 grain JLK bullets. I haven’t gone beyond initial testing yet, so only 3-shot groups. No 5-shot groups yet.

 

[DA07]

See if you can borrow some D4064 from a buddy, or consider buying some from Canada Ammo to play with. I’m only starting to play with it, but it chronos almost identical to Varget with my .223 shooting 90 grain JLK bullets. I haven’t gone beyond initial testing yet, so only 3-shot groups. No 5-shot groups yet.

Noted! I was searching their site. Good price on elbows; $40. According to my data, I don’t want to go slower than Varget, but that’s not saying it won’t work. It just might. My interpretation right now says to try equivalent or slower. I’ll put the D4064 in line after CFE223.

Let us know how it works out for you. What barrel length and twist are you running?

 

[new210/22]

Ram shot tac has been great for me.

 

[Hitzy]

D4064 is a great Varget alternative, I've pretty much switched over to it.due to availability and how well it actually works.

 

[jimbo14]

Noted! I was searching their site. Good price on elbows; $40. According to my data, I don’t want to go slower than Varget, but that’s not saying it won’t work. It just might. My interpretation right now says to try equivalent or slower. I’ll put the D4064 in line after CFE223.

Let us know how it works out for you. What barrel length and twist are you running?

I'm using a 1:7 twist, 28" barrel, and getting good 5-shot groups with a slower powder as well as Varget (both consistently under 0.5 moa), and D4064 looks promising. Only shot 5 groups of 3-shots each, so no assertion can be made, but 3 of those 5 groups were just under 0.3 moa at 100m. Those little clusters make me smile. Curious how much larger they'll get with 5 shots, and what can I do to keep them tight? It's all part of the fun.

 

[Quiet]

I used to use Varget for .223 service rifle competition loads with Hornady 68's and Sierra 69's but I didn't like the compressed loads and the need to trickle-weigh each load.
I switched to Winchester 748 ball powder which produced very accurate loads straight out of the powder meter. Note: Conventional wisdom is that ball powder should be ignited with Winchester primers but in both .223 & .222 I have found that the standard CCI small rifle primers produce much better groups with both W-748 & H-335.