Varget in .308 Win.

[oldblinddog]

So I got a new mold from NOE the other day, a 311041 to be exact, and cast up a few boolits. Just did a quick session yesterday pm and made 10 good ones to try. Sized .310 and lubed with Lyman moly, Hornady gas checks they came out at 185 gr. I'm wanting to use Varget and Lyman shows a starting load with a 311299 of 28 grs. So I take a wag and load 25 grs. in a Rem case with a 9 1/2M primer. .004" crimp. From my Rem 700 SPS with 20" barrel. See the first 4 shots below.

This was at 50 yds.

[Blammer]

Ding! Ding! Ding! you have a winner!

[oldblinddog]

Ding! Ding! Ding! you have a winner!

Yes, I think so. Going to work it up a bit and see where it goes. Here is all nine (one of the 10 ended up with a boogered up nose when I dropped it).

[EMC45]

Very nice.

[luvtn]

The link doesn't show for me. Definitely it shows a lot of promise. What velocity to you think you are getting with that load?
lt

[oldblinddog]

I have no idea what the velocity is but a guess would be between 1500 - 1700 fps. A friend has a chronograph and as soon as I get the chance I will see what it really does.

[303Guy]

Very nice indeed.

I've thought that Varget was a good reduced load cast boolit powder for a while now.

You might try the same load with a tuft of Dacron to position the powder. Remember that there other things beside the load and barrel harmonics and the alignment of the planets that affect accuracy. Things like boolit imperfections. Meaning simply that your load may be perfect as it is. That said, do try other load combinations and see what happens.

[CJR]

Congrats on your very nice groups! Though I have never used Varget, some people at my range have recommended it. However, I have extensively researched Varget and found that many think it's the best thing since "sliced-bread". But, on the other hand, there also appears to be an equal amount of people who tried it and were not impressed with its accuracy performance or its insensitivity to temperature. I hope that's not an indication that Varget has a Quality Control(QC) issue in the manufacturing process. If poor QC is the issue, we fortunately have other options that equal or surpass Varget's performance.

Best regards,

CJR

[303Guy]

Going by where Varget is made and who for, I wouldn't think it's a QC issue. I don't use it myself, not because it doesn't work for me but because I prefer a case filling powder with just a little more performance or lower peak pressure and that powder is H4350 which as I understand it has the same formulation but just burns a little slower. I don't want to keep two powders that look the same for obvious reasons and they do look the same. H4350 has larger kernels which can only be distinguished by measuring.

[oldblinddog]

I have found (in a very short time) using Varget that it likes pressure, hence the .004" of crimp, and that it likes magnum primers. In my J-word loads with standard LR primers accuracy is mediocre and I have gone to using magnum primers exclusively.

I haven't used any H4350 in a long time but when I did it did not have the gold tint that Varget has. Have they changed the color? The IMR 4350 that I have is a dark charcoal color.

[MT Chambers]

Very good group, with a load that has been used by some in CBA competitions, did you try moving your sights 3" either left or right(doesn't matter)?

[oldblinddog]

The pic is rotated 90* left (unsure as to why), the aim point is the paster to the left (up). The rifle is not sighted for this load, but I knew that so I put the paster at the top since I was unsure where it would fall or if it would even be accurate. I was expecting it would shoot low.

[oldblinddog]

So, a couple of days ago I finally get to the range again with some new loads of 28 grs and 30 grains of Varget. Since I had changed the scope on my .308 because I'm moving the previous scope to my .338 Win Mag (a work in progress), I started with the 28 gr load at 25 yds. Everything is perfect, shooting into less than 3/8", so I moved out to 100 yds. Group was a disapointing 3". The 30 gr load was on the order of 10+"

[TXGunNut]

Don't be discouraged, that 28 gr load may just work out yet. A 3" group isn't terrible and is likely only a tweak or two away from a 1.5" group.

[oldblinddog]

That was in my 20" bbl 1-10 twist rifle. I have not shot that load in the 12" twist rifle. I have been on the road a lot with loading going on during one stay at home and shooting the next. Will post more data as I gather. Also, will do some chrony work on these loads.

[EdS]

Hi oldblinddog: I've been reluctant to try the 31141 in my .308s due to seating depth concerns. Please tell us you overall length and where on the boolet you are crimping. Thanks, Ed

[tomme boy]

Try different neck tension, and seating depth. I size mine to 0.310" and use a 0.310" RCBS neck expander.

What alloy are you using? How old are the bullets that you cast?

[oldblinddog]

The oal is 2.535" and is taper crimped on the driving band behind the crimp groove. I had adjusted the crimp to be more firm and may have overdone that some. I am going to continue testing the 28 gr load and have a few loaded with the bullet seated to the crimp groove and less crimp. Will load some also at the original seating depth and less crimp, i.e. where I have the die adjusted now.

The alloy is one part hardball and two parts 30 to 1 which works out to ~95.33-2.67-2. The boolits are checked with Hornady checks, sized .310 and lubed with Lyman moly. Cases were neck sized and run through an "m" die prior to boolit seating. The boolits were no more than a couple of days old when loaded and fired.

Attachment 138709

These are 2.487" oal.

[Mauser48]

Varget is a match made in heaven for soooo many rifle cartridges.

[oldblinddog]

Varget is a match made in heaven for soooo many rifle cartridges.

I like it!