I have finally overcome my prejudice against the awfully named Varget, and purchased a quantity. It seems to me that the powder has enough virtue for me to overlook the silly name.

The other components will be new Lapua brass in .243 win, CCI LR primers, and Nosler 70 gr BTs.

My problem is that Hodgdon give a maximum load of 40.5 gr, whilst the Nosler manual shows a maximum of 42.0. Now normally I would not be so bothered about pushing things right to the maximum, but Nosler show this to be the most accurate load they tested. And that does interest me.

So, what experience is out there with this powder? If anyone has got pet loads using these components, I would be grateful for the details.

Obviously, I will be working the loads up to maximum in any case, but I'm just curious (and cautious) about the discrepancy between the different sets of load data.

Thanks

Patrick

Varget is made in Australia by ADI. It is called 2208....certainly a better 'name'.

Patrick,
You didn't say what rifle you're using.
Anyway, I've got a Remington 700VLS, with a 26" barrel and a 1 in 9 1/8" twist. Sorry to say, I had pretty poor results with the 70 grain Nosler BT's. I bought a 250-bullet "varmint pack", and gave most of the box away. My gun just hated them!
My very best was with 36.5 grains of Varget with a Federal 210M primer. I seated the bullets .020" off the rifling. I shot a few 1/2" groups with this load (5-shot groups @ 100 yards) My records show, the "hotter" the powder load, the wider my groups got. I shot some 41.5 grain loads, with no pressure problems, but the groups were in the 1 1/2" range...
Regards, George.

John, My point precisely.

George,

You're right, of course. I should have said. It's a Mauser model 66s. Double set trigger and wearing an 8x56 Swarovski. It certainly looks the part, but as yet I don't trust it in the accuracy department. That's why I'm working up loads for it. I think the twist rate is similar to your rifle, but the barrel's a couple of inches shorter. I'm also seating 20 thou off the lands which, with the Nosler BTs, gives a COL of 2.69.

Anyhow, if the Nosler don't work out, I will have to try something else. You don't mention if you found an alternative which worked well for you. If you did, I'd appreciate the details.

Thanks & regards

Patrick

i load 42gr of vaget in norma brass with the berger 69gr low drag bullet sparked by fed 210m primers 3750fps from a 27 1/2" barrel. i won't say how good it shoots becouse no one ever beleaves it untill they see it!

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born on a mountain, raised in a cave, hunting and fishing is all i crave!

Patrick,
I've got several Varget loads that put 5 rounds in one ragged hole at 100 yards. My Remington really seems to like 75 to 90 grain bullets.
I like 37.5 grains of Varget behind a 75 grain Hornady V-Max. That's a real consistant 1/2" group. I like 37.0 grains of Varget behind Hornady's 87 grain HPBT-Match bullet. I like 36.0 grains of Varget behind Sierra's 85 grain Spitzer.
I'm using Remington brass, and Federal 210M primers, and most of those groups were with the bullets seated .020" off the lands.
I've used the Varget below 30 degrees F., and above 75 degrees F., and it's been consistant. One other consistancy is that I've always gotten best accuracy 1 or 2 grains lower than the "book" maximum loads.
Good luck,
George.

I'm curious about you all using magnum primers. Have you tried standard primers?

I see Speer doesn't use Magnum's with Varget and I'm curious.

Thanks,
Mike

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Victory through superior firepower!

Thanks to all of you for the information.

As I've bought the Noslers I will give them a try anyhow, but you have certainly given me a few alternatives if they don't work out.

Patrick

Ready,
The use of "M" stands for "Match" in the vernacular of Federal. A Federal 210 is a "Large Rifle" primer, the 210M is the same thing with closer quality control, which you'd want for competition shooting. Federal's large rifle Magnum primer is the 215. Remington uses "M" to denote the Magnum version of their #9 1/2 large rifle primer, and Winchester uses "M" to denote Magnum in both their small pistol and large rifle primers (WSPM & WLRM).
Regards, George.

Ready, I have two (2) .243 win. that I use mostly for long range groundhog hunting and I use varget exclusively and I like it a lot. Of course, it is a stable powder and not effected by temperature changes but it gives great velocity and accuracy with bullet weights in the 55gr. to 70 grains. I really like th 58 gr. v-max and 65 gr. v-max bettter than the 70 gr. NBT....I would recommend that you start with 40.5 grains of varget and work us from there. I now have an 8lb. keg of varget but when it first came out there seemed to be a great deal of difference from lot to lot and some were much hotter than othere. Give it a worthy try, you'll really like it...George

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PAtrick_D, I too am using Varget in the .243 Winchester, however my .243 is a Savage Striker Handgun, and the bullet of choice for this Handgun is the 55gr. Nosler Ballistic Tip. I am 1 1/2grs. under MAX, and that is where I found my accuracy load, and accurate it is. I have printed 7 - 5 shot groups at 100 yards with this load, and the average for these 7 groups is .189" center to center. Yea I know that is hard to believe, but it flat shoots. (I have never shot anything that shoots like this in a Rifle or a Handgun.) For the record, velocity in the 14" Handgun barrel is 3172 FPS, and the muzzle blast & flash are something to behold. Probably wouldn't be a problem in a rifle though.

Larry

I have used varget in my 243 for a couple years. Best load is 43.5 gr with sierra 70 hpbt match, win brass cci match primer at 3550 fps. no pressure signs. 42gr with Federal brass all other components the same 3500 fps. Delivers sub .5" groups in my M700 24" barrel.

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Growler

I've just made up a box of ammo using the 70 gr NBT and 2208. I haven't had a chance to test this load at the range, and we'll be shooting tomorrow, so the load is a bit of a best guess. The local dealer didn't have any Vmax 75s, and the Nosler seemed worth a try.

The rifle is a Remington 700 Classic.

Up till now I've found the following worked well:
80 grain Nosler BT, with 36 gr of 2208. This is a mild load, but quite accurate.

75 grain Hornady Vmax, 38.5 grains.

75 grain Hornady HP, 36.5 grains.

The load for tomorrow is a 70 grain NBT, ahead of 39.5 grains of 2208.

I also have a Ruger 77 RBZ in .243, but I've only started working on its loads. Best so far was 39.7 gr of 2208 with a 65 grain Vmax. I've got some loaded with a little more powder, ready to shoot, but the gun is with the smith at the moment having the lawyer removed from the trigger.

cris284w,

I have some Hornady 58gr vmax too. I can try to load some of those, but they will come up way short of the lands. What COL do you find effective with those pills?

Patrick

Got down to Bisley yesterday and tried a spread of loads using Varget and 70gr NBTs. Results were disappointing; 1 to 1.5 inch groups (5 shots). Hotter loads were worse, just as described by George Capriola. Federal factory loads shot better than this, so either the rifle prefers heavier bullets or does not like Nosler.

I also tried some loads with Vit powders, same problems. So I think the next step is maybe to try 75 or 87 grain vmax.

For the record, I took the .222 rem, which I trust completely. That was shooting ragged holes, so I could at least prove to myself that it wasn't just me having a bad day.

Patrick

I got to the range for a short period yesterday (before the rain came). Aim was to test a load using 2208 (Varget) and Speer 85 gr SPBT, and Nostler 70 gr BT.

With the Speers, the load was 35.5 gr of Varget, stepping up to 37 in .5 gr increments. They were seated just off the lands (rifle was a Rem 700 Classic). The results were uniformly horrible. This rifle puts 75 gr Vmax into small groups, but couldn't do better than 1.5-3 inches with these.

The Noslers results were all disappointing too. I'd found previously that the 80 gr BT gave best accuracy 2 grains below the listed max, but this time I was experimenting with loads around the max. I was looking at loads in the 39.5 to 40.5 range with the 70 gr. Perhaps less is more with this powder/bullet/rifle combination.

Thanks George! Guess I need to get out a little more huh? I have always used CCI or Winchester primers and have zero knowledge of Federals or Remingtons. Thanks for setting me straight.

Mike

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Victory through superior firepower!

John,

Out of interest, the Hornady reloading manual says of the .243 win "the best groups and uniformity were obtained from Varget". Now, they only list Varget loads for the 58 and 65-grain v-max, so I assume they got the best accuracy using one of these two projectiles. In both cases, the listed COL is 2.6", which would put them a good way off the lands. The test rifle was a Win mod 70, 1 in 10 twist.

Anyhow, I happen to have a quantity of the 58 grain, so I will try running up a few and see what happens. Only thing is, at the BSRC layout in Bisley camp, they have an MV limitation of 3250 - and these little Hornadys will be going somewhere between 3300 and 3800, according to the book. Velocity does matter to me, as these are hunting loads.

If you are interested, I will post the results when I next test - probably 4 weeks away. I am determined to get the thing shooting straight, if it's the last thing I do.

Patrick