Over the years I have used WW748 in 308W with very good results. Lately, some of my shooting buddies have been singing praises for Varget. Any one have any experience with Varget in 308?


Merry Christmas to all and to all a safe and prosperous New Year.

Works great. 125 grn Nosler BT 49 grn Varget in my .308 works very well.

You should have good luck with Varget, I use it with 168 g. Sie. Match bullets and get < .5", 5 shot groups. Use the same with 165 g. Hornady SBT's with comparable results.

This is with charges thrown from a measure. It meters very well.

Excellent results using 42gr. of Varget, 168gr. Sierra Matchking, CCI BR-2 primer, & LC Match brass with a total OAL of 2.80".

Hornady 168gr. "A-Max" is excellent using same data.

The Sierra 150gr. Matchking/155gr. Palma using 43gr. Varget, same data and OAL of 2.775"

These are accuracy loads only.

Note*** LC Match is a military-type case so the brass is thicker which may affect same load in other brands of brass.

Hunting Load:
43gr. Varget with Sierra 150gr. BTSP. Same data except OAL is 2.750".

I had the good fortune to acquire a fair supply of LC 1972 Match which is what I will be using.

46.0grs of Varget in Lapua Cases with 165gr Partitions has shot 3/4" groups at 300yds in my Steyr Scout (yes 3 shots at 300yds). It's a great powder for 308's, though there are many that work well. I like it because of it's accuracy and temperature stability........DJ

quote:

Originally posted by brytstar:
... Any one have any experience with Varget in 308?...

Hey Brystar, I agree with the other folks that Varget is a fine Powder. It has done well in all the 308Wins I've tried it in. Only used it with 150gr Bullets though because I use H380 with the 165gr-ers.

Varget has a shorter grain than IMR-4064 which makes it a bit easier to deal with when measuring the Powder. Once I use up the IMR-4064 I have on hand, I'm planning to go completely to Varget.

It will also reduce the Muzzle Flash that is typical with Double Base Powders like the WW-748.

Best of luck to you.

I have had outstanding results with Varget with any bullet weight in my 308. Ruger Mark II 308 target, Leopold 6x18, everything under an inch at 200. Yes 200yds.

Reloder15 is also an excellent powder for the 308 from 150 to 178 grain bullets, it's all I use in the 308, now.

Hotcore, As I've said before, I've tried 50gr H380 with 165 Hornadys, no pressure signs, better accuracy than 2520, but damn tight when seating the bullet.
BTW, I used my Lyman manual for the H380 data.(46th edition)51grs. being MAX.

FWIW, Hodgdon basic reloaders manual doesn't even suggest H380 for the 308, I'm thinking they figure Varget is the go-to powder for the 308, now. Which is about the ballistic twin to RE15. I'd also like to add, Federal uses RE15 for their 308 "Match" loads. Course, thats probably because Federal is owned by Alliant powder. jay

Hey Jay, Thanks for the info. I've not tried that much H380 with the 165gr-ers, which we have probably mentioned in the past. But as long as you are not seeing Pressure Indicators and the Powder will fit in the case, it sounds fine to me.

I'm just not a fan of the RL Powders due to Pressure "fluctuations" being wider than normal as I approached MAX with them. I do hear folks mention the RL-15 as being excellent in this saize case a good bit though. Maybe I need to try a new jug.

Best of luck to all you folks.

quote:

Originally posted by Hot Core:
Hey Jay, Thanks for the info. I've not tried that much H380 with the 165gr-ers, which we have probably mentioned in the past. But as long as you are not seeing Pressure Indicators and the Powder will fit in the case, it sounds fine to me.

I'm just not a fan of the RL Powders due to Pressure "fluctuations" being wider than normal as I approached MAX with them. I do hear folks mention the RL-15 as being excellent in this saize case a good bit though. Maybe I need to try a new jug.

Best of luck to all you folks.

HC, Just wondering what amounts of RE15 you used to try, and primer you were using?

I've kept all the loads I've tried a couple grains lower than Alliant's manual states, except for the 150 Sierras I tried this summer, 46.3 was max, I went as high as 46, no signs of pressure, accuracy just over an inch for 3 shots. 45.5 was the most accurate, just under an inch.

FWIW, Shooting Times did a article on Hornady bullets and used 47grs. RE15 with all the different types of 150s they have, and the 155AMAX, they didn't mention any pressure problems. 155s shot the best, getting in the 3s with the Jarrett rifle.
I do think it's time you try another jug.

Definitely give varget a try. 44.6 grains under a sierra 175 matchking gives me .3" groups at 100 and 3-4" groups at 700 yards. i don't have a chrono but the es must be excellent, the vertical spread is very little.

Hey Jay, I believe I tried 3-jugs, cause that is the amount I normally use with a Powder before saying it worked or didn't work for me. So, I'd imagine I had broken the seal on the 3rd jug, but don't know how far I was into it.

Same with RL-19, 22 and 25 in my larger rifles. Gave them to two different buddies. One liked them and one didn't have good luck either.

From the Speer #13 and found it said 45.0<->49.0gr with 150gr bullets. I'm sure I had a couple of the RL FREE Handouts at the time I was trying them, but must have given them away too.

Then to the old 3-ring binders for the Targets. The page on my lap right now shows some averaged 3-shot groups at:

45.5gr shot 0.8" with a PRE variance of 0.0007".

46.0gr shot 1.1" with a PRE variance of 0.0001".

46.5gr shot 1.7" with a PRE variance of 0.0006".

Apparently stopped that day or used all those Loads. Having only 0.0001" PRE variation at any Load level is very strange, because it is normal to expect 0.0002-3" variance. But the real kicker is on each side of that Load the variance went to 0.0006-7". Strange!

Another day I have a Target showing groups shot with:

48.5gr had a 2.95" group and a 0.75" group. PRE variance was "only" 0.0002" for those shots. No comment seen about flinching.

49.0gr had a 1.35"(3-shots) and a 1.9" 4-shot group. PRE variance was a nice 0.0003" spread.

Used Fed-210M Primers and Fully Prepped cases all weighing the exact same amount. So, in this group of Targets I saved, the RL-15 seemed to settle down as I approached MAX from the Pressure Fluctuation perspective, but the groups were all over the place.
---

Normally when I sell a rifle, I give the majority of the Test Data to the guy "if" I think it will be useful to him. I may have some other Targets around somewhere, but I was even surprised to find these.

Perhaps that particular rifle just didn't like the RL-15, but that 308Win is gone now and I replace dit with a Wby U-Lt. Never had RL-15 in this one, so I'll probably try it out on your all's recommendation whenever I get a chance. Just no idea at all when that will be though.

HC, As I've stated before, Alliant's top/max load for 150 Sierras is 46.3grs. @2880fps/57.3PSI from a 24" tube. I happen to be using 9.5 primers in my 308, like the way they work in my 7mm08 with RE15. Do you think the changing to a milder primer may help in getting a lower PRE#, whatever that is, Chronagraph thing, maybe? Don't use them myself, well, tried my brother-in-laws, once. Jay

quote:

From the Speer #13 and found it said 45.0<->49.0gr with 150gr bullets. I'm sure I had a couple of the RL FREE Handouts at the time I was trying them, but must have given them away too.

Man, I do not know how the heck Speer can get 49grs. as a max when IMR4064 is basically about the same powder, and it's max is 47grs., and they get the same velocity as 46.3grs of RE15, though, Speer's using a 22" tube. Speer #11. All the info I've gathered on the 3 powders, Varget, IMR4064 and RE15, suggest they've got the same burn rate, more or less, of course. Jay

Nosler shows 48.5 grs of Varget in the 308 Win with 150's as max. Can you get that much in and seat a bullet to the normal COL?

I am loading RL 10 in the 308 with 150's and getting velocities around 2950 fps out of a 22" tube. Accuracy is excellent along with function in cold weather. Now that that season is over here for big game it's time to experiment.

quote:

Originally posted by Savage99:
Nosler shows 48.5 grs of Varget in the 308 Win with 150's as max. Can you get that much in and seat a bullet to the normal COL?

That's weird, because Hodgdon get 47grs. with the Nosler BT, it's a compressed load with 50,300 CUP @2937fps. I tend to for the most part believe the powder guys when picking loads. Jay

quote:

Originally posted by Jay Gorski:
... Do you think the changing to a milder primer may help in getting a lower PRE#, whatever that is, Chronagraph thing, maybe? Don't use them myself, well, tried my brother-in-laws, once. Jay

Hey Jay, PRE is Pressure Ring Expansion and a wide variance in the numbers "at the same load level" is an indication of Unstable Pressure. Like you, I also rarely waste my time shooting over a chronograph.

The Fed-210Ms work well with all the other Powders I use, but you could be correct. Perhaps changing to a different Primer might make enough difference to stabalize the Load. And then again, using RL-15 in this newer 308Win might not have any problems with it at all.

I am using Moly coated bullets which helps hold the Pressure down. Maybe that is why I was able to go up to the 49.0gr that Speer mentioned as MAX and not have any excess Pressure Indications. Don't know, just speculation.

Happy New Year to you.

Seen a lot of guys using Varget in their 308's. It's about as good as it gets.