Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Varget Anyone?

Varget has been one of my favorite powders that has won a couple local bench matches for me
with 22-250 heavy bullets. It's performance in my 9.3x62 is very good also. It appears to be very temperature stable
as we hunt predators to -20F.

Its a powder.

It will work for some ......and some it will not.

Many people thought it was "the stuff" because in competition circles it made it to the top for some shooters.
So...."it must have magic to make my gun accurate too"........uh huh......

It will work for some and some it wont........reality sets in.

Its a powder among MANY others.

I have a friend who reloads sometimes and he used it in a .308 Win, it did quite good and when he could not get it he tried TAC, it worked too. Not as good but he could get it easier.

Best

Heavy

Where are you in Ohio? I might be interested in buying it if it’s not too far to drive from me in Massillon

Sorry you’re in that predicament. That is why I bought 8# jugs when this happened the last time.

I have maybe 100 pounds of powder in all flavors and quantities but I find myself using Varget as much as anything else in mid-capacity cartridges. If I were starting over and limited to just a few powders I could get by ok with just Varget, as long as I had some Bullseye, Unique, and 4759 too for cast bullet shooting. Oh, and 2400 and L'il Gun for the Hornets. And CFE-223 for the .223's, and, and, and.....

So it seems the Aussie made powders are the ones hard to find, Varget, H4895 and H4350. It must be a supply issue from Australia.

I normally keep several pounds of the powders that I use most.....Varget, W760, IMR4350, and a few more. I "thought" I had several pounds of Varget, but turns out I had not replaced the last one I used, so that was my bad. I have a lot of H322, W846 and 844, H335, and I rarely use those anymore. Oh well, I'll find something that will work if I really need to load some stuff up. Varget will probably show up at some point in time.

I drank the Varget Kool-aid a little while ago trying it in .257 Roberts, .30-06 and .35 Whelen. Did not see any of its mystical qualities in those cartridges and went back to other proven performers.

The same Aussie’s that pride themselves on gun control make gunpowder. Isn’t that the height of hypocrisy?

Imagine that.

Did you get Big Stick’s permission to say that? Hint.......😜

Please don't reference Pee Wee Herman's lookalike on my thread.......lol.

I haven’t had the good luck that others have had in the calibers that I’ve tried it in except for my 243.
I thought I would try it in the 243 just to use it up and low and behold I came up with a load that shot really well using Sierra 85 gn. BTHP’s. So yes, it’s been working in that capacity for me and doing a good job.

36.5 by any chance? That's the one I found with that bullet...

IMR 4064 did same speed, and a tad more accurate for my loads in 7/08..........both top speeds at the time, and I'm not sure much else is out there now that will beat it. FWIW, 2960 fps in 2 700s chopped to 21" using 139 and 140gr. Bug hole groups.

So novices don't get into trouble, it would be prudent to note this load is above book max.

I'm not trying to pick a fight. 7-08 has a wimpy 60.2kpsi max pressure; run it harder if you want.

Hodgon,139 Hornady, 2,847fps max in a 24"
Hodgon, 140 Swift, 2770fps max in a 24"
Barnes, 140 TSX, 2738fps max in a 24"
hornady, 139, ~2800fps max in a 24"
Lyman 49e, 139, 2854fps max in a 24"

No sir, but close. 35.8

I was able to buy a couple pounds a couple weeks ago. I went by today to see if they had H-4895. No luck, no Varget on shelves either

901 -

Indeed, I did not list my charge, but it is a bit over published loads, used in RP brass partial sized to my former rifles.

WW brass holds about 1.5-2 grains more IIRC. Anything 2800 and up is very effective, it ran 2850 in a 20" M70 and the Mule Deer I dumped in CO did not like it.

Run many loads of Varget in 6BR, 243 (light bullets), and 7/08 in the past. in the 7/08, again, I had a tad better accuracy, using 4064 and it meters great. I was weighing charges for accuracy testing.

With all this talk of Varget I dug a pound out and went and shot some 140 gr Sierra Pro-Hunters today! I threw a load of 42.5, which seems to be a Campfire "standard", a WLRP and a seating depth of 2.760 and they shot exceptionally well. Well under an inch.

With the way they shot Im contemplating changing what I shoot now! I have a real good load of Big Game and 150 gr NBT. I have also found some Varget at a local gun store as well. Im gonna lay a couple more pounds back!!

Now, that’s funny right there. I don’t care who you are.