Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Varget Anyone?

I think even the local feed store has varget still in stock. If someone just has to have it, I’ll swing by and see how much.

Local shop just got a ton of it in. Buddy bought some. I thought about picking up a pound or two. But I don’t really use it in anything at the moment.

As will RL-15, H4350 & IMR-4350, IMR-4451, IMR-4166 & IMR-4064.

Varget is good in many rounds, almost never the very best & almost never the very worst, but it has no magic that cannot usually be equaled or bettered by other powders.

JME

MM

That's a pretty good summary, and matches my experience.

I think it might have been one of the best options for the 308 when it was introduced, but we have a lot more powder choices now. I also think a lot of people have made or perpetuated the mistake of thinking if it was hot in a certain cartridge, it must be one of the best choices for other cartridges too, and that gets exaggerated when top shooters used that particular powder; basically that "follow the leader" syndrome that happens in any sport or competition.

And I'll even go a step further.................at the risk of offending some.

Way too many people get hung up on a given gun's need to be fed a very specific powder & maybe a very specific bullet, & frankly, those kind of guns go down the road pretty quickly for me.

Good rifles with good barrels, square & concentric receivers with good bedding are usually not finicky & will usually shoot several loads well.

Marginal guns usually tend to be very finicky & that's where lots of guys get hung up on "magic" powders.

MM

As I said in an earlier post, I've always looked at Varget as a jack of all trades, and a master of none. I've always had problems getting it to meter right. But, it's given me some very good results in the 308, and with 40 grain bullets in the 22-250.............and I've experimented quite a bit with other powders. However, I agree that there are other powders that will work just as well, if one will take the time to find out. I'm a hunter, not a target shooter, so a few hundreds of an inch difference in groups isn't going to matter very much to me, but it would be a different matter if I were a target shooter in a competition.

I guess I'm just old fashioned, because I still use H4831 for the 270, even though most people have gone on to newer powders. I figure if it's not broke, why fix it. So, I'll use Varget for a few applications, but won't lose any sleep over not being able to find any.

Hodgdon introduced Varget in 1994, I tried it and liked it and really stocked up on it.
I ran out of my 1994 supply of Varget in 2017 and bought a new lot#. WOW the new Varget is not the same as the old Varget that I loved.
I don't know what year Hodgdon introduced their "EXTREME" powders but they must have changed the formulation for Varget at that time ?????

The OP mentions Varget as the" jack of all trades, and the master of none" this may be true of the post EXTREME Varget but for me the powder it describes is CFE223. I can always find a powder that works better than this stuff

Not offended I just disagree,
Apparently you don't know too many benchrest shooters !!!!!!!!! 90%+ shoot a 6PPC and 90%+ of those shooters use VihtaVuori N133 powder, they might vary a bit on bullets but all are 64gr-68gr.
Even on my custom Varmint and big game rifles I can always find a specific powder that works best, sorry it does not work this way for you.

Not sure he is saying what your thinking.

I think he is saying that some rifles will shoot a plethora of combinations pretty well no matter the powder or bullet used and some will only shoot 1 bullet and 1 powder good enough to shoot smallish groups.

I had a Savage 22-250 that with about 4 different powders and at least a half dozen different bullets it would always shoot under 1/2" group.

I could take 1 each of 40, 50, 52 and 55 grain bullets, each with a different powder underneath and still shoot a 3/4-1" group.

Even when I was loaded and sighted in with 1 combination I could load a new combo and POI was within an inch of the previous load.

That's my kind of rifle, not picky at all.

I did not intend to convey that given enough trials, that one very specific powder might turn not out to be "best' but that's a relative term, & for BR's that might be the difference between 1/4" & 3/8" given enough trials.............so yes, BR is maybe a special group.

And yes, I do use VV 133..........in 8 lb jugs.

But for typical hunting rifles, I really don't want one that I have to go through a dozen powders to find one that gets me to an acceptable level of accuracy that is 1/4" better than all the others, when all the others are MOA or better.

Do as you like & I'll do likewise, but I'll not keep hunting rifles & require one very specific powder to get me to an acceptable level of accuracy unless I absolutely LOVE the rifle.

YMMV & obviously does.

MM

Seems like Varget has been in short supply just about every time I've ordered powder in the last 10 years or so. My timing must be bad. Years back, I went with jugs of RL15 and H4895 as a result, and both have treated me well.

BR is a poor example; those guys don't care if a barrel shoots reasonably well with a lot of different loads, they only care how good it is with that match-winning load. And they're looking at the difference where a 0.20" group vs a 0.220" group might be the difference between winning and not even placing. For a hunting rifle, that kind of difference is completely irrelevant.

Your BR example does illustrate what I was saying about "follow the leader" syndrome though; if the top guy wins a few matches with a different powder, most of that 90% group will switch and do whatever he did. They're not necessarily wrong, but not necessarily right either, and it shows why following the pack doesn't necessarily get you the best results.

The Best (supposedly) rifle I ever owned was a Cooper in 280. Tried quite a few powders and bullets to get one to shoot about an inch at 100. Down the road it went. Several powders usually work in most guns if you play with them a little. Ed k

I have an LVSF 22-250 that only loves Varget. I could have bought 3 lbs today but I don’t need it. So tempting though because it’s been very scarce.

Truly dreadful analysis !!!!!! funny though

Are you able to look through a keyhole with both eyes, too???

MM

Now that is a funny!

You proclaimed an absolute, I pointed out that it was not absolute............
and all you got is weak keyhole smack
I expected more from a dude from Montana