Varget or IMR4895 for 7.62x54r

Those two powders are so close in performance, buy the cheapest. I will say, Varget is supposed to be an advanced powder, it shoots extremely well in the 308, so all things being equal, Varget would get the coin toss.

If you are shooting these in a military rifle you must understand three MOA was acceptable. I have in a folder an 80's or 90's American Rifleman article. The author had a Mosin Nagant rebarreled with a match barre. In a good barrel, the cartridge will shoot well. The author did claim, service rifles were 3 MOA things and not much can be done to make a service rifle tube shoot better.

I did glass bed a number of Finnish Mosin Nagants, they shot rounder groups afterwards, and the zero radically changed. These old service rifles, the bedding is shot, the action bowed, etc, and the bedding in the Russian rifles must have been chewed out by angry beavers.

I have loaded both for my Mosin. They both performed well. I loaded 150 grain speer .311.

I liked IMR4895 for the Nagant.

I shoot 7.62x54r a lot. But -

Not with jacketed. And I have never used Varget in anything.

But I do like IMR 4895 downloaded with heavy (200 gr +) bullets in a 91/30.

For what that's worth.

They both work fine...I reserve varget for the garands however

I don’t like Varget. It’s color is not right. Everyone brags about how good it works. So I reject it because everyone likes it and other reasons unknown and that’s how it goes. Maybe because when it first came out my dad asked me to find him some and I couldn’t. There in none in my powder collection. Plus I got upset when I couldn’t get my 700 milspec to like a loading with it and 168 grain smk’s. Aa2520 worked. 4064 worked. And IMR4895 worked very well.

My Nagant an M39 handles 308’s just fine. When I first got it, I used AA3100, when that wasn’t available I switched to 4895. It works well with 150’s and heavier. The Nagant when I was younger was all I could afford. So I used it for everything. Took it out a week ago. It was like meeting up with an old friend.

To be honest, try both. I am sure it will work.

Varget.

I understood Varget is basically a modern version of IMR4895.

Bcwitt said:

I understood Varget is basically a modern version of IMR4895.

Click to expand...

Nope

I'd start with the powder that you have the most of and/or the most easily replaced.
Variety in my area is like hens teeth so never used it but have used 4895 in every cartridge I load for from 223 to 3006. Let us know your results.

4895 is extremely versatile. I also have used it in 223 Rem, and it worked very well.

26 -28 grains in a 7.62x54r behind a 200--ish grain lead bullet is a dandy load, about 1800 fps.

I even have a published load for 4895 in 44 Mag.

I don't pay much attention to H or IMR flavor. They are so very close together: just work up a load for each jug.

IMR-4895 hands down . It's by far the easiest powder I use to find good accurate loads all throughout the load ladder . Varget ( the holy grail ) is great but really only likes to be pushed hard . IMR-4895 will get you accurate enough loads in at least a couple different charges but will not get you top velocities if that's what you are looking for .

Flip a coin between those 2. I have used Varget with a 174/.312 match bullet and found accuracy to be acceptable, but not as consistent as I got with IMR 4350 in my rifle/brass/load combination. The varget load would usually throw 4 very tight, and one would spread the group out a bit. I got more consistent 5 shot groups with the IMR, and 300/600 yard scores in Vintage Sniper bore this out. I'd leak an occasional off-call 9 high or low with the Varget load. I found Varget to prefer a Win or Magnum primer and near at maximum loads in X54R and X55Swiss to get top accuracy.

I have loaded this bullet over both IMR 4064 and IMR4350 as fired through a (poorly) sporterized M44 carbine I use for hunting rough country. Accuracy was nothing short of amazing with 4064, and nearly as good with IMR 4350. Performance on large whitetail deer was exceptional. Good expansion and pass throughs were the norm. I did have one from an older lot in the old packaging (slightly different profile also) fail to expand on a clean double lung. All the modern post-2000 ones worked very well on 4-5 deer killed with shot angles ranging from clean vitals to "oopsy, going to be a messy dressing/butchering job on this one!".

I prefer H4895 over Varget. The IMR version is acceptable too.

Varget is simply Temp Stable , so IF You're not shooting in extreme temp variations ,use 4895 . However IF You are considering shooting those reloads in cold or hotter temps ,consider Varget .

I personally prefer IMR 4895 as I've found NO real issues concerning Heat anyway ,as for real cold hunting I use a Mag anyway ,so doesn't apply to ME .

H4895 works best in so many rounds. Not that I don't have a Varget load or two as well. I just prefer H4895

You may enjoy this series and capitalize on his testing as a good starting point.