Varget Powder.

I have used it in 223 and my experience was I never cared for it with bullets lighter than 55 grains. I did like it in .223 for bullets 68 grains and heavier. That was just my experience over several rifles with several twist rates. Hornady list the .223 Remington in a Remington 700 1:12 twist starting at 22.8 grains to a Max of 26.4 grains for most 55 grain bullets with the exception of the 55 grain GMX. Never had much luck with my Remington 700 1:12 bolt gun but with that gun never had much luck with any bullet over 55 grains. Varget worked well in my faster twist AR rifles but only with the heavier bullets. Obviously your mileage may vary. Give it a try and see how it works for yopu, I can only share my own experiences.

Ron

I run varget in my 223 bolt. 1:9 twist 24 grains with a 55 grain bullet. Very accurate load. I do not need to increase it. Here is a range report with and 15 grains of 2400. As well as 2 other guns.
https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/a-great-day-on-the-range.886141/

I swear by the stuff too and use it more than any other powder. Mainly for 68/69 match bullets in an AR and 168 match bullets in a Garand.

kmw1954 said:

Will be loading 12ea of 62gr Hornady FMJBT and starting with 22.0gr Varget then 22.3gr, 22.6gr and maybe 22.9gr to start with. See where that takes me. Then I also have some 68gr Hornady HP Match to try.

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I praised the 62 Hornady's on another post recently based on second hand information. I actually loaded and shot some last weekend from an AR (24.5 Varget) and wasn't very impressed. I think I paid about 10 cents each, so I can't complain too much. My 1:9 bolt gun shoots the 68's OK, but I do better with other bullets, such as 55 VMax. I'm anxious to hear how you make out.

24.5 gns Varget under a 69gn SMK at 2.285", in PMC brass with a CCI 400 primer is what I shoot in my 1:9 Rem 700 sps tactical.
65 and 69 gn is all I've tried it with, and it works really well with them.

Also, make sure you thank your friend, As Varget is near unobtanium right now and I've seen it selling upwards of $80/lb

@kmw1954 as I've posted before I 'be never used varget, but am interested in your results. Keep us informed.

Hornady data is known to be extremely conservative.

For 55gr and under, I've found Varget a pain to work with. Get up around 27gr and it's extremely close to spilling out of the case.

I did a lot of work with it with heavier bullets, and H4895 and Benchmark always produced better accuracy and velocity.

For 223Rem, I've found several powders that produce better velocity, better accuracy, and are much easier to work with. I don't get all the love for it in 223.

Having said that, I have a 700 varmint bull barrel 22-250Rem that literally shoots one hole groups, and insane velocity with Varget and 50gr Vmax bullets, so I always have a bottle stashed away.

Even in times of plenty, it is always out of stock where I buy powder. Everybody and their uncle uses it.

Varget for the detractors is the best hunting powder if it shoots in your gun totally temp insensitive

Varget is a favorite of mine for .308 Win with 150gr jacketed bullets.

I love varget for 80s in a bolt action 77s are also nice. Below that weight Tac is my preferred powder fore ease of use and availability. It excels at heavy for caliber bullets in my experience.

Have had good success ( sub 1") with Varget and 69 grain SMK's in an AR with a regular old production barrell. Have some 77 grains to try one of these days too.

I really like varget for .223. I load 60 gr and 62 gr bullets over 24.5 grains of varget with great success.

kmw1954 said:

So basically I have two questions; one, does this powder perform better at low or high ends and second does it work better with light or heavy bullets? This will be used in a 223 bolt gun with a 1:9 22" barrel and 62gr and 68gr bullets.

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Your rifle will provide the best answers despite the opinions of others.

kmw1954 said:

Looking for some specific information on the use and characteristics of this powder and then comment of what I have found with a simple search. The reason for these questions is because a friend at the range gifted me a pound to try out. He swears by the stuff.

So basically I have two questions; one, does this powder perform better at low or high ends and second does it work better with light or heavy bullets? This will be used in a 223 bolt gun with a 1:9 22" barrel and 62gr and 68gr bullets.

The few quick searches I'd done with the first one to Hornady #10 book as the bullets are both Hornady. Their data shows 21.7 Start and 24.9 as max for the 62gr.. Which is what I am working on right now.

The web searches mostly come up with 55gr. bullets with people stating a 24.5gr to 25gr start load! WoW that is a far cry from what Hornady lists. Even found a few threads with 62gr. bullets in AR's with short barrels and again higher load data,

There were posts from a number of other forums and even a few old ones from this forum, dating back from 2011/2012.

So also I do not need to start a discussion on other powders that you found that work because I already have a powder that I use and like greatly. Now going to explore this powder as a courtesy to my friend for the gift.

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Varget in 223 max load is almost uniformly a compressed load. It's like one of those things where you can't really go wrong even if you top the case off with it... It's slow burning for 223. (no I don't recommend dunking your cases in varget and seating bullets... lol, although, that's kinda what the max load looks like on a lot of lighter bullet weights.)

I found Varget is up there with 4895 on performance for most of my 7.62 rifles, it burns clean and is really consistent. One of my friends found it was the most accurate load in his rem 700 for 1k shooting (although, he's really pushing the limits on what you should do with a 308).

Can it be used for 5.56? Yeah, maybe not the most ideal though, all depends on your rifle and the timing of the harmonics.

You can't ask for "what powder is best for my rifle" because .. every barrel is different.

When you spark a cartridge off, your barrel vibrates. Whip, is a more appropriate way to look at it. It's somewhat flexible and that ignition and rapid acceleration of the powder burn will cause it to vibrate. This is measurable.

The end of the barrel moves to and fro (how much depends on your steel, thickness, and a host of other factors specific to *your* barrel).

Your "most accurate load" in your rifle will then depend on these things:

#1 Consistency in initial burn ramp up - this depends on your brass, your chamber, your flash hole, your primers, your neck tension on the bullet, your leades on the throat, your rifling, and so on. Varies from barrel to barrel, case to case, and bullet consistency in that lot, etc. You can iron out a lot of variables with weight sorting, flash hole uniforming, primer pocket uniforming, and consistent neck tension (neck turning / bushing dies / etc), if you want to go whole hog and spend an enormous amount of time on brass prep, only to find out that it doesn't matter one bit (or matters the world?)
#2 Time to bullet ejection and velocity at time of ejection (the initial variability causes a big spread here, if you are inconsistent on any of the above)
#3 Precision of your muzzle cut (if there's knicks, burrs, etc in the crown of the muzzle)
#4 Where that barrel is on it's particular harmonics as caused by the combination of #1 and #2.
(for gas operated, your gas position and what effect this may have on the remainder of the bullet's trip through the barrel matters now too)

So your barrel is going to flex, vibrate, and whip around a certain *way* when the conflagration mounts inside your chamber and up your barrel.

At *some* point, in nanosecond timing, assuming it's a good barrel, it will *re-cross* the exact point it had at the time the primer detonated - matching your point of aim. Assuming you do your part and the rifle is recoiling precisely straight back (e.g. you have no weird torsion on it from your shooting posture), that bullet will leave at a set velocity at exactly the same spot each time.

If your burn rate is off (due to any of a dozen or two factors, from powder charge, to flash hole dia difference, to etc..etc) and your velocity standard deviation is wide, those bullets are going to be leaving at different *times* in relation to your barrel's harmonics, and your group opens up. You'll also see (at a longer range) that the shape becomes oblong, vertically.

So, no one but you can answer "what powder will be best in my rifle" because.. it depends on dozens of factors *and* one of those is your specific barrel.

Is varget good?

Yes.

Is it the best powder you can find for your gun?

Maybe? Depends on everything else, really.

I use Varget with my heavier pills ( 69gr) on my AR's, 1:9 twist. My load is right at max with the 69gr SMK, per Sierra load data. Very consistent, sub moa out to 300 yrds.

I have some Varget on hand. I have never loaded 223 with it. Only in 8x57. But I would be interested to see your results. I have from 55 gr. to 77 gr. bullets. And 2 HB uppers.

Varget is my go to powder for .223

I have found it to give excellent accuracy in my Contender with a 23" barrel using 40 and 45 grain Sierra bullets at slightly under max loads. I don't remember the amount of powder used as I found H322 to equal it in accuracy and it isn't crunchy in the powder measure. Another reason is Varget has been in extremely short supply around these parts for a long time while 322 was easy to find until recently.

My middle of the range load of 25 grains and a 55 grain btsp gives me absolutely great accuracy in both my Bushmaster and Contender carbine.

I get great results with Varget pushing 69 grain Sierra TMK's.3035 FPS out of a 26 inch barrel,and velocity spread in the single digits.Last 5 shot group was .211.It's a very versatile powder,and as some have already said,lighter bullets may not work as well.