I run 45 with 4064 with a 168 and I've been coveting my varget. I'd go at least that high with varget. A full case in 308 or 223 seems perfect and a lot of guys use drop tunes to pack in even more. Your gun may be different, but I'd test to prove it. I run 24.4 with 80s in 223 and it's compressed.
You’re going to have to define a few things here. What’s your bullet, goal, and purpose? Does your rifle’s barrel profile warrant any further testing? A thin hunting style barrel probably won’t get better groups with higher pressure; or, it might get better results until it heats up… not enough information.
That’s probably the source of @conan32120 confusion:
I’m betting his online search results are not for factory, off the shelf rifles.
My point was that I'm shooting a heavier bullet and doing just fine at 45.0 grains of Varget. In his place, I would have no problem loading the lighter weight bullet to the max that Hodgden shows...factory barrel or aftermarket barrel. There is no way for the companies to know what barrel is being used. His 10 twist factory barrel should be fine.
You could ladder until pressure signs, using 1 or 2 shots at .2 gr increments. Normally you can spot a stable node at the same time as noting the pressure increment then review/reshoot the node to determine at what increment it comes into tune and what increment it starts to go away.
