Any thoughts/opinions on AA 4064?

[K-Dirt]

I like to use IMR 4064/Varget/Reloder 15 with 55 grain bullets in my .22-250 and will be working on .30/06 loads with various bullet weights with those powders. I found some AA 4064 in a local shop the other day and bought some. I have the Accurate Arms load guide, but none of my manuals(latest Speer, Nosler, Hornady and Lyman) have any load data for this powder. Is it fairly new? Judging from the AA load guide, it falls between AA 2520 and AA2700.
I know alot of people use Varget and it seems hard to find right now. AA 4064 looks like it may be real similar in speed. Is anyone else using AA 4064 and having any thoughts good or bad on it?

 

[Slamfire]

I conducted load testing in the .223 Remington and 308 Win with AA4064.

In the .223 in a Wilson barrel, I was unable to push the bullets to the 2800 fps mark I wanted. However, in my Krieger barreled space gun, in that tight barrel I got the 69’s well above 3000 fps without any effort.

I shot AA4064 in my space gun with 69’s for several years at Camp Perry. I won a number of medals with that powder.

It shot well in the 308. M1a target is representative.

Its a good powder. I am surprised by how little fan fare AA4064 has received. It is a tad slower than IMR 4064, but shoots exceptionally well in the calibers I have tested it in. It also throws well.

It may be that there are just too many powders crowding that burn rate. Or that Accurate Arms did not buy enough promotional articles in Gun Magazines to adequately stir up the community.

.223 Rem, Rock River Arms NM
20" 1:8 Stainless Wilson barrel

69 Sierra 24.0 grains AA4064 lot 5902 "T223" cases WSR (Nickle) OAL 2.25
22-Aug-04 T = 75° F
Ave Vel = 2768
Std Dev = 21
ES = 58
Low = 2741
High = 2799
N = 15
v.good group

308 Winchester, M70 24” Douglas 1:10 barrel

168 Sierra 42.5 AA4064 wtd lot 9599 CCI#34 LC Mixed OAL 2.8

30-Apr-03 T = 82° F

Ave Vel = 2589
Std Dev = 22
ES = 52
Low = 2551
High = 2603
N = 5

 

[K-Dirt]

Slamfire, did that target say 420 yards? If so, that's nicer shooting than I do.

Thanks for the response. The Accurate Arms load guide has load info for the 165 gr Barnes X bullet in .30/06 but I don't use Barnes bullets. I remember hearing somewhere that barnes bullets need to be treated a little differently than Speer/Nosler/Hornady/Sierra bullets but I can't remember if they generally take more or less powder than the others. I'll call Accurate and see if they can give me some more detailed info but I'm thinking about cautiously treating AA 4064 like Varget or Reloder 15 and working my way up while looking for good groups and signs of pressure.