550 Dillion and Varget

[djl02]

I changed over to .223 and seems like it varies .07 to 1 grain. Is this about the best it will do? I'm fairly new to reloading,so just want to get some facts.
I took the powder feeder apart and polished it on the inside,now slick as glass,but its still 25.7 grains one time and 26.0 then maybe 26.6. Anything else I can do to get the tolorances down?

 

[IndyGunworks]

Varget is one of the hardest powders to get it to meter correctly... not much you can do outside the normal little tricks... ball powders work way better in progressives where you are not weighing each individual charge.

 

[djl02]

Thats what I ended up doing,weighing each round. Makes it a long process. Might have to try a different powder next time. I have around 8 1/2lbs of Varget left though. By the way, what do you consider exceptable,variant per round?

 

[dom1104]

I can tell you that the Hornady LNL powder measure meters varget very well. .1 grain variance.

I would consider 1 grain to be unacceptable imo.

 

[Prometheus]

Dom1104 is right on. You should be looking at .1gr

For example my SDB throws either 4.5 or 4.6 on my .45acp loads using bullseye. Now is it my press or my scale? Could be either one. I don't screw with it as I'm fine with either charge. After 1,500 rounds, it's still either 4.5 or 4.6 grains per load. Very consistent.

 

[Aszerigan]

I can tell you that the Hornady LNL powder measure meters varget very well. .1 grain variance.

I would consider 1 grain to be unacceptable imo.

It has nothing to do with the Dillon reloader - Varget is an extruded powder and doesn't work well in ANY bar-style powder measures (except Dom's apparently). There are two things you can do:

1) Take a reamer bit and ream the taper inside the powder drop funnel so its more tapered. This will also cut down on the amount of powder spilled, and give you slightly more accurate powder throws.

2) Switch to a ball powder. Problem here is that Hodgdon Extreme powders only come in extruded, unless you're using XBR 8208 which is a super short grained powder, and I don't recommend this powder for a 223 - the pressures are too high. I'd go with H335.

 

[IndyGunworks]

Dom1104 is right on. You should be looking at .1gr

For example my SDB throws either 4.5 or 4.6 on my .45acp loads using bullseye. Now is it my press or my scale? Could be either one. I don't screw with it as I'm fine with either charge. After 1,500 rounds, it's still either 4.5 or 4.6 grains per load. Very consistent.

throwing 4.5 grains of pistol powder is WAY WAY WAY differant than throwing 25 grains of extruded powder.

 

[Aszerigan]

throwing 4.5 grains of pistol powder is WAY WAY WAY differant than throwing 25 grains of extruded powder.

Agreed.

 

[william]

I have had the same problem, but not that much shift. Is there another powder that you would recommend to replace the Varget for .223?

 

[IndianaGTI]

throwing 4.5 grains of pistol powder is WAY WAY WAY differant than throwing 25 grains of extruded powder.

or 41.1g in a 308. Loading .45 didn't use any powder. Loading 308, I have to buy the 8lb of powder at a time.

That being said, my hornady lnl is within .1g when loading 41.1g of powder.

 

[IndyGunworks]

I have had the same problem, but not that much shift. Is there another powder that you would recommend to replace the Varget for .223?

exterminator... its a ball powder that you can somewhat closely replicate military loads w/, albiet a bit dirty... any ball powder should do you well though.

 

[kwatters]

The problem is that Varget is very good with temperature changes. I will take the slight difference in charge weight for the consistency of the powder.

 

[IndyGunworks]

The problem is that Varget is very good with temperature changes. I will take the slight difference in charge weight for the consistency of the powder.

slight change in poi w/ temperature change which is correctable because everything will still be consistant... an unconsistant powder charge it will not matter how much the temperature varies you will not get consistant results no matter what.

 

[djl02]

slight change in poi w/ temperature change which is correctable because everything will still be consistant... an unconsistant powder charge it will not matter how much the temperature varies you will not get consistant results no matter what.

With my plinking rifles,I could live with it,But With my 24" bull barreled rifle,I want a good match grade round. With 69gn FGMM its capable of .25" 5 shot groups @ 100 yards. I hate paying what they want for that stuff ,these days,Thats why I bought the Dillion. I have no problem hand loading,weighing every round (with digital scale) just wanted to see if it was a normal problem with Varget,or possibly something I was doing wrong. Beings ,I'm fairly new to reloading,I figured it was probibly me and the stick powder. Thanks for the info.

 

[GIJEW]

I've used W748 with 55gr up to 69gr bullets with good results. When I started shooting 77gr bullets, the window between min. and max. loads was too narrow--for me--using W748. I had the same problem with varget too and went to RE15 with out any trouble using it in my Dillon 550.

I have had the same problem, but not that much shift. Is there another powder that you would recommend to replace the Varget for .223?

 

[william]

Thanks IndianaGunworks and GIJEW...I think I'm just going to stick with the varget. I have this problem of researching too much and worrying about things that I shouldn't. I have reloaded about 10,000 .223 with Varget on my 550. Haven't blown up yet. Been reading lots about .223 not being same as 5.56. I always thought it was the same just a metric conversion. I don't have a Dillon super swage yet but I am getting ready to buy some bulk brass. I'm worried about getting 5.56 mixed in with the .223. I would guess that it has happened before and I haven't noticed any malfunctions. I try and toss all the 5.56 cases in a junk brass bucket I have. I have been using 55gr Hornady fmj bt bullets and 26.5gr of Varget. Which I think will be a safe beer bottle load for my buddies and I even if a 5.56 case sneaks in or my Dillon throws an extra grain of powder. Plus they are pretty accurate loads in my AR. I just bought 18,000 bullets yesterday and now I need to do a bulk powder order. So when this popped up I was hoping there was some great powder I had not heard of that would make everything easier. Looking forward to making some boolits...I hate the dang cold weather!!!

 

[teddy12b]

Varget in a Dillon 550 is tough. I've been going through the exact same issue with varget in my 550 because I get amazing accuracy with it out of my 308. I'm running 43.0gr of varget and when I try that in my dillon powder meter I don't get within .1gr of what I want so I can't use my powder meter for those rounds. On the powder stage of my 550 I remove the round and use an RCBS chargemaster combo. That combination seems to keep the process moving somewhat steadily. You mentioned using a digital scale, and I don't know what kind you're using, but I love the one I have.

Acceptable powder deviation depends on what you're wanting to do with the ammo. When I've had some odd numbered or unfavorable bullets and just wanted to get rid of them I've used odd powders that I had left over from something else just to get rid of both. In that case I don't care of the powder varies a full grain so long as it's within safe limits because I'll just have some full little mag dumps not worrying about accuracy. On the other end of the scale, that 308 I mentioned earlier is used for long range where the powder level must be critical because of vertical spread at longer ranges. When I use my RCBS chargemaster combo I want it absolutely perfect and for no harder than it is to make another charge I should always make sure it's perfect.

One varget substitute I found back during the panic buying days was Ramshot TAC. I was really happy with the accuracy I got out of that powder and it metered like a champ in my 550. It's worth buying a pound just to check it out. I was using it in a 223 handload and it was accurate out to 700 yards using 69gr matchkings.

 

[Leo]

Are you loading with the thin pistol bar or the thick rifle bar in your dillon reloader?

 

[teddy12b]

In my case I have to use the large rifle powder bar because of the amount of powder I am using.

 

[Josh Ward]

For plinking loads, who cares???

If you're striving for accuraccy you need to weigh each individual charge anyway.