Re: .223 Hodgdon Powder
forgot to specify benchmark is Benchmark2 the slower one of the two you dont get Benchmark1 there.
The best bet is in hot weather run mild loads of benchmark with projectiles of 55gr or less and 25gr is a good top load that you will not have issues with temperature also for primers softer primers work best like CCI BR$, Fed 205, Win, or Russian standard.
if you want to run medium loads with any projectile from 40gr up to 70gr H4895 is hard to beat and still flows through a powder thrower realy well then look with thease loads the primers like CCI BR4, Russian Magnum, Win and Rem 7 1/2 for the heavier projectiles.
If you reduce the loads of H4895 only use the magnum primers or Rem 7 1/2 as the extra deterant coating can be a bit harder to consistantly ignite and good neck tension is also important.
Then for light loads with 55gr to 69gr Varget works realy well and for long range loads from 69 to 90gr Varget is the only choice for a load for all weather. When loading the heavy projectiles the best primer is Rem 7 1/2 a lot of other primers have thin cups or brittal cups and the extra back pressure that the heavy projectiles create will have a lot of primers blow out through the firing pin hole. The Russian MAgnum primers also work well and if you have abushed bolt face the CCI 450's work but i have had some of them let go.
So i hope that also works for you with Varget dont wory about using compresed loads up to 10% compresion is fine and when the loads are lightly compresed the extreme spreads come down and the ammo burns a lot cleaner and shoots very well.
I do a lot of testing here and write articles for the Australian target rifle magazine and am licenced for ballistic testing so i have spent a fair bit of time testing this, I also was involved in a family buisnedd where we profesionaly reloaded ammo comercialy.
So if you need any other info let me know.
Now the only other powders that are as stable as the ADI/Hodgdon Extreme are the Vitavouri 100 series powders they are very good aswell because they are single based powders aswell. That means they have nitroceluloce as the primary ingrediant where most of the other powders are double or even tripple including nitroglyserine as a seccond chemical. Aliant powders most ball powders and Vitavouri 500 series are like this you can get more velocity but they are usualy very sensative to pressure changes when loaded to top pressures.
