Compressed Varget in .223.... bad?

[quikcolin]

Hey guys,

First I realize Varget isn’t the 1st choice for .223 (shooting out of an AR15). But I have a pound of the stuff and I’m tired of looking at it on my loading bench. I’m doing load development for a new rifle and thought I would try some.

I have built up 20 (4 groups of 5) rounds of the following Varget loads under 55g Hornady VMax bullets. They’re set to 2.260” (which is the max my mags can fit). Which is still quite a ways away from my lands, but I’m mag length restricted.

3 of the 4 groups of 5 are “compressed”. The last one for sure as I heard a tiny little bit of snap crackle pop.

I’ve made the following:

25.3g - I can hear the Varget shake inside the case.

25.6g - I “think” I can hear a little bit of Varget shaking a little bit. Hard to say for sure.

25.9g - I can’t shake the Varget. It’s 100% full - maybe a little bit more? I listened every time I seated a bullet and didn’t hear any Varget break under the VMax bullet.

26.2g - I heard the tiniest little crackle of Varget when seating the bullet. Just a little bit.

Are they safe to fire? The highest charge (26.2g is still under the max charge in the Hornady load book of 26.4g).

 

[Supersubes]

Imo compression affects nothing as far as the burn, but can be a little hard on varmint bullets during seating. Loading manuals frequently show compressed loads.

 

[FatBoy]

I used to compress the shit out of it with 80 gr SMKs when I shot service rifle. Varget is an excellent AR15 powder, just a tad hotter than RL15. Used it for a decade with no issues running 55gr up to 80gr, most compressed. (24.5gr Varget was heavily compressed in Lake City with an 80SMK, also ruins brass and is probably way over pressure unless you have a long throat)

 

[quikcolin]

Thanks guys,

So my small degree of compression isn’t cause for my case to explode and take me rifle, face and hands out with it?! ??

 

[sinister]

Nope.

55s to 60 are light for Varget.

24 to 24.5 for 68s through 80s.

Forster seaters are more tolerant for seating .223/5.56 bullets than Reddings.

 

[Namekagon]

Agreed, no problem with compressed. watch bullet seating depths though. I had some Varget .223 compressed loads that were actually preventing the bullet from seating exactly the same as it did with lower charges. Not a huge difference, but the OAL was definitely longer, even though I hadn't changed the die setting.

 

[Steel head]

The compression is kinda why I moved away from varget but can’t say compressing it hurt performance.

 

[quikcolin]

Great! Thx very much gang. Feeling much better about it. I bought a box of 40g Noslers (from Johnny’s Reloading Bench’s experience). I bet I can fit all the Varget I can dish out under those little monsters lol. Good opportunity to burn off those bullets and powder.

curious to see how the 55g VMax and Varget shape up. I’ll keep you posted.

 

[gigamortis]

Varget tends to be more optimum with the heavies in .223.

 

[supercorndogs]

26.4-26.6 of target with just about any 55g bullet has always worked well for me.

 

[quikcolin]

26.4-26.6 of target with just about any 55g bullet has always worked well for me.

I have a Tikka T3x Stainless Varmint in .223. I’m running Hornady VMax 55g with 26.1g of CFE223 with CCI 450 primers and its ridiculous. Literally a single hole at 100M for 5 shots.

 

[Nimothy]

I’m of the opinion that varget likes compression. But I don’t think your quite as compressed as you think you are. Does it crunch when you seat it? Those bullets are pretty short And 25.5gn is a pretty popular load for the ar15 crowd. Also you should know that powder is little granules of gold right now, so if you find a load that shoots lights out, you might have trouble finding more powder.