I decided to give VV N133 powder a try recently, (mostly since it was the only bottle I could find). I've still got plenty of Varget and H4350 for established loads and serious shooting, but wanted to play and develop something new and this was a good opportunity.
I know that N133 is primarily for .223 loads but wanted to give a quick range report of my morning with it and 7.62. The VV site lists a number of suitable loads for 7.62 / .308 and N133 and that is a gun I can just never shoot enough so here is my report.
With a little build-up I was able to establish repeatedly consistent 1.5 MOA groups with my M1A and N133 powder pushing 155.5 gr Berger Fullbore bullets seated to an OAL of 2.810. My goal with my M1A is typically to get something 150gr traveling 2600 FPS for a good military style load. Usually the M1 is happy shooting 2 MOA with about anything you give it but 39 grains of VV seemed to make a solid 1.5 MOA load at both 100 and 200 yards. Chrono was dead on at 2600 FPS give or take a few FPS each cycle.
I next tried the same 39gr N133 load pushing Sierra FMJBT 150 gr bullets seated to 2.790 and got near identical results. Honestly couldn't be happier as that's about as accurate as I've ever gotten the Springfield. It's basically a bone stock Springfield M1A.
Since I had a few extra rounds I also put them through a Tavor 7 that has the 16.5 inch 1-12 barrel compared to the M1A 22 inch 1-11 barrel. The Tavor is also generally considered a 2 MOA (at best) gun but was able to keep 20 or so rounds all well within that 2 MOA circle. The shorter barrel resulted in average 2450 FPS with that 39gr N133 load for both the Sierra, and Berger bullets.
Overall - I'm very happy with the N133 for lighter 150~155 grain bullets. Will take out a little further next time after I load up another batch. Nearly all my shooting is at Colorado Rifle club and today was dead calm and about 45 degrees.
I know that N133 is primarily for .223 loads but wanted to give a quick range report of my morning with it and 7.62. The VV site lists a number of suitable loads for 7.62 / .308 and N133 and that is a gun I can just never shoot enough so here is my report.
With a little build-up I was able to establish repeatedly consistent 1.5 MOA groups with my M1A and N133 powder pushing 155.5 gr Berger Fullbore bullets seated to an OAL of 2.810. My goal with my M1A is typically to get something 150gr traveling 2600 FPS for a good military style load. Usually the M1 is happy shooting 2 MOA with about anything you give it but 39 grains of VV seemed to make a solid 1.5 MOA load at both 100 and 200 yards. Chrono was dead on at 2600 FPS give or take a few FPS each cycle.
I next tried the same 39gr N133 load pushing Sierra FMJBT 150 gr bullets seated to 2.790 and got near identical results. Honestly couldn't be happier as that's about as accurate as I've ever gotten the Springfield. It's basically a bone stock Springfield M1A.
Since I had a few extra rounds I also put them through a Tavor 7 that has the 16.5 inch 1-12 barrel compared to the M1A 22 inch 1-11 barrel. The Tavor is also generally considered a 2 MOA (at best) gun but was able to keep 20 or so rounds all well within that 2 MOA circle. The shorter barrel resulted in average 2450 FPS with that 39gr N133 load for both the Sierra, and Berger bullets.
Overall - I'm very happy with the N133 for lighter 150~155 grain bullets. Will take out a little further next time after I load up another batch. Nearly all my shooting is at Colorado Rifle club and today was dead calm and about 45 degrees.
