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Topic: i took the plunge today. . . . Posted: 13 September 2003 at 10:07
....and bought some VARGET. looking forward to seeing how this performs, and will probably be getting some RL15 also in the near future.
in addition to the plethora of data that i find on the .308 with varget, i also noticed that it seems to perform rather well with the 162-grain bullet in 7x57. since i am going to load 160 grains, which is only slightly LIGHTER, i feel that i can use this data as a starting point with no worries about excess pressure.
TasunkaWitko - Chinook, Montana
Helfen, Wehren, Heilen Die Wahrheit wird euch frei machen
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Posted: 13 September 2003 at 14:37
good luck w/ your 308, and your assumption w/ the 7x57 is correct.
and, if the day ever comes when you start weighing bullets, you'll find that within a given box, weight can vary widely - i've found over 2 grains difference in some...
Edited by dakotasin
Hunting is not a matter of life or death; it is much more important than that.
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Posted: 14 September 2003 at 03:49
My bet is if your .308 has a long say 22" barrel the 2 powders will be about equal. RL-15 seems to work well in short tubes.
DAKOTA I usualy weigh bullets when i am loading for a hunting trip, but not for target practice. One thing I have discoverd is ZERO varience in Barnes X bullets !. only wish more of my Rifles would shoot them well. I just got a deal on some 100 grain boat tails for my .257 roberts. A full box for 13 bucks at a gun show. I would feel better using a Premium bullet for the Roberts on really big mule deer.
Joined: 10 June 2003
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Posted: 14 September 2003 at 07:18
interesting stuff, tj... i've never messed w/ barnes bullets, so i'll take your word on it. must be the solid copper construction helps lead to weight consistency? i've weighed sierras (gamekings, matchkings, and pro-hunters), hornady (interlocks and flat bases), and nosler ballistic tips... all 3 brands can/do show a pretty wide swing in weights - some worse than others.
in my 308's... varget responded better than rl-15 did to the longer tubes. when shooting the 22" gun, rl-15 was around 100 f/s faster than varget. out of the 26" tube, rl-15 was 5 f/s faster... so, yeah, i agree w/ what you are saying about the barrel lengths... in all 308's i've tested, though, varget was clearly the accuracy winner. sometimes by as little as .1" at 200 yards, sometimes by as much as .75" at 100...
Hunting is not a matter of life or death; it is much more important than that.
Joined: 16 June 2003
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Posted: 15 September 2003 at 02:20
Dakota
I agree that the reason for the consisstant weights on the barnes is the solid copper. My 308's (I only have one now) shot both RL-15 and Varget quite accuratly but the .308 I kept is the model 7, and it shoots a 150 grain bullet about 140 fps faster with RL-15 than with varget. I just tried RL-15 in my 7mm08 yesterday, it has a 20 inch tube too.(a browning) The Starting load shot as fast as the best Varget load, 2750 with 139 grain Hornady. I will try a bigger charge after hunting season. I Should have tried this sooner cause I bet I can get another 100 fps safley.
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