Alliant ar comp vs reloader 15.

[AJC]

Both powders seem to get a lot of love. Both are currently on the shelf and varget is not. Ar comp is supposed to be temperature stable while rl15 is not listed as being TS. Which one should I pick up...

 

[Dusty Stevens]

Ar comp. 15 is wild as a buck deer

 

[venatic]

AR Comp is a very good powder. It’s a little faster than Varget so tends to get less velocity depending on application.

 

[AJC]

223 and 308 bolt guns. 308 I play with, I shoot the 223 in varmint steel. 80 grn eld-m now with lapua cases and cci primers. Happy you said ar comp because rl15 was out also.

 

[tommeboy]

H4895

 

[venatic]

XBR 8208

 

[fatelvis]

I've used RL15 for both 308 and 223 for High power comp for years, and it served me extremely well. It and Varget are equally my favorite for that application.

 

[riflewoman]

Here is a comparison of Varget, 8208 and ARComp in the 223 with 77 grain bullets. In this case it seems that Varget is about 5% slower....

The target velocity this guy is bound for is 2750 fps with 77 grain bullets to clone the Mk262. All of these three powders seemed to shoot well.

 

[AJC]

Here is a comparison of Varget, 8208 and ARComp in the 223 with 77 grain bullets. In this case it seems that Varget is about 5% slower....

The target velocity this guy is bound for is 2750 fps with 77 grain bullets to clone the Mk262. All of these three powders seemed to shoot well.

I watch these videos all the time and was the reason I selected those two to try. Glad I'm not the only one here that watches his stuff.

 

[dmoran]

..... In this case it seems that Varget is about 5% slower....

Have had Lot's of Varget that were similar (about 5% slower) and Lot's that appeared substantially faster.
Lot to Lot consistency with Varget has been all over the board on me.

 

[tomswede]

Have had Lot's of Varget that were similar (about 5% slower) and Lot's that appeared substantially faster.
Lot to Lot consistency with Varget has been all over the board on me.

That is heard a lot. On the other hand R15 has been extremely consistent for me

 

[Larryh128]

I watch these videos all the time and was the reason I selected those two to try. Glad I'm not the only one here that watches his stuff.

AR comp is great in the 308, never tried it in the 223.

 

[AJC]

AR comp is great in the 308, never tried it in the 223.

Got a load worked up for a 175 smk. Just curious about cutting down or a ocw short cut.

 

[longtrapshootn]

I have only been using ARcomp in my Colt HBar. Been have good results with sierra 69gr MK. Consistent grouping 3 shot dime size groups at 100 yds. seems to burn clean.

 

[Down South]

Have had Lot's of Varget that were similar (about 5% slower) and Lot's that appeared substantially faster.
Lot to Lot consistency with Varget has been all over the board on me.

I agree about Varget, great powder but when you buy it make sure to buy in bulk and get the same lot#. Lots can vary quite a bit as you mentioned causing you to rework loads.

I've had good luck with lot to lot consistency with H4895 over the years more so than Varget.

I've been shooting VV N-150 most of this year with great results but I bought a large amount in the same lot# so I can't comment on lot to lot variations.

As for AR comp, never tried it but heard it works well but a tad faster burning than the others. RL 15 shoots great for the most part but can be temp sensitive and not the best option for competition IMO.

 

[Laurie]

I've been shooting VV N-150 most of this year with great results but I bought a large amount in the same lot# so I can't comment on lot to lot variations.

Viht powders have probably been the most consistent lot to lot products in this field for many years. The company has incorporated an anti-copper fouling agent in all its powders over the last couple of years and has at the least started changing them to reduce temperature effects more recently. Some people are saying all grades have been been temperature sensitivity modified, but Viht is staying guarded on the issue and will only confirm that the fairly new N565 and existing N150 are definitely 'new formula', the latter from early this year. The US distributors Capstone Precision said recently all N500 powders plus N150 are now temperature-modified.

A few people (on this forum) have said they find the 'new formula' N150 a bit different from the old, allegedly a bit 'faster', so it'd certainly be a good idea to check performance when you do buy again if your existing lot's manufacturing date is 2018 or older.

 

[Down South]

Viht powders have probably been the most consistent lot to lot products in this field for many years. The company has incorporated an anti-copper fouling agent in all its powders over the last couple of years and has at the least started changing them to reduce temperature effects more recently. (Some people are saying all grades have been been temperature sensitivity modified, but Viht is staying guarded on the issue and will only confirm that the fairly new N565 and existing N150 are definitely 'new formula', the latter from early this year.)

A few people (on this forum) have said they find the 'new formula' N150 a bit different from the old, so it'd certainly be a good idea to check performance when you do buy again if your existing lot's manufacturing date is 2018 or older.

Laurie, my lot was manufactured 12-1-15 and I bought 32 lbs so I'm good for a little while. I do have buddies than have 2015 lot# and the newer 2018 lot#. They said the 2018 lot# was hotter if I remember correctly. We'll see when I change lots eventually.

As for the temp stability of N-150. I worked up my load I shot at Nationals in the heat here (90s) and have shot it in matches here at 100 degrees without any issue. I was kinda worried about it going to Raton knowing that the temps would be in the 50s in the morning on 1st relay but I decided to just run with the same load without tweaking it. It shot great all week on all relays no matter what the temps did. I was very happy with the performance of the load/gun. I have no complaints about the powder temp wise and it is definitely a clean burning powder. I am running a fairly mild load in comparison to some other FTR shooters and the node I'm in is very wide so I think that factors into things as well when it comes to temp stability. I think the higher nodes tend to be smaller and cause issues at times temp wise.

 

[Laurie]

N150 is very popular in the UK for 308 in F/TR loads. We see no temperature issues here, but don't see anything like your seasonal or daily temp shifts. We do see large enough changes though to show problems up with max pressure loads in some temperature sensitive grades - I had a few issues in our hottest conditions with Re15 in 223 90gn max loads when I used this cartridge and combination some years ago.

(I bought an insulated sandwich bag for my Re15 223 ammo for summer use and carefully kept it shaded whenever possible. This caused huge hilarity in F/TR circles and insulting comments about stealing a 'My Little Pony' bag off some poor junior grade schoolgirl in pigtails. It wasn't 'My Little Pony' or anything like - I hadn't been that desperate - but this practice is a real rarity here. Instead, I've seen no end of F and F/TR competitors with those big 100-round MTM boxes sitting with the lid flipped fully exposing the contents directly to full high summer sunlight. Even here, a warm summer's day at Bisley in Southern England can see metal temperatures reach the 90s in direct sun and as we pair-shoot, a match can take 40, 45 minutes - easily enough time to induce pressure / velocity changes in affected powders.)

When AR-Comp was introduced, early reports said it was a 'modified Re15' that was a little slower burning, so I had high hopes for it in 90gn bullet 223 loads, but 1) The UK distributor never got any so I've yet to load a single cartridge with it, then 2) people in the US who'd tried it said, no not slower, instead noticeably faster burning than 15.

It seems we may finally have it here and I've got it on order primarily for the 6.5 Grendel with 120/123s, but if I can get it will undoubtedly give it a go in 223 too. I've always liked Re15 and thought of it as an excellent mid-burning speed propellant as long as large temp swings aren't an issue and/or pressures are restrained a bit. With AR-Comp from the same (Bofors) source, and temperature tolerant I'm still very interested in it providing it's not too different from its older relative.

 

[urbanrifleman]

8208 is almost as bad as r15.

 

[urbanrifleman]

From my tests its virtually interchangeable with h4895 for burn rate and velocities are outstanding.