Good Day at the Gun Shop?

[K22]

Since the ranges are snow covered, I drove up to my local gun shop yesterday to get some much-needed supplies for the upcoming varmint season.

I was amazed how little $200 bought me! Two 1 lbs. of Varget and 1 box of 250 Nosler 55 BT's. I think it was a good day at the shop, at least that's what I am telling myself since they had what I wanted or close to it. I wanted H4895 but Varget is my alternate for my 12" twist 223 Rem's with 55 Nosler BT's.

Now all I need is a snow melt so I can get to the range and start tuning myself for Ghogging.

 

[Stewdo]

Good luck on the 4895…and 4198. Try you some Benchmark if you can find some reasonable. Very accurate in my 222s, don’t see why it wouldn’t work in the 223. a bunch cheaper

 

[K22]

Good luck on the 4895…and 4198. Try you some Benchmark if you can find some reasonable. Very accurate in my 222s, don’t see why it wouldn’t work in the 223. a bunch cheaper

Years ago I did try Benchmark in my 223's. The results were good with 50 Nosler BT's and ok with 55's. This is certainly an alternative to consider. They had plenty of it at the shop, even 8 lbs. kegs.

Checking back on my old notes during load development, I noted that this powder, at least in my rifles, hit high pressure signs quickly with just a slight powder increase even below published max charges. I had to load about 1 1/2 grains below published max in the Nosler Manual to avoid excessive pressure, especially with the 55 BTs, one of my favorite bullets for the 12" twist 223's. The published starting loads gave the best groups with the 55's.

In truth, I didn't do a lot of load development with this powder back then, but I wanted to try it. However, Varget and H4895 shoot so well I just went back to those, but I may take another look at Benchmark as shortages continue to plague the sport.