Varget Powder Availability?

[XTR]

I wonder how many years it takes to use 32#.....

I think you should note that he said he went in with friends.

As for how long? I shot over 16 lbs of powder last yr. So not as long as you might think. Hell, I loaded four pounds in two days getting ready for Raton.

I get 157 rounds or so out of a pound; so for Raton, I went through about 3 pounds in 3 days. You load more and faster than I. Maybe you use 2 Chargemasters.

I carried two rifles and loaded two bullets.

It was a good thing too, I ended up going to my backup rifle/load in the FCWC and shooting 215s. Came home with 5 bullets left. My 185 loads in my primary ended up being too hot for the conditions so I quit using it after the FCNC. I came home with a couple of hundred bullets that needed to be re-loaded. I was loading N550 last yr, I was too close to the limit and didn't understand just how much temperature effected it. I shot the same powder behind the 215s but the load wasn't pushing as hard so it actually shot pretty well. (I on the other hand got eaten alive at 1000 on the last day)

 

[Turbulent Turtle]

I see. I also carried two rifles but since they were chambered exactly alike and have the same barrel length and twist, the ammunition is close enough to be interchangeable in a disaster situation. The delta between the two loads is 0.1gr and the COAL is the same.

In 2011 a few weeks before Lodi my wife suggested strongly that I bring my other F-TR rifle to the Nationals. I heeded that suggestion and loaded 300 rounds like a fiend for that rifle because it was a .223.

In the event, I did not need to use my backup rifles at these big matches, but it was nice to know I had them along.

The heat of Raton this past year was not an issue for my loads as I tailor them to near maximum in the cool breezes of August on the Texas Gulf Coast. And even though the difference in elevation is somewhere near 6700 feet, I only need to come down about 2.5 to 3.0 MOA instead of the JBM predicted 4.9 MOA. My thinking is that perhaps JBM underestimates the beneficial effects of heat and humidity or overestimates the benefits of elevation. This was two years in a row.

 

[loudandproud]

Our local shops have plenty. I just bought 5 lbs tonight and scored two 8lber's last week at about $18.50 a lb.

I should be good for awhile.

 

[savageshooter86]

: That is cheapest powder I have seen and for it to be Varget....

 

[Bill S]

I found powder but it was expensive..

 

[savageshooter86]

Our store in town was charging $34.99/lb when they still had powder. And they are charging $49.99/1000 of all their primers. Regardless of size or brand

 

[XTR]

The heat of Raton this past year was not an issue for my loads as I tailor them to near maximum in the cool breezes of August on the Texas Gulf Coast.

I've had temperature problems twice. The 2012 State championship, at Tullahoma there really is no place to leave your gear when you go to the pits, so my stuff went with me. My stuff sat in the truck and baked. I blew three primers and toasted all the brass that I used in the match after I came back to the line. That was shooting Varget. (it got hot). I keep the ammo in a cooler in the truck now, not to cool it, but just to keep it from getting to 190* or what ever.

I was running N550 at Raton. I thought I had vetted the load, but where we keel our gear at the 1000 yard line at Oak Ridge is shaded, (even if we bake) and an hour or two in the sun does not equal having your stuff sit for 6 hours baking on the line at Raton. Last yr I had not found the Hogdon test data that showed a 20% increase in pressure in N550 from 70* to 125*. I doubt that the differential at Raton was that much, but I was aparently too close to the line. I blew three primers in the team match during the FCNC. My load was all over the place. I went to the backup rifle for the worlds with a load for the 215s that was mild (~2540fps) but accurate.

I'm not running N550 this yr unless I load to the bottom of the node and use it up just for practice.

 

[johara1]

If anybody needs Hodgen powder and some IMR are some VV. Grices gun shop in Clearfield Pa. has it on sale. I just got the ad in the mail and Varget was on the list……. jim