Varget ??

[rmist]

For those of you who have some of the NEW Varget, is it pretty close to the older lots? Curious ??
Thanx again,
Rmist

 

[jsthntn247]

I had to drop my powder charge by 1 full grain to make the gun shoot again with new varget

 

[xpilot]

When did the NEW varget appear? Can you tell by lot/batch number?

 

[M-61]

How do you determine the old from the new VARGET should any become available here?

 

[rmist]

How do you determine the old from the new VARGET should any become available here?

I think you just answered your question. There hasn't been any around in months !! So I would call the stuff that is coming in now the "new" stuff, only because it just got off the boat.
I was just curious as to how close the newer Varget is compared to the older lots. The older ones seemed very close to each other as far as burn rate went. But I always check before going to normal loads with different lots no matter who makes it.

 

[Texas Solo]

Wow, a buddy at work just picked up his first pound of Varget to test. He mentioned it has a weird yellowish color. I told him "mine doesn't". So now I'm sitting on two pounds of what I assume is the old stuff, and two pounds of what I assume is the new stuff.
Has Hodgdon mentioned anything about this? Has anyone asked them about it?

 

[remo101]

FYI I have some thats at least 3 years old and it has the Yellowish color.

 

[RDavies]

You will need to post lot numbers to tell if it is old or new. Lot numbers should be on the back of the container, it will have 4 numbers on the end.

 

[Alex Wheeler]

I have a Krieger barrel that shoots very very well with Varget from 2010. It will not shoot 2 lots from 2012 that I have. Complete load development performed over again, the best the newer powder shoots is double the group size. I ran out of the old lot, a friend had some from 2009, yep that shoot too. I have since switched to rl 15 for my new barrels.

 

[Shynloco]

I find it interesting how powders can change from lot to lot. Noted that in the last lot of Varget that I tried loading in my .308 and it would perform in some temps (60 - 70) but not in the 90+. So I too switched to RE15 and she shot good. Then got another lot of Varget from a friend and just last week that rifle shot the best is has ever, even with a new MG barrel that had 250 rds down the tube. I also tried IMR 4895 as an alternative and it shot just a hair below the Varget, but better than the RE15 that worked so well before. Go figure.

 

[lpreddick]

varget is manufactured using ether and a whiff will get you attention. ether is FLAMMABLE and i can't help but believe some of the variation we hear about is related to fresh powder (with it's ether) producing higher pressures and velocities, whereas a container opened and used over a long period may not, due to the evaporation of the ether. i once used ether in a potatoe gun and it does explode! ether was once used in operating rooms as an anesthetic and explosions did happen! i don't know if anybody has done this: open a new container, load and shoot, recording velocities and performance. repeat after completely airing out the powder until all the ether smell is gone. i now open and pour varget into a large bowl and toss until no ether, then return to container. this will take several days. does hodgdon have a position re the ether?

 

[CatShooter]

There is not enough ether to have an effect.

The smell of ether is extremely strong for the actual amount of ether present. One drop on the floor will fill a hospital hall way with the smell.

There is no ether in your Varget to evaporate.