Ballistic products is listing Varget in 1# cans. and hazmat is 19.99$ http://www.ballisticproducts.com/Hodgdon-Varget-Extreme-Rifle-Powder-1-can/productinfo/081VARGET1/
Varget
- Thread starter rogn
- Start date
Flouncer
What the heck it works for me !!
?? $28.95 as of right now Tuesday 18:64 hrs Pacific Standard Time.
Edit: $85.48 total for two pounds plus shipping plus Hazmat via their check out.
Better off waiting for local. Thanks though.
I have to ask...and please don't take this wrong, because I actually have an 8 pound jug of Varget...what is everyone's fascination with this powder??? I mean, it must seriously shine big time in something...what caliber is everyone shooting that this powder does soooooooooooooooooooo well with????? I bought the jug from a local guy that quit shooting. I knew at the time that this was a popular powder, so I grabbed up on it...why is it so sought after???? What is the favorite go to load???? Thanks in advance for any info!!!
It is huge in Palma loads. That being said I was forced to try other powders for Palma and have found IMR 4064 to be the cat's meow for my usage. No, it does not meter as well and it does not burn as clean but boy does it shoot! AND it is $40 per 8 Ibs. cheaper to boot. Now I clean a bit more often but I am good with that!
I finally broke down and bought a case of Varget 1 lb canisters yesterday. Paid $255 for 10 lbs.
Varget works well in many calibers. .223, .308, 6mm whatever, etc. it's a good burn rate for many sizes of bullets. It's temperature stable and extruded. It has a good case fill percentage for most calibers. It compresses well and more over it shoots good.
i have had a couple bad lots of Varget so your mileage may very.
Spike A
Gold $$ Contributor
see now i am the other way, i mean i have varget setting in my reloading supplies, and i have tried it in many things but have found better powder for each caliber. i mean yes its a widely versatile, but i wont settle on something just because i can use it in more than one. It would shoot good in my 308.. but as soon as i seated deeper for it to fit in my magazine it wouldn't shoot to save my life..
I'm with you. I kept reading about answers to people who asked what powder to use. The typical answer is "Go with so-and-so grains of Varget and don't look back", or something like that. Eventually I learned that this unobtainable magic powder was available as a behind-the-counter special-deal for good-customers-only-by-secret-word-of-mouth. Naturally I bought a pound. How could I resist trying this supposedly fantastic powder?
Careful testing showed that it was not more than just OK in my .223 rifles and my 6mm BR rifles. It didn't meter particularly well or poorly. The ES and SD figures were OK, but not particularly great. The accuracy was OK, but again, nothing spectacular.
In other words, it seemed to be acceptable and if no other powder were available, I'd be happy to use Varget. But since I get better performance from several different powders which are nearly always available both on the Internet and at several of my local suppliers, I don't use Varget. If it works for someone else, great. Nothing wrong with it, but for me it's not as magical as some people seem to think.
Hengehold
Silver $$ Contributor
+1 on all accounts. Due to higher price and non-availability, I don't antisipate that I will use Varget anymore.
Varget is useless without a regular supply. A lot of folks are working up loads with alternate powders due to the shortage.
I've seen much higher pressures than expected in a couple of loads. Good stuff, but not magic.
I've seen much higher pressures than expected in a couple of loads. Good stuff, but not magic.
A huge selling point for Varget is its temperature stability as well.
It was a huge selling point, but not anymore. Varget was the first of Hodgdon's revolutionary Extreme Extruded Powders and that used to be a big deal. No wonder a huge number of reloaders switched to Varget. Many found a good load and they're sticking with it in spite of the difficulty of obtaining Varget these days.
But now there is a whole slew of temperature stable powders, several of which perform better in my guns. Nothing wrong with Varget, but it is no longer unique (no pun intended)
dcali
Bullet Maker
It's just powder. Nothing magic about it. BUT... it happens to perform pretty well in long barreled .308s with heavy bullets AND .223's with heavy bullets. There's a lot of demand for that sort of thing, hence the prices & low availability. Although maybe I'm lucky in that the local gun shop seems to have it pretty reliably.
Same thing with H4350. It just works well in .308-ish sized 6mm and 6.5mm cartridges. Tons of people shoot those, so tons of people want the powder. It gets scarce, and takes on mythical qualities.
Same thing with H4350. It just works well in .308-ish sized 6mm and 6.5mm cartridges. Tons of people shoot those, so tons of people want the powder. It gets scarce, and takes on mythical qualities.
Ned Ludd
Silver $$ Contributor
For many applications, H4895 is a viable alternative to Varget. It is relatively temperature stable and will usually give you about 25-30 fps greater velocity on an OBT node than Varget. Regardless of what you use, buying more than a pound or two at a time is a good idea once you're convinced a powder will work for you. That way, you're not re-developing loads all the time as you run out of a small lot of powder.
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