vartarg and Lil-Gun powder

[ricksaw]

I have used Lil-Gun powder in my fireball for decades with no problem,so when I took the plunge for a vartarg I thought it would be a natural.accuracy with the 40 v-maxs was poor but excellant with 32 grainers,I got up to 15.4 grs.with excellant accuracy,but out of no where blew a primer,so backed off to 15.2,same thing super accuracy but again blew a primer after firing several rounds,backed off to 15 grs.and achieve 3600fps with no problems.Todd Kindler (father of vartarg)said it was not a good powder for vartarg but didn't say why.Have any of you vartarg shooters have any experience with this powder and the awesome vartarg?

 

[L.Sherm]

My theroy is it's to fast ,your not getting enough case fill so its volatile I have heard of a few others having the same problem with lil-gun.

 

[Ledd Slinger]

Too fast for the VarTarg. The faster the burn rate, the less empty space a powder needs to create a grenade effect. Pistol powders are better on Hornet case variants. The VarTarg case is too big for Pistol powders.

Powders like AA 1680, AA 2200, H4198, and RL-7 are better suited

 

[ricksaw]

Lil-Gun seems to have pressure spikes in the vartarg,what baffles me is that iv'e used Lil-Gun(15.4 grs,40v-max,wsr primer) have used this load for more than a decade with no problems,cold weather,hot weather no problems with it at all in my fireball.vartarg is based off fireball case,so case capacity in very simuliar.I subscribe to Handloader mag.,ill write a letter directed towards John Barnsness and get his input.

 

[Ledd Slinger]

Lil-Gun seems to have pressure spikes in the vartarg,what baffles me is that iv'e used Lil-Gun(15.4 grs,40v-max,wsr primer) have used this load for more than a decade with no problems,cold weather,hot weather no problems with it at all in my fireball.vartarg is based off fireball case,so case capacity in very simuliar.I subscribe to Handloader mag.,ill write a letter directed towards John Barnsness and get his input.

Yeah its a weird powder. Id get unexpected pressure signs with it in my VarTarg and the round would fly way off target from the group. Never was able to dial it in with accuracy and the speed i wanted.

I also remember when i was trying to develop 'economic' loads in my 204 Ruger when powders were near impossible to find. So i developed a load using 19gr of Lil Gun behind the 39gr Sierra BK. It was really accurate and all charges were individually weighed on an electronic scale. Many of them shot fine, then suddenly one of them blew out a primer. Thought maybe it was a fluke so i kept shooting them. Then all the sudden one completely blew up and locked the rifle up. Had to beat the bolt open then beat the case out of the chamber. Granted my case fill was dangerously low, but i quit messing with Lil Gun in rifle cartridges after that.