VV N-140 in 6br with 105 bullets

[LRPV]

Guys, I'm not trying to re-invent the wheel here but I have an almost full 8# jug of N140 that I was using in other rounds and have quit shooting, so it's just sitting there. I was using it in place of Varget in some 223, 22-250, and 243 (light bullet loads) and getting tighter groups and less ES. I didn't see much talk about it in a search or on the home page, so I thought I'd ask if anyone is having any luck with it. I never did try it in my 6br but I've got a new one on the way and just wondered if it would be worth trying or to just stick with Varget. I hope it likes the 105 Hybrid.
Jason

 

[fdshuster]

Jason: I too thought to try N140, since I am a fan of the VihtaVouri powders. Noticed that the burn rate is right alongside Varget, my standard powder in my 6BR 's and 6 BRX with heavier weight bullets.

For whatever reason I could not get it to shoot like the Varget. My results were mostly so-so, not real good, not real bad.

 

[gnoble]

Jason, I have found VN-140 to be closer to RL-15. Have shot some very good groups and shown very good extreme spreads. ES in the low single digets. Start out with RL-15 load data, start low and work up. VN-140 burns cleaner then RL-15 and Varget.

 

[fdshuster]

gnoble: Just re-checked the Hodgdon Manual burn rate chart. They list RL15 at #79, N140 at #80 and Varget at #81. My Lyman Manual shows Varget at # 65. N140 at 68 and RL 15 at #69.

Some conflict, as expected between these two different sources.

The cleaner burning issue is one of the reasons I was hoping I could get N140 to work, so will go back & try again, following your suggestions.

 

[LRPV]

Thanks for the replies guys. I will give it a shot and see what happens. New rifle is a Savage 12 benchrest to be used in factory class 600yd benchrest. Hopefully i'll get a good one.

 

[LRPV]

Would anyone care to share a little N-140 data? I shot Varget only in my old 6br and mostly 95vld. I did play around with 107smk a little. I'm wanting to try the 105 hybrid first and it's going to give me around a 2.37" COAL in this chamber. I don't know what my problem is with the search section but I rarely find anything to help me.
Jason

 

[Steve Blair]

I have a QuickLOAD entry for the 105 Hybrid and Dave is right on the load data. I would expect for see best accuracy between 29.5 and 30.0 at around 2850-2870. I encourage you to shoot some test rounds around 28.0 to see what N140 is doing in that rifle.

 

[LRPV]

Thanks guys. Viht lists 28.7 as the max for n140 and the 105 scenar but I don't have any experience with any of their bullets and I'm sure the bullets are quite a bit different. Seems like everyone is running .5 grain more Varget with the hybrid than they used with the VLD. I don't know when I'll get around to trying any of this. Weather isn't cooperating this week and busy season is going to be here pretty quick. Thanks again.
Jason

 

[LRPV]

I ran the 105 hybrids in new Lapua brass with a CCI450 .005 off touching from 28 up to 30.2 grains of N-140. I set up the chrony for 29.2 to 30.2 but conditions weren't good and I was in a hurry and didn't write anything down. I was just trying to smooth out the factory barrel so I wasn't too concerned about recording things. 30.2 got me to the 2850-2860 range with no pressure signs that I could detect. I need to shoot some more in better conditions to confirm the speed I got and keep in mind the barrel is still new, but should I be happy with the speed where it is and work from there if it groups or try to get more speed out of it?
Jason