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Accurized Colt AR-15, Varget, and 50 Grain V-Max Loading Data

barryaclarke

Sergeant
Full Member
Minuteman
Jun 26, 2012
122
3
82
Bourbonnais, IL
I load a 22-250 using 37.5 grains of Varget and Hornady 50 grain V-Max. The results are nothing but extraordinary with 100 yard groups under ½” I now have a new accurized Colt AR-15 with a 24” barrel and I see no load data for this powder and bullet which I find strange. The closest I have come is on the Hodgdon site, it list a 50 GR SPR SP using Varget with starting loads at 26.5 grains and maxing out at 27.5 grains or in my Lyman manual, 49th, it shows for a 50 grain Jacketed Blitz, starting is 25.4 grains maxing out at 28.2 grains. Does anyone have experience with this load in an AR-15? I have over 30 pounds of Varget and 6,000 50 grain V-Max, so I'm committed to these two for better or worse. Thank you in advance for your help……….
 
I use Varget with the 77 smk, and out of curiosity ran it through QuickLoad. It looks like Varget is one or two powders to slow for that application. 25.4 grains of Varget is lightly compressed in a case with 30.5 grains of water capacity, which is fairly large for 223. The burn fraction is low, meaning it will be very dirty. The pressure is low enough that velocity isn't going to be great and the velocity uniformity may not be either.

I'd load a few at 26.5 grains and give them a try. They may be compressed enough you decide not to go any further. You may have cycling problems, but most guns will probably run it.

The 22-250 load does look awesome though. Thanks for that, I also have a ton of Varget and a 22-250 and it wouldn't have occurred to me to try it there.
 
Thank you for the reply. Varget might not be the fastest, but I think one could be hard pressed to find a more accurate powder. The 22-250 performance is without question so I thought I would give it a try in the 223. I will say that the Dillon 550 doesn’t like Varget in 22 caliber as I have to tap the machine each time to ensure that the cartridge gets a full charge. If I don’t, I find when the shell is rotated, from time to time powder will drop down that didn’t get into the case.
 
Trade that Varget for some Benchmark, Varget is too slow for 55 grainers or less, tried it after I read where one poster on another forum tried Varget with 55VMAXs, he got very good results, I on the other hand didn't, accuracy was horrible,