- Thread starter Jabot
- Start date
I bought a jug of the Precision Rifle powder after seeing favorable reviews in comparing it to Varget.
The good news is it does indeed seem very temp stable and gave me great SDs.
The bad news is it seems to give quite a bit lower velocity than the lot of Varget I have. A couple of examples:
5.56mm LC cases loaded with 69 grain SMKs. 25 grains of Varget gave me 2730 fps. 25 grains of Precision Rifle gave me 2650 fps.
.308 was very similar with Precision Rifle lagging behind almost 80 fps.
I haven't had a chance to up the charges yet to see if I can gain back the velocity without getting into pressure. I live in Minnesota and sometimes it really sucks shooting in the cold
The good news is it does indeed seem very temp stable and gave me great SDs.
The bad news is it seems to give quite a bit lower velocity than the lot of Varget I have. A couple of examples:
5.56mm LC cases loaded with 69 grain SMKs. 25 grains of Varget gave me 2730 fps. 25 grains of Precision Rifle gave me 2650 fps.
.308 was very similar with Precision Rifle lagging behind almost 80 fps.
I haven't had a chance to up the charges yet to see if I can gain back the velocity without getting into pressure. I live in Minnesota and sometimes it really sucks shooting in the cold
Tha
thanks man if u get more data please updateI bought a jug of the Precision Rifle powder after seeing favorable reviews in comparing it to Varget.
The good news is it does indeed seem very temp stable and gave me great SDs.
The bad news is it seems to give quite a bit lower velocity than the lot of Varget I have. A couple of examples:
5.56mm LC cases loaded with 69 grain SMKs. 25 grains of Varget gave me 2730 fps. 25 grains of Precision Rifle gave me 2650 fps.
.308 was very similar with Precision Rifle lagging behind almost 80 fps.
I haven't had a chance to up the charges yet to see if I can gain back the velocity without getting into pressure. I live in Minnesota and sometimes it really sucks shooting in the cold
I've run it in two rifles so far; very early testing. Both rifles are chambered specifically to run heavy for caliber bullets in F-T/R. I'm posting this as a reference point for anyone who comes across this. Generally speaking, I'm about 2-3gr over book max for any powder/bullet combo in these specific chambers.
.308 Win (.180fb/342nk)
Virgin Lapua Palma Brass
30" 5R Bartlein ~700 rounds on it.
.223 Rem (Kiff ISSF .169fb / 242.7nk)
Hammered LC brass I had laying around
28" 5R Bartlein 0 rounds on it
In the .308 it was very very close to what I would expect to get out of Varget at the same charge weights.
With the .223 I need to play with it more; I usually shoot Lapua brass out of that, but didn't have any prepped brass ready to go, and I'm confident the volume difference between Lapua and LC played a part in this. ~24gr of Varget and a 90gr VLD will usually be moving ~2770-2800; so it was odd to see the .308 be right at Varget velocities/charges, but the .223 be so far off.
Since doing this testing a week ago, I shot a club match over the weekend with one of my .308s to fireform some brass for a state tourney next month. My thrown together 175 SMK & SWP load (doing this to avoid shooting more expensive 200.20x bullets) shot me a clean on the first relay, so the stuff works. Matches 2/3 I just couldn't hang in the wind against the 200/210/215gr bullets, but that wasn't the powders fault.
Lastly, if you're using an Auto Trickler V2, this powder is HORRIBLE in the Lee hopper; it jams it up something fierce. It doesn't look like it would, but it does...doesn't matter how much you loosen up the measure. I actually bought the V3 auto trickler because of how bad it was.
.308 Win (.180fb/342nk)
Virgin Lapua Palma Brass
30" 5R Bartlein ~700 rounds on it.
.223 Rem (Kiff ISSF .169fb / 242.7nk)
Hammered LC brass I had laying around
28" 5R Bartlein 0 rounds on it
In the .308 it was very very close to what I would expect to get out of Varget at the same charge weights.
With the .223 I need to play with it more; I usually shoot Lapua brass out of that, but didn't have any prepped brass ready to go, and I'm confident the volume difference between Lapua and LC played a part in this. ~24gr of Varget and a 90gr VLD will usually be moving ~2770-2800; so it was odd to see the .308 be right at Varget velocities/charges, but the .223 be so far off.
Since doing this testing a week ago, I shot a club match over the weekend with one of my .308s to fireform some brass for a state tourney next month. My thrown together 175 SMK & SWP load (doing this to avoid shooting more expensive 200.20x bullets) shot me a clean on the first relay, so the stuff works. Matches 2/3 I just couldn't hang in the wind against the 200/210/215gr bullets, but that wasn't the powders fault.
Lastly, if you're using an Auto Trickler V2, this powder is HORRIBLE in the Lee hopper; it jams it up something fierce. It doesn't look like it would, but it does...doesn't matter how much you loosen up the measure. I actually bought the V3 auto trickler because of how bad it was.
Maybe slightly slower than varget?.
Just judging by your 175 gn, 45.1 load that what I get with my 185 juggernaut with 44.5 Gn of varget
Good data though thanks
Not sure what reamer you used for your chamber, but I was running those 175 SMKs .020" off in a .180 freebore chamber. It's going to lower the velocity quite a bit relative to something seated to SAAMI spec.
Can't tell you what freebore is, long throat though 3.036 oal
Measured today...200.20Xs at 3.113" (.012" off) and 175 SMKs at 2.970 (.020 off)
Ask the guy who owns the reamer he said freebore is .195
