I shoot a Winchester Model 64 (1937 vintage) in our clubs silouette matches. I usually use IMR4895 for my loads, but for the last match I used 34.7grns of varget with 150grn Win. soft points and an OAL of 2.410". These loads seemed to shoot way better than the other loads I have been using. I haven't chrono-ed these or shot them at paper for groups. What I am wondering is if anyone else uses Varget for their .30.30 loads and how they perform. By the way, Hello to all of my reloading brothers.

Welcome to the site. I don't reload yet, so I can't really help you out. I'm sure if you stick around long enough, you will learn at least a couple of things.

Cody

I, also, welcome you to this fine site. Pull up a stump, grab a beer and join in...

I reload .30-30, but I don't use Varget. Instead I use W-748 for a 1948 mod 94. But, as codybrown said. Just wait a minute and you will get some kind of an answer...

Thanks for the welcome, it seems as though there is a pretty good bunch of fellas here on this forum.

South Dakota. Hummm. You may have to wait for tomorrow. A lot of the guys are asleep by now. They're not as young as I and need lots of sleep. It's 10:00 PM (2200) here in Ava MO.

I think of Varget as a 'designer' IMR4064. Neither Varget, nor IMR4064, nor IMR4895 are going to give you top velocities in a 30-30, but they may shoot very well in your rifle.

I find both Varget and IMR4064 shoot very well in my 30-06 rifles, especially the Garand. I also find that they do quite well in anything loaded in a 308 case (243, 260, 7mm-08)or Mauser case (6mm Rem, 7x57, 8x57), or 30-06 case (25-06, 270 Win). Varget is also the cat's whiskers for Swiss 7.5x55. Varget is very consistent, and not quite as sensitive to ambient temperature as IMR4064.

I don't have a 30-30, but I would be willing to try it in my 35 Rem.

Gidday GUTS. Like codybrown and Bushy I also welcome you to HuntingNut.

As luck would have it I load my Mod 94 Winchester 30.30 with Varget, or as we call it here in Australia, AR2208. My load consists of 34gn pushing a Winchester 150gn PPFN bullet. Accuracy is good and the load doesn't knock the rifle or me around.

Cheers, Vince

Varget seems to be a powder of choice for target shooting in some calibers. I haven't tried it in a .30-30 though.

FALPhil, I'd like to hear your load for the 7.5 Swiss!

I loaded 42.2 grains of Varget under a Speer 168 gr Match BT bullet in Prvi brass with CCI large rifle primers. I seated the bullets out so that the COL was identical to the GP-11 round, which I believe is exactly 3 inches. I got a 3 shot group that was 1.3 inches at 100 yards with iron sights. I have 2 witnesses. I don't know if I could duplicate that group again, as my eyes are over a half century old.

Hey Guts,
Welcome to the boards and as Bushy, the younger guy , said; pull up a stump, grab cool brew and kick back. I do not shoot the 30-30 in a rifle, only handguns.
My question is about the silhouette matches at your range, are they at 200 or 500 meters with the lever guns?
Ed

Welcome aboard GUTS. I use varget in the 308 haven't tried it in the 3030 but varget is a fine powder I imagine it would do fine.
Joe

Our lever silouette matches start with the chickens at 50 meters, the pigs at 100 meters, the turkeys at 150 meters , and the rams at 200 meters. Our military matches are from the same ranges, both shot with iron sights. It is a real gas. In the high power matches we shoot scoped rifles offhand with the chickens at 200, the pigs at 300 the turkeys at 400, and the rams at 500 meters. I use an NDM86 in 7.62x51 for the high power matches. The loads I build for it are GMM brass CCI#34 primers, 175grn Sierra BTHP's, case length 2.010", OAL 2.810", and 41.5grns of IMR4064. I've shot some pretty nice 5 shot groups with this rifle and these loads. I use Varget for my AR15 loads and for my .30.30 loads. When I shoot long distance groups I Meplat uniform the tips and load them into the chamber one at a time so the feed ramp doesn't screw up the tips. I'll try to post a picture of a decent group for you.

The picture worked, to my suprise. This is a 200 meter 5 shot group. Sorry about the blurry picture, I took it with my phone.

GUTS wrote:

I use an NDM86 in 7.62x51 for the high power matches.

Da-yum. Can you post pics of the rifle? Those things are going for about $3K down in these parts.

We had a guy who would clean up from time to time on the silhouettes with his Garand.

Thanks FALPhil! In the K-31 I tried 45.0 grains of Varget under a Hornady 165 SST bullet, OAL was 2.940". Velocity was 2570 ft/sec but the primers looked a little flattened to me. As I recall groups were around 2.5" at 100 yards. I know the gun can do better, I also got about 1.5" groups at 100 with the GP-11 ammo and iron sights.