Skinz: What everyone says above is true. However, Varget is not a good powder for a 40gn bullet in 223. I doubt there is even a listing. Varget rocks with the 60 gn bullets in 223 and the 110 gn bullets in 308. I use 26.4gn with 60 gn vmax in 223. I cannot remmember the 308 load. However, it either was a full dose of Varget or close to it using 110 gn vmax bullets. I used commercial cases and std winchester primers. OAL was usually set to the max that would still function in the magazines. However, your rifle is probably different than mine. You will need to check what OAL will work for your rifles. I don't know how to tell you how I accomplish this. It is too much to explain without pictures. It sounds like your on a fairly tight budget. If possible, find someone to help you out that has been doing this for a good long time. Time equates to both experience and tooling. It has taken me 30 years to accumulate the reloading equipment that I have. Also, Get a manual. I own five of the complete kind. Plus, I have several caliber specific, and several of the free manuals given out by the gun powder manufactures. You can usually get these at your local gun store.
Good Luck