MarkA
New member
Would you believe Varget?
The second week of August, I picked up my third CZ, a 550 American in 6.5 X 55. My Son in Law introduced me to this cartridge; I love it! I have shot a sporterized M96 until this purchase. The old Swede shot well with IMR 4350. I had learned to hand load on the 6.5 and even my crude beginning efforts were reward by the benign Swede with one inch or so groups. Knowing the accuracy of both CZ’s and the 6.5 there was plenty of time until the first deer hunt of November. The Red Gods howled with laughter.
I equipped my self with IMR 4350, the quintessential 6.5 powder. The other powders in the fold were IMR 4320 and Reloader 19. All of the powder bases were covered; now for the bullets. I bought Barnes TSX 120’s, Nosler 125 partitions, 120 BT’s and Sierra 140 Game and Match Kings.
I used my COL tool and got maximum lengths and then calculated and loaded exact lengths. I used the Lyman DPS II to throw exact loads. I prepped brass as if I was in BR. I really did it up right and made a gillion loads w/ usually a 0.2 grain increment building towards a published max load from about 2 grains below that load.
I shot a lot of 6.5. I got a lot frustrated. I loaded and shot a lot more, and besides frustration, panic was beginning to set in. Only the first stages, but it was panic nonetheless. Nothing was working. My loads seemed to be getting WORSE not better. None of the stand by powders was really grouping.
I decided that I had to take a ½ day of vacation and take out some new loads and get it right or take my CZ to the gunsmith. I could not believe it, a CZ that would not shoot! I was about to that point, nothing was going right and now I am getting freaked ‘cuz 11 November is right around the corner. I remembered that back in August I had loaded 25 rounds of 140 Game Kings and 50 rounds of 120 Ballistic Tips with of all things, Varget. I did not like the load density of these loads even a little. I put them on the shelf. However, Varget is my favorite powder for nearly everything. Varget is the you get home at 3 am, with lipstick on the collar, whiskey on the breath and Varget says, get some sleep honey you musta had a hard day kinda of understanding powder. Today I love Varget even more.
At the range, I shot 15 rounds of IMR 4320 w/ Barnes 120 TSX’s in a load range that made me think I had found the answer. This set of rounds was no better than it predecessors. I was near hysteric, but I told myself to calm down and just try the Varget loads, I knew they would not work, but I must try everything before calling Bob and taking him the CZ.
Wouldn’t ya know it! Both the 140 and 120 loads actually formed groups had not seen that since my 204 workdays. These were rough loads with 0.5-grain increments. As the charge weight increased, the group size shrunk. At or near the maximum load for each bullet I had some true 1” groups that could better with tweaking. Finally, a load, you cannot believe the relief. I know it ain’t supposed to be the Premier powder for 6.5, but it is the powder this guy is going hunting with.
The second week of August, I picked up my third CZ, a 550 American in 6.5 X 55. My Son in Law introduced me to this cartridge; I love it! I have shot a sporterized M96 until this purchase. The old Swede shot well with IMR 4350. I had learned to hand load on the 6.5 and even my crude beginning efforts were reward by the benign Swede with one inch or so groups. Knowing the accuracy of both CZ’s and the 6.5 there was plenty of time until the first deer hunt of November. The Red Gods howled with laughter.
I equipped my self with IMR 4350, the quintessential 6.5 powder. The other powders in the fold were IMR 4320 and Reloader 19. All of the powder bases were covered; now for the bullets. I bought Barnes TSX 120’s, Nosler 125 partitions, 120 BT’s and Sierra 140 Game and Match Kings.
I used my COL tool and got maximum lengths and then calculated and loaded exact lengths. I used the Lyman DPS II to throw exact loads. I prepped brass as if I was in BR. I really did it up right and made a gillion loads w/ usually a 0.2 grain increment building towards a published max load from about 2 grains below that load.
I shot a lot of 6.5. I got a lot frustrated. I loaded and shot a lot more, and besides frustration, panic was beginning to set in. Only the first stages, but it was panic nonetheless. Nothing was working. My loads seemed to be getting WORSE not better. None of the stand by powders was really grouping.
I decided that I had to take a ½ day of vacation and take out some new loads and get it right or take my CZ to the gunsmith. I could not believe it, a CZ that would not shoot! I was about to that point, nothing was going right and now I am getting freaked ‘cuz 11 November is right around the corner. I remembered that back in August I had loaded 25 rounds of 140 Game Kings and 50 rounds of 120 Ballistic Tips with of all things, Varget. I did not like the load density of these loads even a little. I put them on the shelf. However, Varget is my favorite powder for nearly everything. Varget is the you get home at 3 am, with lipstick on the collar, whiskey on the breath and Varget says, get some sleep honey you musta had a hard day kinda of understanding powder. Today I love Varget even more.
At the range, I shot 15 rounds of IMR 4320 w/ Barnes 120 TSX’s in a load range that made me think I had found the answer. This set of rounds was no better than it predecessors. I was near hysteric, but I told myself to calm down and just try the Varget loads, I knew they would not work, but I must try everything before calling Bob and taking him the CZ.
Wouldn’t ya know it! Both the 140 and 120 loads actually formed groups had not seen that since my 204 workdays. These were rough loads with 0.5-grain increments. As the charge weight increased, the group size shrunk. At or near the maximum load for each bullet I had some true 1” groups that could better with tweaking. Finally, a load, you cannot believe the relief. I know it ain’t supposed to be the Premier powder for 6.5, but it is the powder this guy is going hunting with.
