Hodgdon Varget

Specifications

Grain shape

RCM's read

Short-cut extruded kernels; web thickness sets its burn rate, the same wall-thickness ladder that separates H4895 from H4350 and H4831. Shorter than the old sticks and better behaved for it, but still extruded — a measure will shear some kernels and thrown charges will wander.

Why geometry decides burn rate more than chemistry does: Shape Is the Product.

Short extruded kernels for uniform metering, and Hodgdon states it is insensitive to hot and cold temperatures and burns clean. Hodgdon claims higher energy than others in its burning-speed class.

Burn rate

Medium rifle, between Vihtavuori N140 and Winchester 748, in the IMR 4064 class.

Chart agreement: MAJOR DISAGREEMENT - the single biggest conflict in this merged chart. Hodgdon and the Wolfe/LoadData compilation both rank Hodgdon BL-C(2) and Hodgdon CFE 223 as SLOWER than Hodgdon Varget, while Vihtavuori and Shooters World both band them FASTER than Varget (Vihtavuori bands BL-C(2) with N130 and CFE 223 with N133; Shooters World bands BL-C(2) with Accurate 2460/W748/N133 and CFE 223 with Accurate 2520/N140). The three powders are ordered here per Hodgdon. Treat this whole neighbourhood as unresolved. Ranked by: Hodgdon, Vihtavuori, Shooters World, Wolfe/LoadData.

Powders charted near it — neighbours on the chart are not substitutes, and adjacency tells you nothing about what charge either one takes:

• Shooters World Match Rifle (position 126)
• Vihtavuori N140 (position 127)
• Shooters World Precision Rifle (position 128)
• Winchester 748 (position 130)
• Winchester StaBALL Match (position 131)
• Hodgdon BL-C(2) (position 132)

What reloaders say about it

Unverified community anecdote. The following is a summary of what handloaders report in public forums. It is not manufacturer information, it has not been tested, it may be wrong, and it contains no load data by design. Treat it as colour, not guidance.

Varget is the closest thing r/reloading has to a default recommendation for medium-capacity rifle cartridges, and the reasons users give are consistent: reported temperature insensitivity, a burn rate that suits the most popular match cartridges across a wide range of bullet weights, and a long track record. It has enough of a cult following that newcomers are routinely told 'if you can use Varget, use Varget' — which several commenters push back on as reflexive rather than reasoned.

• reputation as an all-round medium-burn rifle powder
• frequently described as temperature insensitive
• described as metering better than older extruded powders, but still a stick powder that some measures cut or bridge
• strong following in service-rifle and match disciplines
• some users consider the recommendation reflexive/overhyped

Availability: Reports are contradictory and appear to be regional. Some users say it is consistently orderable direct from the manufacturer and stocked at big-box outdoor retailers; others (notably in California) say they have not seen it locally in years. Price is widely described as far above pre-2020 levels, with Canadian users reporting substantially worse.

Reported cautions:

• Users note it is an extruded stick powder: it can bridge or be cut in some volumetric measures, and several say no stick powder meters cleanly in a manual thrower. Community advice is to weigh rather than throw by volume.
• Being 'next to' Varget on a burn-rate chart is repeatedly described as a reason to look up new data, never a reason to reuse a charge.

Consensus level: widely held. Drawn from thread 1, thread 2, thread 3, thread 4, thread 5.

Sources

The specifications above come from Hodgdon's own published documentation, linked below. The two “RCM's read” sections are ours, not theirs — our assessment of what this powder is like to load, drawn from its published characteristics and from what handloaders consistently report. No manufacturer endorses them and no source below backs them. If you think we have one wrong, tell us — we would rather fix it.

• Hodgdon product page
• hodgdonpowderco.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Copy-of-2024-Smokeless-Relative
• hodgdonreloading.com/rldc/

Other Hodgdon powders

• Hodgdon BL-C(2)
• Hodgdon Benchmark
• Hodgdon CFE 223
• Hodgdon CFE BLK
• Hodgdon CFE Pistol
• Hodgdon Clays
• Hodgdon H1000
• Hodgdon H110

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