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I'm fed up with developing a load to then find out I can't get the powder anymore. I had fantastic results with Hodgdon VARGET in my 26" AI-AT, but you can't get it for love nor money, so I want to start using powders that are readily available. I assume European propellant manufacturers will be the best option, but which one will produce the best results for either 139 Scenars or 140 Berger VLDs? I've found 2 options below:

RS60 Rifle Powder
Vihtavuori N160/N550/N560

Are there any other European manufacturers? If not, which of the 4 propellants would you recommend?

N560 works really well with 139 / 140g projectiles.

N550 brill with 123s

Thanks for the reply. I've had really good results with N560, but it was a bit hit and miss, so I assumed it wasn't very tolerant to different atmospheric conditions. Having said that, I now develop my loads around OCW so it might be worth another look. When you say N550 is brill what moa have you reliably achieved? I managed .25 --> .3 moa with VARGET, it was fantastic.

Does anyone have an opinion on Reload Swiss or any other European manufacturer?

I'm using RS62 with 123gr bullets and achieving good velocites and very good accuracy. Its not running flat out by any means but shows a decent increase in velocity over my H4350 load.

Its a single base powder too which I tend to stick to rightly or wrongly. (Makes me feel better at least!) And only cost me £65/kg. I pay £85/kg for Viht up here.

Thanks. What rifle is this in and what moa do you regularly get? Do you find the RS powders are tolerant to temperature change? I don't mind so much about price, I just want VARGET accuracy again...

farmer7 wrote:I'm using RS62 with 123gr bullets and achieving good velocites and very good accuracy. Its not running flat out by any means but shows a decent increase in velocity over my H4350 load.

Its a single base powder too which I tend to stick to rightly or wrongly. (Makes me feel better at least!) And only cost me £65/kg. I pay £85/kg for Viht up here.

37g of Lovex S062 under a 140gr Nosler Custom Competition, shoots better than I can :)

phaedra1106 wrote:37g of Lovex S062 under a 140gr Nosler Custom Competition, shoots better than I can :)

I've seen you shoot - everything shoots better than you.

Ramshot Hunter. Meters like water, works well, very well in fact, in 260 flavour

dodgyrog wrote:

phaedra1106 wrote:37g of Lovex S062 under a 140gr Nosler Custom Competition, shoots better than I can :)

I've seen you shoot - everything shoots better than you.

I've been using 43gr N160 (had a stash with £45/kg labels so I can't even tell you how old it is) in a Lapua case with GB458 Scenars.

At 100m off a bipod it will shoot under a 10mm group (edge to edge and it's repeatable). It's a modified CZ550 Varmint with a Bartlein 26" MTU contour barrel.

I don't shoot in competition (only informally) so not really interested (no time nor the inclination) in developing the load further.