Went tho the range today the wind was blowing so hard that i needed help to staple up my target board.The two groups below were the best with the 223 Savage Varmint at 100 yds.



I received my Burris 3x9 back from the factory which they fixed and upgraded under their "forever" Warranty.Put it back on the Finish Mosin sporter and brought it to the range today and it took me about 8 rounds of old reloads to get it zeroed in.Then  i shot three Hansen 180 gr Posi Feed factory and shot the group below,then i tried one of my new recipes with a 174gr Seirra match king and 43 gr of Varget-the gun damn near exploded.Had it on my big rest(Caldwell "Rock") and it recoiled so hard that the lumpy rear of the Mosin trigger guard busted my knuckle.The bolt was hard to open but the case did extract and it had a dimpled primer,bright marks on the back of the case head,and the case imploded inward in two places right behind the shoulder.I have never in all my years ever seen a case do that.Then i said that was probably just a fluke and went to another batch with a 150 SP and 47gr of Varget.Wam!!Worse then the first one,bold locked shut,had to beat it open with a board.The extractor failed to remove the case but a tap on it with a rod got it out.No damage like the first one but the primer disappeared.This bolt will not go into the receiver all the way,but a bolt from another Moisn will.Appears the extractor took a hit,we will find out when it goes over to "African Engineering"Wednesday morning.


Now for the kicker,i know you are probably saying old Hartwell over loaded the cases!! This was a brand new 1# jug of Varget i just opened,when i opened it the Nitro smell was strong,they had a lot more kernels of green looking power sticks then i had seen before-paid it no mind.Checked Hodgens Web Page and the loadings were the starting point,checked the scale=OK,pulled a few reloads they weighed correctly.Went thru the extruded powers i have in the cabinet and this stuff is a dead ringer,by sight,of H-4198.My buddy who was there when it happened is going to bring some Varget over from a different lot and we will compare side by side and pull and check some more of the suspect loads

Boy Hart, I have never heard of a bad batch of new powder. They put this stuff out by the hundreds of pounds per lot. A bad batch would encompass all of it not just one bottle. I would think they would catch it. Let us know the results.    Trapper

and he keeps missing that hard to hit dime

Here you go Kan Do,just for you!!!!!

Hagrid here is a photo of the shells-the one with the two cave in's had 43 grs of Varget pushing a 174 Serria Match King,and the other was 47 grs of Varget pushing a 150gr soft point.Both these loads are starting loads,grain wise,from the Hodgons website.I and a couple of friends who are life long reloaders are going to dig in and get to the bottom of it Wednesday.I really hope i screwed up because if not,it means that they put the wrong stuff in a Varget can,because i unsealed the factory seal when i started to load,and that is scarey.This could be big problems for some one who is crazy and starts with the max load or a shooter with a worked up max load who unseals a new jug.

thanks hart i knew you could do it

Hart, definitely a major problem, I have had brass look like that out of a mis-adjusted sizing die but that is obviously not the case here. Pardon the pun.

hart, not a militray freak, what caliber is that exactly.   trapper

7.62x54R

Hart,  That's pretty scary!! I use a lot of Varget, Would you mind posting the lot number?

I have seen dents like that before if there was case lube on the shells. When fired it would make more pressure as the case capasity is reduced thats my thought. Have you shot any of shells through a chronograph.