Dillon 650 223 powder problem

[Scottie15]

Varget is a great powder for 223 and heavy bullets. Look at CFE223 or H335 for the bulk 55 grain bullets. It's cheaper and meters much more consistently.

[joefreas]

Do you have any problems getting Varget powder into the cases? When I get my 650 going it seems any of the rod shaped powders don't go into the cases completely.

I switched to Alliant Varmint powder for 223 and have run about 10K 55grain bullets and actually like the powder a lot.

Varget is one of my favorite 30 cal powders I don't like compressing it into 223 cases.

[mikeyr]

....snip....And it called for 25.0 to 27.0 max i am at 26.0 ruffly when i shake a regular 223 i hear that ...snip....

Am I the only one concerned by the part I bolded in the OP's original post. I would not want to shoot a reload with powder loads measured "roughly", I would expect more accurate measurements then roughly.

[killshot44]

26 grains of Varget in a .223 IS a compressed load.

A 4-6" drop tube for the powder would slow the fill rate allowing the powder to settle a bit as the case fills.

I'd back that load way down, hell I only needed 24.5 to run 80.5 Bergers to 1K.

[Bill Steele]

To answer the OP's specific question regarding the safety of compressed loads, yes it is perfectly safe to run a compressed load.

Varget is an extruded powder, so when you drop it from you Dillon drop, it tends to stack up some, using more room than it absolutely needs if allowed to settle before seating the bullet. Extruded powders don't meter quite as well as some of the other popular finer ball powdered used in that caliber, so you get a little less consistency drop to drop than again a finer ball powder.

Just make sure your scale is accurate and dial in the drop amount by using an average of 5 drops (to account of the inconsistency of the powder type, drop to drop) and you should be fine.