Bob--the only VVN powder I have used is their VVN540. I use that in my .17 Remington for my 30 gr. bullet loads.
Last spring I tried various powders in my quest to find a load that would launch the 30 gr. Kindler Gold projectiles at a speed of 3,900 to 4,000 fps from my 26" Lilja 4-groove, 1 in 9" twist SS barrel. I wasn't obtaining the desired velocity Varget or H4895.
Someone suggested I try AA2700, since they had achieved fairly high velocities with 30 gr. bullets with it in their .17 Rem. I started out with 24.5 gr. of AA2700 and the 30 gr. Golds but they only gave me 3,510 fps and accuracy wasn't great. I worked my way on up to 26.5 gr. and achieved an average MV of 3,962 fps. I wanted to get across that 4,000 fps barrier so I tried 26.7 gr. of AA2700 and got a reading of 4,029 fps with my first shot. I got no reading from my 2nd or 3rd shot with this load. Another puzzling thing too, was that the 2nd and 3rd bullets didn't seem to have hit the 100 yard target!!!
When I checked out my chronograph, I had a hole in the front housing from my second shot with 26.7 gr. of AA2700 that shattered the electronic eye. I'm probably lucky I didn't shatter something else as well. I called Todd Kindler and he told me that I was loading these shells way too hot. He suggested I try to stay down below 4,000 fps, maybe even stay around 3,900 or so. Accuracy with all of the AA2700 loads was rotten!!!
I sent in for repairs for the Beta Master Chrony and summer was almost gone when the repairs came.
I moved on to using VVN540. I had absolutley no suggested MIN or MAX loads with 30 gr. bullets in the .17 Remington to go by, so I took a look at suggested loads for N140 and N150 and worked from those. I started with 24.0 gr of VVN540 with the 30 gr. Kindler Golds and worked my loads up 0.1 gr. at a time. The temperature was 80º when I tested these loads:
24.0 gr. = avg. of 3,799 fps and 0.48" group/3 shots
24.1 gr. = avg. of 3,847 fps and 0.83" group/3 shots
24.2 gr. = avg. of 3,865 fps and 0.88" group/3 shots
24.3 gr. = avg. of 3,866 fps and .798" group/3 shots
The next day the temperature was only 43º when I tested the following VVN540 loads:
24.0 gr. = avg. of 3,694 fps and a 0.75"/5 shots
24.3 gr. = avg. of 3,778 fps and a 0.50"/5 shots
24.4 gr. = avg. of 3,776 fps and a 0.51"/3 shots
Two days later the temperature was 48º when I shot my first 5-shot group of VVN540. I tested several other loads in other rifles and when I got around to shooting my second test load in the .17 Rem. it was 58º:
24.3 gr. = avg. of 3,806 fps and a 0.86"/5 shots
24.7 gr. = avg. of 3,905 fps and a 1.19"/5 shots
The speed was getting there but the accuracy sucked
The next day the temperature was 48º for my VVN540 testing and Kindler Golds:
24.3 gr. = avg. of 3,760 fps and a 0.87"/5 shots. This group was 0.87" high by 0.31" wide. Vertical stringing??
24.6 gr. = no readings, but 0.825"/5 shots
Arrrrgggghhhhh. I gave up on the Kindler Golds for the time being
I decided to try the 30 gr. Starke bullets with the VVN540. I also seated these bullets out a little closer to the lands than I had been seating them with my 21.7 gr. load of H4895, which was my regular coyote load.
Right away, the loads with 24.3 gr. and 24.6 gr. of VVN540 were 0.63"/5 shots and 0.372"/5 shots respectively. The muzzle velocity of the 24.3 gr. load was 3,800 fps and the MV of the 24.6 gr. load was 3,900 fps. I loaded up another 20 shells with 24.6 gr. and shot for accuracy and was still getting 5-shot groups in the low 0.4" range. I loaded up 100 rounds for coyote hunting.
I will continue to try to work up a decent load for the Kindler Golds because they have a much better BC than the Starkes--.270 BC for Golds against a .209 BC for Starkes. The difference in flatness of the trajectory is astounding. Seating depth is what I'll try first.
Sorry this was so long, but I am NOT a man of a few words. ;D ;D
