Originally Posted by
CFJunkie
charlie b, I'm doing the same thing.
Bought some N540 a while ago and found that it gives Varget a run for the money in accuracy and gains a bit more velocity doing it.
If you are trying to gain MV for long distance shooting, it might be worth a try.
But N540 is more temperature sensitive (0.8 fps per 1 deg F.) compared to Varget (0.032 fps per deg F.)
With a .223, using the same Exit Time for each bullet-powder combination (equivalent time for the bullets to leave the muzzle - 1.361 msec. for a 26 inch Savage barrel - at pretty close to the same temperatures)
With 69 gr SMKs, N540 was 1.72% faster (44 fps)
With 73 gr ELD-M, N540 was 1.62% faster (43 fps)
With 77 gr SMKs, N540 was 1.72% faster (48 fps)
With a .308, using the same Exit Time for each bullet-powder combination (equivalent time for the bullets to leave the muzzle - 1.343 msec. for a 24 inch Savage barrel with a 2.25 inch muzzle brake - at pretty close to the same temperatures)
With 168 gr SMKs, N540 was 1.12% faster (28 fps)
With 175 g SMKs, N540 was 1.06% faster (26 fps)