47.5 varget #34 1x fired PPU case 150 PPU FMJ.Im getting results as good as the same load with SMKs.

With PPU? Serious?

Varget always treated me well. I always keep my 168 CC at 46gr with HXP brass. I am super glad I bought out a guy’s supply of CC’s before the last panic. 1k for $200 and he was local so he left 2 boxes at my front door!

Noslers were always good enough for my Iron sighted .30s (M1 and M1a).   I probably couldn’t prove the difference between CCs and Sierras slung up with my eyes in position.  Maybe off the bench with a scope on the M1a.    Another place I decided good enough for me at the price difference with the Sierras at the time.  

I shoot PPU for the brass for the oddball milsurps.  I have yet to be wowed with PPU factory accuracy which kept me from trying their component bullets.  

The PPU match bullet had a non match reputation when I first learned of them.   They likely improved since though.

OP did I miss what accuracy/precision you are getting from that load?   Not to pick nits but you say as good as Sierra.  Well an analytical mind in the reloading forum would ask how well do you shoot the sierra with the gun.   Other than that it is a function test report.  

Not picking on you just stating the thought process.   We don’t know if you and your rifle can only get 4 moa out of SMKs due to the rifle condition etc.  I have garands that are wirn enough that four moa is their thing.   original 10-1941 barrel with a funnel of a muzzle.  I don’t have the heart to replace it with newer garands on hand.



and for what it is work I shoot less good than I did with younger eyeballs and just hack at it now a days.  

With Sierras its a 10 ring gun,with PPUs its a 10 ring gun.Equal ammount of Xs.

Some of the PPU match bullets can be disappointing, but I find their FMJ bullets to be some of the better ones.

The 168 grain match hollow point has very little length that is full diameter and can be touchy just seating the bullets and having neck tension hold them in place.

Their 0.224" FMJ bullets hold together better than some.

Their 0.308" 145 grain FMJ bullet is a decent copy of the NATO reference bullet.

Their M2 and M1 clone bullets seem pretty decent.

That is good then.  Real good, If you get the same results with either and can save some money.  

I am all aboard in loading no more expensive than the job requires or the gun will hold.  


My M96 was not impressed with the PPU factory match ammo.  I really need to work on that one,....and sadly.....I hold off on it because I don’t want to waste my horde of Nosler CC, Sierra 140 match kings, and my Lapua 137 and 139s.  That and a accubonds  are all I got in 6.5 on the shelf.  

No mid priced options in my shelf and I am too cheap to buy on a panic swing.  


So yea, I am totally with you Stan.

Congrats on the success with both PPU and Varget combo.

I've purchased quite a bit of PPU product over the years just to experiment with as it's so available and affordable and always just wind-up with just so-so results.

I purchased a pound of Varget almost twenty years ago and still have about two ounces of it left, as every single load I try another powder works better.

Agree on their milsurp brass. Just didn’t see much use out of their bullets.

I forgot to add that with this load the zero did not change at 200 from the PPU M1 specific factory loads,so if your riff likes the factory PPU then its real close. I dont have a chrony.I wont be using up my SMKs with this gun,I will save them for the M1A.

I couldnt get the 150 SMKs to shoot with 4064 so I went to Varget,then to the PPUs.

My M1 is the same way - shoots SMK and PPU with equal (in)accuracy.  

Unlike yours, mine can barely hold the black.  No matter the quality of the bullet or load, it throws them all with the same shot dispersion.  

If I had half a brain cell left, I'd get the thing re-barreled.

I have owned 6 M1's in my life. One is a Springfield Armory NM commercial rifle (7,000,000 serial #) that I could never get good accuracy from. I decided to have it rebarreled and rebedded and it still doesn't shoot worth a damn. Things that make you go hmmmm.

Mine is a Springfield Armory rifle (S/N 24XXXX) from the DCM.  I love shooting the thing, I just wish it was a bit more accurate - OP's ten ring accuracy would be fantastic.

This is yet another instance of relatively small improvements from reloading tweaks getting masked by a larger, overall error in the shooter-rifle-ammo system.  I could not find the improvement from a true match grade bullet because it is masked by a rifle that is somewhere in the 4+ MOA accuracy range.  

I have had several respectable shooters to shoot it, all with the same outcomes - shots off call; all over the black.

You have to have a "balanced" system - good reloads, good rifle, good shooter.  If you already have truly good reloads and a truly good rifle, you can improve the shooter at the fastest possible rate.  Crappy mil surp ammo or a crappy rifle are sure ways to frustrate a new shooter.  Personally, I wasted about 2 years trying to make the M1 shoot well.  I had fun but made zero progress.

The most important tool I have to demonstrate the differences my reloading methods make is my match rifle.

My accuracy load is 168gr SMKs and 48.0 varget.

Shoots sub 2 MOA in just about any good rifle....usually better.

Bottom right target, 47.5gr H335, 150gr FMJ, was the best out of 4 powders I had loaded for testing last weekend.
Target was at 110yrds, M1 was a "Correct Grade" H&R (100% stock), 15-20mph wind from L to R with my 62yr old eyes.

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8208XBR and Hornady 150 grainers.  18" barrel. Last target on the bottom right is 44gr. Varget with a Hornady 178 AMAX. 100 yards.

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