New to Group, got a .308 question

I been through a pound of CF223 and its not very temp stable for what I was doing and the accuracy seem to be at full case capacity. It was a bad node. As soon as it got a little warm I had hard bolt lift. I've been trying to get some super heavy's to shoot well like the 212ELDX, 210VLD, and 210ABLR. I thought I was going to have some luck with the Varget but that turned out to be more of a mixed brass issue. I need to go back and try this over again with the Varget. I had another 308 that shot the 168 and 178 amax very well and about 50fps apart from each other. I wish I never would of sold the rifle. It was a bedded 1-12 twist heavy barrel stainless marlin. I used to shoot it out to 1000yrds. Just had to dial a bit. The 308 I have now is a 26inch 1/10 twist howa. I really want to get these heavy to shoot but I may go back to something lighter. I also have some more 178 AMAX and some 195ELDX that I can try. This was going to be a long range short action elk/deer thumper slow and heavy. I kind of lean this way on all my rifles. I shoot the heaviest/highest BC bullet that a twist will stabilize to max out the benefits of the cartridge. For the 178 thought I found it easy to load the IMR4895 just worked great and was consistent in velocity and speed. It did ok also with the temp. Never got to crazy with hard bolt lift or even ejector swipes. I was also about 3/4 on the max load data for the bullet/cartridge. .
 
If you look for 308win threads, you typically see significant participation. This has been and remains one the all time favorite cartridges for shooting and deer hunting. It just seems to be the easy button for many reasons. I went to the range a couple of days ago to confirm zero on my X-Bolt and decided to try out a new load. Varget and Berger CH 168 pills with new Lapua brass. First three shots cold bore attached. Not bad for a pencil barrel that hasn't been shot in a couple of months.
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I'll probably have to revisit Varget again someday. I didn't have great luck with it. I've done better with IMR 4064, H4895, TAC and RL15. But many have had great success with Varget so there is no denying it as a viable choice.
 
Looking at the burn rate charts, I would think Varget would be better with lighter weight bullets. My friend is working up loads for his .308 gasser and he tried Varget with 150 and under bullets with so-so results. I gave him some 168 Sierras and a pound of 4064 and he found pay dirt with that combo.

I'm trying Varget with the new Sierra 169 gr MK and so far it is acceptable, but not nearly as accurate as the IMR 4064/Sierra 168MK combo. That could be an issue with bullet tuning on the new 169's though. Too cold for me to go to a range right now. 5 degrees does not make a comfortable day at the range, lol.
 

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