Tried some VihtaVuori for the first time

[Doodlebugger45]

I have to say that I'm impressed. I had heard great things about VihtaVouri before but I couldn't see why I should pay $30/lb for it when I have 12 other pistol powders in my closet that only cost $20/lb. Well, the other day I was hanging around my local gun shop swapping stories about great loads we'd come up with, etc. In previous visits I had noticed a lone can of some VV powder. This time I noticed that the price sticker was so old it was turning yellow. It turned out to be a 1 lb bottle of VV N330 and it was priced at $18. Who knows how long it had been sitting on the shelf there with that price. I quickly thumbed through his Speer manual and saw that it was suitable for .45 Colt cast bullets so I bought it on a whim.

This stuff is odd to look at for pistol powder. It is a stick powder, kind of like rifle powder except the kernels are really short and skinny. The VV reloading manual calls for 6.3-7.5 gr of it under a 250 gr cast bullet for .45 Colt, so I loaded up 30 of them with 6.8 gr which should yield a velocity in the 825-850 fps range. I also noticed they had data for .357 mag, so I loaded up another 30 of them with 5.0 gr undre a 158 gr hard cast bullet for my Blackhawk. That should be around 1000 fps. They didn't have any data for my 44 mag for plinking cast loads. They listed 44 special but I don't have any of those cases. Oh well.

Thihs stuff meters extremely well. No variation at all once I had my measure dialed in right.

So today I took those revolvers out and shot them. WOW! Extremely accurate and best of all, it was the cleanest stuff I have ever shot cast bullets in. No soot at all on the cases or the cylinder face. As noted before, it seems the soot factor is more problematic when the temperatures are low like they are today.

The bad news is that I'm probably hooked on this expensive stuff now. But I figure if I get 1000 loads out of a pound, it just means the powder cost is $0.03 instead of $0.02. No big deal for revolver shooting. But I don't know any other local dealers who routinely stock the Finland stuff.

[jbrown13]

Yeah, the Finnish powder is good stuff. My experience with it leads me to think it is the cleanest also.

[Wag]

Nice review. I'll have to keep that in mind.

--Wag--

[WESHOOT2]

Superb choices for 357, 41, 44, and 45 Colt include 3N37 and N350.
These two are superior choices for numerous high-performance auto cartridges, too.

[chunk]

love it... n350 works great for many cals.

[demigod]

Good review. I used to by a die hard about sticking with one WIN pistol and one WIN rifle powder for the few calibers I load.

But lately (since I got a subscription to Handloader Magazine) I've been messing with various powders that they feature in their "propellant profiles" section.

[amamnn]

N-340 is also a very good quality and versatile powder. If you shop around and buy in bulk you can get these powders for a lot less than $30.00 per pound. Be sure that you are looking at a one pound jug rather than a two pounder when comparing prices. Some places will even give you a break on the Hazmat fee if you buy enough. I've pretty much settled on a couple VV powders as my main choice for rifle and pistol, so I don't worry about using up an order of 16 to 32 pounds. BTW, there are some sellers who say you cannot ship powder and primers together and some who say you can- which is another way to spread out the hazmat expense. Some retailers charge you a bigger hazmat fee than others, too.

I've found good prices at these retailers--

http://www.brunoshooters.com/Merchan...egory_Code=28V

http://www.powdervalleyinc.com/

http://store.thirdgenerationshooting...fm/2,4425.html

Sinclair and Graf's will have specials from time to time, as well.

[richfr]

Less than $30 a pound
In France we pay €36 ($49) for 500g (1.1lb)