New Vihtavuori Powder Released?

[Ccrider]

Saw in another thread that Vihtavuori is going to be releasing a new line of powders soon. Just curious. Does anyone have any more info on this?

 

[Dusty Stevens]

Gonna be good stuff!!

 

[ShootDots]

A few weeks ago I spoke with Jason Bruno (He is Lester's son) who stated that he spoke with the North American rep for Viht. According to the rep, some time during the first quarter of this year the NEW powder should hit our shores. I don't know who is making the stuff, but ALL of their NEW powders are the same "old" ones BUT made like RL-16 and RL-23! Makes me wonder if they are not coming from the same powder manufacturer??

 

[Tim Singleton]

N132 would be nice!

 

[gunsandgunsmithing]

Gonna be good stuff!!

I hope so! I've been ecstatic with N120 in my 30 Major for a long time. I hope they don't screw it up. We are too small a market to carry much weight wit a powder maker. Well...maybe not the case with Lou..but as a whole, we are a tiny percentage of their sales. I doubt any changes are brought for us but rather for some other reason that mostly matters to their bottom line. I hope I'm wrong or that the changes are a positive for us and the bulk of their customers.

 

[MrMajestic]

Or an N-115..

 

[L.Sherm]

Gonna be good stuff!!

As long as you can get it, and not like N570

 

[ShootDots]

Or an N-115..

You know Mr. Majestic, that is a dang good idea! N150 is in the same burn rate range as Varget / RL-15. N160 is a mite slower than H4350. That is a good spread betwixt the two. A powder right about like the "old / discontinued" IMR 4007 would be just about perfect! The numeric designation N155 would work just fine! You need to be hired on their board!

 

[gunsandgunsmithing]

Or an N-115..

Hmmm! Yes, most other good options are slower or they are considerably faster. A N115 would be interesting in that cartridge.

 

[Ccrider]

So will they phase out the old formulation?

 

[stifffingers]

So will they phase out the old formulation?

I think I read they are going to add an anti fouling agent.

 

[Dusty Stevens]

I hope they leave the old stuff alone and just add to the line. Dont mess with current powders trying to “improve” them with a witch’s brew to eliminate fouling

 

[Ccrider]

Should be interesting. Discontinue the old powder, making it obsolete and priceless; or run new versions and old and compete with yourself.

 

[243Mendoza]

... but ALL of their NEW powders are the same "old" ones BUT made like RL-16 and RL-23! Makes me wonder if they are not coming from the same powder manufacturer??

...and cost twice as much

 

[spclark]

I hope they leave the old stuff alone and just add to the line.

Probably can’t do that and continue to sell products manufactured with ingredients that are being prohibited in many countries. Why so many new powders have been introduced over the past two, three years.

KevinThomas might have something to contribute to this thread. That new entity (Capstone Group) marketing Lapua, Berger and VV here IS who he works for after all.

 

[Dusty Stevens]

Probably can’t do that and continue to sell products manufactured with ingredients that are being prohibited in many countries. Why so many new powders have been introduced over the past two, three years.

KevinThomas might have something to contribute to this thread. That new entity (Capstone Group) marketing Lapua, Berger and VV here IS who he works for after all.

No he doesnt work there.

 

[KevinThomas]

Dusty is correct, Steve. They cut their staff back last August, and I was one of the casualties. I haven’t seen nor heard anything about a new line, but they have been very quietly making improvements to the line for the past several years. It’s an ongoing, never-ending process to improve the products. They were working on improving the temp sensitivity issues and should have incorporated much of this in the line by now. They also added a decoppering agent to reduce metal fouling, which should also be fully complete by now. The Finns are funny about this sort of thing. Adam and I tried for quite some time to get them to be more boisterous about these improvements, but it’s just not their way. Finns are by nature a very quiet, low-key people, not at all prone to boasting or self-promotion; pretty much the polar opposite of us.

When they (Nammo) purchased Vihtavuori a few years back, they immediately began to modernize the plant and made a huge investment in those upgrades. The idea of them outsourcing, or having another firm make anything for them sounds pretty far fetched to me, and I just don’t see that happening. They’re more than capable of doing most anything they want, and are now capable of cranking the production volume up substantially over what they could when Eurenco owned the plant. I can find out, I’m sure, but I’d say these are just the same improvements they’ve been working on come to fruition at this point. That, added to some internet gossip, a little misinformation and confusion, and there you go. If there’s anything new, I’d look for them to announce it at the SHOT Show in a week or so.

 

[KevinThomas]

Oh, and Dusty, their powders were already EU compliant so there wouldn’t be any changes in their basic composition. The problem goes in the other direction; there’s a number of powders commonly used in the USA that can’t be imported or sold to the European market due to the presence of chemicals like DNT and some others that th EU frowns upon.

 

[gunsandgunsmithing]

Oh, and Dusty, their powders were already EU compliant so there wouldn’t be any changes in their basic composition. The problem goes in the other direction; there’s a number of powders commonly used in the USA that can’t be imported or sold to the European market due to the presence of chemicals like DNT and some others that th EU frowns upon.

Thanks for your comments Kevin..I didn't say this earlier but I've been using n120 since 2007. It has been remarkable in every aspect. Lot to lot variances seemed nil...until the last batch from 2017. It seems a bit different and not in a good way. I still have not chonoed it but it's not shooting like every other lot. Any ideas? I'm talking over 10 years and thousands upon thousands of rounds with zero discernible differences until now. It may be fine but will need more fine tuning if it can perform the way all those others did for so long.

 

[Dusty Stevens]

Thanks kevin