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VhitaV choices

N165 6.5-284 I know little about other VV powders but many claim N165 has one of the lowest burn temps of any powder. But to give Hodgdon its due H1000 and Hybrid 100V are also low temp.

N165 was the near universal UK 6.5-284 powder for F-Class and BR when the cartridge was popular. It carries on in straight and improved 284 Win in 'F', although some people here prefer N160. It is undoubtedly gentler on barrels than many competitors. My Bartlein barreled straight 284 giving ca. 2,825 fps to a 180 (30-inch barrel) is now on 2,300 rounds and still shooting well, but remember we pairs shoot in the UK not string, so we don't heat barrels up as much as people on the western side of the Atlantic.

I'm told most of our increasing numbers of 300 WSM Effers use it too. We lost the Australian made Hodgdon powders including H4831sc thanks to health / safety / environmental regulations a few years back, and N165 has been the main winner in the fallout. When available, Nitrochemie's Reload Swiss powders give it some competition though. (They're the people who make Alliant Re17, 26 and 33, but the company also makes excellent cooler burning single-based grades and in normal times we have a wide range of their powders.)
 
N133: 6.5mm Grendel with 120/123s
N135: not much, but good for <155gn in 308 Win (it was developed originally for standard 7.62X51mm 147gn ball)
N140: 223 long throat F-Class with 77s and heavier. 308 Win with 155-175s
N150: 308 with anything heavier than 155gn. Great FTR powder with 185-200s in small primer brass. 6BR 105-108s.
N555: 300 RSAUM with 185/200s
N160: 6SLR, 6.5X55, 7mm-08 heavy bullet
N165: 6SLR, 6.5X55, 284 Win
 
N133: 6.5mm Grendel with 120/123s
N135: not much, but good for <155gn in 308 Win (it was developed originally for standard 7.62X51mm 147gn ball)
N140: 223 long throat F-Class with 77s and heavier. 308 Win with 155-175s
N150: 308 with anything heavier than 155gn. Great FTR powder with 185-200s in small primer brass. 6BR 105-108s.
N555: 300 RSAUM with 185/200s
N160: 6SLR, 6.5X55, 7mm-08 heavy bullet
N165: 6SLR, 6.5X55, 284 Win
 
. I expect to wake up one week and the price will near double.
I started to comment on something along the same lines... My experience with VV powder has been restricted to smaller cartridges because historical VV was priced like Powdered Unicorn Horn. With larger cartridges I just couldn't rationalize the premium price compared to so many other great powders available. Now, VV feels like I'm shopping at Walmart... nuts!

I am a bit baffled yet pleasantly pleased by their pricing policy of "Insensitivity". I assume VV holds an annual pricing review... better buy what you think you might need before the next annual meeting :)
 
I am a bit baffled yet pleasantly pleased by their pricing policy of "Insensitivity".

We've had Viht powders in the UK since the early 1980s (and I've used them ever since they first appeared). I've no insight into the company's marketing and pricing policies, but their prices have always risen in line with inflation and / or the pound sterling's value vis a vis the Euro (which Finland uses). I suspect that the company looks for a reasonable return on its costs, plus you have to add the not inconsiderable shipping costs from (way) inland Scandinavia to the rest of Europe and even more so the US.

It would make sense for Viht to grow market share in key markets while competing products are scarce (or even unavailable) and competing firms have jacked prices up by large amounts to maintain their profit levels from reduced sales. Don't forget that Viht was actually in the process of plant, workforce, and activity reduction prior to planned complete closure not too many years ago when there was a propellants glut in the west with the large reduction in military ammunition demand from the 'peace dividend' then the US and NATO rundown of their military activities in Iraq and Afghanistan. That was under the Eurenco combine's ownership and it decided that Viht was in the wrong place for this French / Belgian orientated group. Had Nammo not stepped in at literally the last moment, we would have lost Viht, and where would we (not to mention western governments and militaries) be now when the apparently unthinkable and impossible, a war (and not even a big one as these things go) happened? Reliance entirely on the private sector and market forces is in most circumstances a fine thing, but has its downsides when it comes to strategic security.
 
N133: 6.5mm Grendel with 120/123s
N135: not much, but good for <155gn in 308 Win (it was developed originally for standard 7.62X51mm 147gn ball)
N140: 223 long throat F-Class with 77s and heavier. 308 Win with 155-175s
N150: 308 with anything heavier than 155gn. Great FTR powder with 185-200s in small primer brass. 6BR 105-108s.
N555: 300 RSAUM with 185/200s
N160: 6SLR, 6.5X55, 7mm-08 heavy bullet
N165: 6SLR, 6.5X55, 284 Win
What are your thoughts on N555 and the SAUM vs 4350 and R16? I bought a pound to try with 180 and 205 Elite Hunters. Just haven't gotten around to trying it yet. Thanks!
 
N105 - .38 Super
N130 - .17 Mk IV
N530 - 6.5 Grendel
N540 - 308
N550 - 6.5x47
3N38 - 9mm Major
N310/320/340 - .380, 9mm, .40 S&W, .45ACP

I have a couple of others for more cartridges but haven't done any load development with them yet. I've used the pistol powder forever but avoided rifle due to excess cost. Now they are cheaper than others and more readily available.
 
What are your thoughts on N555 and the SAUM vs 4350 and R16? I bought a pound to try with 180 and 205 Elite Hunters. Just haven't gotten around to trying it yet. Thanks!

I can't comment on the H version as we lost this product a few years back in the UK, and it was over-expensive and too hard to get hold of here long before that. I did manage to snag half a dozen tins of IMR-4350 at a good price at the time when the new regulations came into force and a dealer was stuck with them. I used it in the 300SAUM for a while and got reasonable, but not in my view outstanding, performance. When N555 was introduced, I bought a tin and have never used anything else in the cartridge since. This is with 185 and 200gn Berger Hybrids in F-Class.

I haven't tried Re16 in the SAUM. In theory we still receive Alliant powders in the UK, but they're hard if not impossible to find in stock and the importer/distributor's recommended prices are now so high that only the rich and desperate would even consider purchase. (£105 / lb which equates to $134 at the official rate of exchange!)

I wrote some articles starting a series (still underway) on possible alternatives to the Hodgdon 'big four' that we lost thanks to the EU's REACH initiatives. On H4350 alternatives:

https://www.targetshooter.co.uk/?p=3624

https://www.targetshooter.co.uk/?p=3657

https://www.targetshooter.co.uk/?p=3683

N555 did very well in the Savage PTA based 7mm-08 F-Class rifle under 160gn Sierra TMKs, as seen in the third article, and far better than Re16 in groups and MV ES values. (But as noted in the feature, the Savage never does particularly well with the more aggressive high-MV powders.)
 

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