Burn Rate of Powders

Edchef

Well-Known Member
Hello
As there is a shortage of some powders available at the moment I have been looking around for possible alternatives. I have bought some Vectan to try - Highly recommended by some SD members - Got some loaded and ready to go but no chance to try them so far!
I was wondering if I am correct in assuming that powders close to each other on Burn Rate charts should (in theory) be suitable for the same calibre's and use similar loads?
Or, are there other factors I am not aware of?
Thanks
​Ed
 
Its a guide but only in an approximate way.

There can be wide variations in loading recipes for powders that are very close together in burn rate.

By all means choose an alternative that is close to your original powder's burning rate, but use the load data for the new powder to work up your load.

Incidentally, +1 on the Vectan powders. I have used them for 10 years and more.
 
What the other guys said, make sure you use the right load data.
Burn rates might be similar but densities vary e.g. ball vs. stick.
 
I wouldn't choose Vihtavuori if I were changing powders. Unclear whether they'd be available after 2 years or so and also the price hike in Finland has been phenomenal.
 
I wouldn't choose Vihtavuori if I were changing powders. Unclear whether they'd be available after 2 years or so and also the price hike in Finland has been phenomenal.

Has there been a further staement from Eurenco?, last news was they were still in talks about the plant in Vihtavuori Oy, their other plants weren't under any threat of closure.

Worst case (using N140) is you could switch to Swiss Nitrochemie TR140 which is almost identical and around £55/Kg.
 
Last I heard was that Nordis (sole distribution company for Vihtavuori, Lapua etc products at least in Scandinavia) upped the storage capacity and the price of powder to 105 Euro/kg.

The roadmap is supposed to be that Vihtavuori will produce whatever they have left in raw materials and Nordis will store this in somewhat larger amounts than before for distribution. But no news for a buyer of Vihtavuori facilities/business so to my best knowledge they're going to be shut down in near future.

Of course the Vihtavuori brand is likely to stay with Eurenco, and the powder could be produced elsewhere. I guess it would be a rebadging operation so you need to do load development etc. all over.

Please take this as a hearsay since there's no hard facts on the subject. Also there could be some international orders in addition to Nordis scheme and of course international distributors stock the powder also so the change wouldn't be immediate. It's just that I wouldn't commit to Vihtavuori products at this time if I were changing powders (in fact I should be, since I use only VV at the moment...)
 
Will have to wait and see what happens then.

The good news is I have 9Kg of N140 so that should last me about 3 years!. I may have to buy more if they've put the price up that far, currently getting it for £55/Kg :D
 
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