Has anyone else had similar issues with VIhtaVuori powder? Only suggesting VV Powder because that’s the only common denominator in the issue. I’ve got a few hundred loaded rounds of 22/250 loaded with both N-140 and N-150 and a friend has a bunch of 220 Swift loaded with N-160 that have turned into trash. Some very significant corrosion on the cases, both yellow brass and nickel plated. Cracks in necks and shoulders and those not cracked are very brittle. Upon pulling them down we found the inside of the case badly corroded and powder clumped together and sticking to the sides of the case. Bottoms of bullets corroded and primers look very bad. Other loads of 760, Re-15, and AA-2460 loaded at around the same time are pristine. I have a bit, probably 1/8 pound of N-170 that is clumped into a solid block and when scraped off the granules are very shiny. My other jugs and cans of VV powder seems to be OK. Everything other than the N-170 is in loaded brass cases. I recently got several boxes of 400 Corbon factory loads from a member here and upon inspection found the exact same conditions with it. No telling what powder was loaded in them, but it sure looks like other VV pistol powder I have. Considering my experience with what I know is VV powder I’ll bet it’s VV powder too. I contacted Corebon and as expected received no reply. Sadly I have quite a bit of VV powder that hasn’t been loaded. Wondering if the powder issues is only chemical reaction with brass or if it’s likely to all go bad in the jug. I have quite a bit of pretty old powder, some ‘40s vintage surplus H-4831 and have have never had any such problems. I’ve had old brass necks crack but never any corrosion issue. Anybody else or am I just the lucky one?
Corroded cases
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Blue68f100
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How old is the powder?
And what Lot #. for others to check.
And what Lot #. for others to check.
sfl_gunner
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I’ve loaded thousands of rounds with N-140. No issues for me. Sounds interesting keep us posted if you ever figure out what happened.
The powder is probably at lest 20 years old, upon further research this “problem” is all over the internet. Vihta Vuori has more or less stonewalled everybody accusing everyone of their contamination and storage being the problem. I doubt I still have the containers since my load date was 1997. Ya, it’s 23 years ago. I’ve got ammo I loaded 45 plus years ago that looks like new inside and out. Not loaded with VV powder either.
243winxb
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Federal said shelf life is 10 years. The military sells pull down powders when ammo has reached a certain age.
Long term storage has not worked for me in the past. Powder or ammo.
See my posts here. https://www.thehighroad.org/index.p...846-fedarm-rifle-powder.877255/#post-11689492 See Composition.
Google your powders sds or msds. Look for Stabilizers.
Long term storage has not worked for me in the past. Powder or ammo.
See my posts here. https://www.thehighroad.org/index.p...846-fedarm-rifle-powder.877255/#post-11689492 See Composition.
Google your powders sds or msds. Look for Stabilizers.
There’s a lot of CYA out there. The reality of it is one never really knows when power is manufactured regardless of what is stamped on the jug, that’s the packaging date. I’ve got probably 75 different numbers of powder anywhere from I bought it 2 weeks ago to it’s military surplus I bought in a 50# keg in January of 1973. I’ve never ever had an issue with any of it until noticing the corrosion on the VV charged loads. Seems like there are a lot of other people with the same experience. Even though I’ve had good performance with VV powders, I rather doubt I’ll pay a premium price for any more of it. Too bad, but that’s just not acceptable in my book.
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