Vittavouri factory to close

L

londonhunter

Guest
Hi folks

Just been told that vit / lapua is going to make an announcement around the end of June to close the whole Powder manufacturing operation down in December 2012. Souce is reliable and not speculation. I am told this is entirely due to reduce demand and order from the military. Very sad.....
 
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What a nuisance

That's a nuisance. I only have 2Kg thats's 8.8lb of N133 for the PPC. D W Custer who was the distributor for Vit and Lap in Oz got rid of it a few months ago. So I can't get any more now. Oh well I'll have to burn up some more barrel getting it to shoot on something else.
Andy.
 
The parent company Eurenco will make an announcement by end of June 2012
 
Andy,

Was overpriced anyway...Benchmark 2 will do the same thing without the hassles...fill up your case...Stuart and Annie shot it for years and did pretty well.

Steve
 
londonhunter said:
Hi folks

Just been told that vit / lapua is going to make an announcement around the end of June to close the whole Powder manufacturing operation down in December 2012. Souce is reliable and not speculation. I am told this is entirely due to reduce demand and order from the military. Very sad.....
Click to expand...

Ben

Thats a right bugger. I have always liked Vit powders. A bit of a pain to get to meter well but you can find ways around that. I'll just have to stock up before the supply runs out completely. Thanks for the heads up.
 
It matters not

John Kielly said:
Andy,

They didn't get rid of it. Lapua gave Nioa the franchise.

John
Click to expand...

Gave it up, got rid of it, had it taken off them, were told they couldn't have it any more. Semantics really. The end result is that the aussie shooter looses one more option. Having lived here all my life I guess I should be use to it by now.
Andy.
 
Yeah well

Steve Nash said:
Andy,

Was overpriced anyway...Benchmark 2 will do the same thing without the hassles...fill up your case...Stuart and Annie shot it for years and did pretty well.

Steve
Click to expand...

The cost I think is really irrelevant. Being able to shoot is a luxury. So if the cost of a few kilos of powder was to hurt the budget I would probably have to give the sport up. I will have to try BM2 when my supply of N133 is gone and probably several other powders as well in order to find the best tune. ADI have just released another powder I think is called BM 8208. Anyone tried this yet. Probably called something different by Hodgdons.
Andy.
 
Steve Nash said:
Andy,

Was overpriced anyway...Benchmark 2 will do the same thing without the hassles...fill up your case...Stuart and Annie shot it for years and did pretty well.

Steve
Click to expand...

I agree. Cost does have real meaning to many.
 
What the heck is Benchmark 2? I shot some regular benchmark this morning and it shot pretty darn good. Lee
 
Benchmark is very clean, very stable and my alternate to VV133, I started shooting VV133 so I could understand what the USA guys were doing by going up and down on thier powder, and after 10 years I still don't understand,

Benchmark will be the go to powder if VV133 is not available UNLESS THIS NEW POWDER IS SUCCESSFUL,

that and the stock market will fall another 18 % this year

Jefferson
 
Andy Cross said:
The cost I think is really irrelevant.
Click to expand...

Well Andy I am glad you are well enough off that price of powder is irrelevant to you, it is very relevant to many of us.
Price and availability are two reasons I gave up on Vit powders years ago and I have no regrets. Admittedly I also gave up on the PPC chambering as I enjoy many things about the 30BR not the least of which is not being nearly as finicky about powder selection.

Dick
 
Dick
You may be right, however those 30cal bullets cost an arm and a leg. I think if i were to only shoot the 30BR, i would have to buy a set of those steel bullet dies and make my own 30cal bullets. I also think that the 6ppc can be simplified if you dont shoot N133. I have been playing with other powders the last few weeks and they all have shot well. XBR, Benchmark, H322, 8208 military stuff, and x terminator. The x terminator is a bit tricky to keep up with, but the other powders have all been easy to find a tune with. I have one pound of N133 left, and im not so sure i will buy any more. The stuff will shoot good one day, and the very next day it wont! I dont get it!! Lee
 
With twice the competitive barrel life, that 7 cents extra per bullet don't seem so bad....plus it makes a nice fat hole for Score. H4198 ain't tricky at all in a BR
 
LHSmith
good point on the barrel life. I think its the sticker shock of the 30 cal bullets. You do get 3x the barrel life though!
 
This could make for an interesting score match. Regular target. VFS equipment rules. You are allowed up to 75 rounds, to be shot in one day.

However, your total expenditure for powder, primers, and bullets cannot exceed $32.50
 
Well, that is interesting news.
Having been to a few World Championships representing Australia, I can state that a number of powders can be made to work very well in the PPC cartridge. In South Africa in 2009, we had to use the local stuff (SomChem), and it was both slow and dirty, but some outstanding aggs and groups were shot. You just had to adapt and tune (and use a LONG drop tube!!!).
Benchmark - known as Benchmark 2 in Australia - is an excellent powder for the PPC as long as you load it up fairly hot. Loads over 30 grains are common. A side benefit, and an important one, is that you do not have to chase the tune with BM2 like you do with Vit 133. The 2001 Individual World Championship in New Zealand was won using Benchmark One - another excellent Australian powder - don't know why they never exported this one to the USA.
The recently released Benchmark 8208 is just the 8208 that was exported to the USA and previously not permitted to be sold in Australia. Said to be a bit on the slow side, I hope to get some to try shortly.
Many will mourn the loss of Vit, if that is what happens, but there are plenty of alternatives....you just have to adapt!

Brendan Atkinson
 
Maybe I'm just a dreamer, but since Hodgdon buys most of its stick powders from ADI maybe they'll bring some of the Aussie powders that aren't already imported over now. Less expensive than VV which sure can't hurt.
 
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