You do know that for every shooter that won something using "T" powder, ther were MULTITUDES that were down in the middle and at the bottom of the pack.
I can remember at some of the Crawfish matches in Louisianna, shooters from other parts of the Country scrambling to borrow some 133 because the "T'" just would not work in that inviroment.
I jackie
I wouldn't say there were MULTITUDES using T, first because there was only 21,000 pounds of what the top shooters recognize as T, and secondly there is very little of that lot T left. The powder called T is just one lot of three lots of powder that Thunderbird sold. As to the remainder, it is/was all IMR8208 and IMR8208M and this is mostly gone.
Like Jackie, I hope Lou does get his powder. I tried for about 2 years, dealing first with IMR Powder Co, then with Hodgdon Powder after they acquired the rights to market IMR powders in the US. (IMR Powder Co is a Canadian company and is located there).
One consideration here, Hodgdon powders are made by mostly ADI in Australia and IMR in Canada). Both of these powder manufacturers use wood pulp as their cellulose source (cellulose + Nitric Acid = gunpowder) (if it were cotton as the cellulose source + Nitric Acid, it would = gun cotton).
Wood as a cellulose source is very variable as to the quality of cellulose it yields. Therefore, there is variability from lot to lot as the resultant output characteristics of the powder produced. For example, one lot could be made from chipper mill sawdust, the next lot could be made of pine chips and needles where a clearcut operation took place.
When I was negotiating with Hodgdon, in 2003, about making a batch of IMR8208M, I was requiring a 500 pound batch to test. I had 5 or so HOF, and T, shooters lined up to test before going into production. Hodgdon refused to make a test batch, with their using wood cellulose, they could not guarantee the 500 pound test batch to have the same characteristics as the production batch, so I did not pursue getting what they offered then as a 16,000-18,000 pound batch. Reason? The batch, like T, T32, T322, GI322 and the various pulldowns sold as 8208 could be from too fast for the 6PPC to too slow for the 6PPC.
Regardless, of the outcome of Lou's effort, if that batch of powder does get made and get to benchrest shooters, it will offer shooters another option.
As Jackie said there are times that VV133 will work and T/8208 will not, BUT, there are times when T/8208 will work and VV133 will not. Joe Krupa, recent inductee into the benchrest HOF, has, many times, switched to 8208 when VV133 would not work, the 2008 IBS Nationals as the most recent example.
At the 2008 IBS Group Nationals, Bill Goad won the LV Grand using T-322, Harley Baker was using VV133. Tony Boyer winner of the HV Grand was using VV133 and Harley Baker was using 8208. Lester Bruno, winner of the HB Grand was shooting T32. Harley Baker won the 2-gun, 3-gun and 4-gun.
At this shoot, 7 of the top 20 in Sporter were shooting T/8208 or one of the variants. Four were shooting T/8208 in HB, in LV four were shooting T/8208, 3 did not report the powder they used. In HV Grand 6 of the top 20 shot T/8208. This proves there is a big demand for an alternative to VV133!!
