Vectan Powders

[Euclid]

With the acute shortage of reloading components, it should be no surprise that we may start seeing brands not normally stocked in times of plenty. An example of this (for me) is Vectan powders.

My LGS is sold out of just about everything, but they received a shipment (a large one) of this brand of powder. I checked out their website. It seems that they are an old, established company (e.g. Nobel - inventor of TNT!) but what I want to know is has anyone here actually USED this brand and, if so, what were the results?

 

[Euclid]

I should add they were ~$26/lbs...

 

[dla]

Vectran powders were popular for shotgun reloading.

 

[cowboy4evr]

I recently bought some Vectan powder , 9 , 7.5 , 6.5 . I will say that I really do like their powder . I only tested them so far in my 357 magnum loads but was very satisfied . I'm wanting to get more , when available . Interesting when first introduced in this country there was also #10 . It has not been available for yrs , don't know what happened to it ? I highly recommend Vectan powder . Regards Paul

 

[muddocktor]

I haven't tried any yet, but I was tempted to try out some before everything dried up. Another plus is the fact that the bottles are packaged as 1/2 kilo bottles, which works out to around 1.1 lbs per bottle. So you get a little more powder than your more looked for powder suppliers here in the USA.

 

[mmande]

A lot of Bullseye shooters use it for .45 acp target loads with outstanding results. FYI a lot of target .45 and .38 powders used are actually shotgun powders.
Mike

 

[Daimler1989]

Hi,

I started to use Vectan powders about 35 years ago and still use them. Ba10 is a very good powder for bullseye loads of .38 Special, .44 Special and .45 ACP. Ba9 is a good choice for .38 Special and +P, mid-load .357 and .44 Magnum, .44 Special and .45 ACP. In .44 Special 5 grs Ba10 and a 240 grs LSWC make a terrific target load (that won me a national championship). 5.8 grs Ba9 and a 158 LSWC make a very accurate .38 Special +P (890 ft/s).

Their flake powders AS, A1 and A0 are very well suited for the aforementioned calibers as well - they don't meter like ball or extruded tubular powders but they fill large cases better and burn very clean. If you look for good performance in mid-loads, I find those three give you good options. In .44 Special A0 gave me a solid 1130 ft/s with a 200 grs LSWC out of a 3" barrel . 6 grs AS with the same bullet chronod at 875 ft/s. Didn't chrono the A0 .357 Magnum load, but 8.5 grains felt quite powerful - their data of about 10 grs gave me really flat primers...

Hope this helps

regards from Germany
Ulrich

 

[DeplorabusUnum]

A lot of Bullseye shooters use it for .45 acp target loads with outstanding results. FYI a lot of target .45 and .38 powders used are actually shotgun powders.
Mike

Very true. WST is a popular 12 gauge powder. I use it for 45 and 38 and 44 with really good results. 4.3 grains under a cast 200 gr SWC in .45 is a good load. Nice accuracy and fairly low recoil. Sometimes you gotta try what you have or can find.

 

[Euclid]

The powder my LGS has in stock, in great abundance, is 7 1/2 (7.5). Have any of you reloaded with this powder? What is it similar to (burn rate)?

 

[cowboy4evr]

My favorite 45 acp loads using 230 gr with WST is the max load of about 4.9-5.0 grs . I look for accuracy but found the lighter loads left a sooty case mouth telling me we needed more powder for more pressure . Accuracy is good and now the cases are cleaner . Win-win . If using BE powder , I use the old std load of 5.0 grs . I have never found lighter loads with either powder to my satisfaction . Regards Paul

 

[Daimler1989]

The powder my LGS has in stock, in great abundance, is 7 1/2 (7.5). Have any of you reloaded with this powder? What is it similar to (burn rate)?

it's comparable to AA #7 or SR4756, according to the Vectan burn chart. In another chart it's in the Longshot range. More of a slow burning powder

regards
Ulrich

 

[cowboy4evr]

Yes , I used it in my 357 loads using the Lyman 358156 cast bullet . It gave me power and great accuracy . The vectan powders have recoil more like a gentle shove , not a sharp flip . I have several lbs of 9 , I want more 7.5 and 6.5 . I really like the vectan powders that much . Regards Paul

 

[The Norseman]

Money to be Made

Only in America! Once again European Firearm Industry has seen
an opportunity, provide us with resonable priced componets,
and will be more then happy to take our money.

Remember last Cycle, S&B primers were $24 a Brick. I really like
them, use them, and are just as good as my CCI primers.

Hope that happens again, I'm on my last S&B Brick.

The Best to you all.

The other day for $30

 

[BillBro]

I posted about Vectan on 1-31, same thread title, Vectan Powders. Not a single reply but you can read what I thought about the 6 1/2 and 7 1/2 powders I bought if you want to go to page 2.

In summary I am liking them alot in 44mag for plinking loads and am trying to get to the range to try the much higher charges I loaded this time.

 

[BillBro]

Hi,

I started to use Vectan powders about 35 years ago and still use them. Ba10 is a very good powder for bullseye loads of .38 Special, .44 Special and .45 ACP. Ba9 is a good choice for .38 Special and +P, mid-load .357 and .44 Magnum, .44 Special and .45 ACP. In .44 Special 5 grs Ba10 and a 240 grs LSWC make a terrific target load (that won me a national championship). 5.8 grs Ba9 and a 158 LSWC make a very accurate .38 Special +P (890 ft/s).

Their flake powders AS, A1 and A0 are very well suited for the aforementioned calibers as well - they don't meter like ball or extruded tubular powders but they fill large cases better and burn very clean. If you look for good performance in mid-loads, I find those three give you good options. In .44 Special A0 gave me a solid 1130 ft/s with a 200 grs LSWC out of a 3" barrel . 6 grs AS with the same bullet chronod at 875 ft/s. Didn't chrono the A0 .357 Magnum load, but 8.5 grains felt quite powerful - their data of about 10 grs gave me really flat primers...

Hope this helps

regards from Germany
Ulrich

Ulrich, Vectan states the the 6.5 and 7.5 are newer powders in their line, have you used them? Thoughts? I'm using the 7.5 for 44mag and plan to use the 6.5 for some hotter loads in same.

 

[Daimler1989]

Ulrich, Vectan states the the 6.5 and 7.5 are newer powders in their line, have you used them? Thoughts? I'm using the 7.5 for 44mag and plan to use the 6.5 for some hotter loads in same.

sorry, I'm not familiar with Ba 6.5 and Ba 7.5. They are the same burn level as VV N350 (7.5) and VV N110 (6.5) als Vectan states in their burn chart. Which is too slow burning for my taste and the calibers I reload for. Looking at their homepage, the newer powders Ba 9.5, Ba 6.5 and Ba 7.5 look very much like the VV powders. It would not be surprised if they were indeed N320, N350 and N110, only marketed by Vectan in their range. But if that were so, you would not go wrong using both powders for .44 Magnum. I used to load 20 grs N110 behind a 240 grs LSWC GC which was a very accurate load at 25 Meters, with plenty of punch as well.

regards
Ulrich

 

[BillBro]

Agreed. These powders, at least the ones I have, look, burn and perform very much like VV which I use and like too. I dont think I went wrong getting some of these, only not getting more. The 7.5 is performing very well in my 44mag with both 200 and 240gr bullets.

 

[mus]

Just to add to what has been said before (mainly by Ullrich): BA9 and BA10 are widely used in the Netherlands too.

I only have experience with BA9 myself: great powder for 9mm Luger, .38 Special and mild .357 magnum.

The only drawback is there is no specified COAL in the Vectan reloading tables - available in French and English on their website Powders and passions for pistols and rifles - Nobel Sport - so either use QuickLoad or Gordon's Reloading Tool AND (as always) proceed carefully when developing a load for your own cartridge length.

 

[Thuer]

I do use Vectan BA 10 for .45colt, 44 Russian and .38 special for many years. Still happy with it. Very clean burning.

 

[Daimler1989]

Just FYI,

I had the chance to chrono some more Vectan handloads, with these results:

.38 Special Vectan A1 5.0 grs 158 grs Speer LSWC from a 3" barrel = 938 ft/s

.44 Special Vectan A1 6.3 grs 215 grs LSWC (Magma mould) from a 4" barrel = 885 ft/s

.44 Special Vectan A1 7.2 grs 205 grs LSWC (Baleurope) from a 4" barrel =
948 ft/s

.44 Special Vectan A1 8.4 grs 180 grs Hornady XTP from a 4" barrel = 1046 ft/s

.45 Auto Rim Vectan A1 5.0 grs 255 grs LSWC from a 5" barrel =
803 ft/s

Quite interesting that the velocities are more or less comparable to what can be derived from the disclosures of the loading tables for A1 (as well as my previous findings for AS and A0). Seems to be a powder very well suited for .38 Special and .44 Special.

In contrast to this, chronod velocities of loads with VV powders (N320, N340) lack much of performance I thought to be expected. If Vectan should market VV powders under their own label as 9 1/2, 7 1/2, 6 1/2, then I guess the A-Series would give you better and more reliable performance.

.44 Special VV N320 5.3 grs 215 grs LSWC (Magma mould) from a 4" barrel =
656 ft/s

.44 Special VV N320 4.8 grs 215 grs LSWC (Magma mould) from a 4" barrel =
587 ft/s

regards from Germany
Ulrich