Vihtavuori N140 rifle powder – a true favorite

The N140 powder was originally developed for the 7,62x53R cartridge for the Finnish Army in the early years of Vihtavuori’s history. Up to this day, it has remained as one of our best-selling powder types of all times.

N140 is a tubular powder type with grain dimensions of 1,0 mm length and 0,9 mm diameter. The structure, grain geometry and graphite coating makes it work excellent in all reloading machines and dosing is super easy. The N140 powder burns at a medium speed on our scale of rifle powders, making it a versatile product for both small game hunting and sport shooting applications.

N140 is not the choice if you try to reach highest muzzle velocity possible, but it is certainly the choice if you try to get best possible accuracy. This powder is a true multipurpose powder, which can be used for a large range of calibers from .223 Remington to .308 Winchester, 30-06 Springfield and .375 H&H Magnum, just to name few.

Handloading recommendation by our pros

N140 will work in many calibers but one of our favorite loads is one we tested for 6 mm BR Norma, a popular target shooting caliber with a short and fat case. We tested several charges on a 300 meter indoor range, using a high quality yet standard case, primer and 105 grs Scenar-L bullet. After testing several powders and charges, we found a 28.5 grs (1.85 g) of N140 to be the best load. We shot four five shot groups, with a muzzle velocity of 2736 fps ( 834 m/s). The result? The best group came in at 0.634 inch ( 16,1 mm) and the worst was 0.819 inch (20.8 mm), with an average group diameter of 0.720 inches (18.3 mm), about 0.21 MOA. Not a bad result at 300 meters!

N140 is available in containers of 1 lbs (0,454 kg), 1 kg and 3,5 kg . In the US, the N140 is also available in a 8 lbs container.

We offer load data for N140 in the following calibers: 

.204 Ruger – .223 Rem. – .223 WSSM – .22-250 Rem. – 6mm Br Norma – .243 WSSM – .243 Win. – 6XC – 6mm Rem. – .25-06 Rem. – 6,5 Grendel – 6,5 x 47 Lapua – 6.5 Creedmoor – .260 Rem. – 6,5 x 55 SE Mauser – 6,5 x 55 SE/ SKAN – 7mm-08 Rem. – 7×57 – 7x57R – .30-30 Win. – .300 Savage – .308 Win. – 7,62 x 53R – 7,5 x 55 Swiss GP 31 – .30-06 Spring. – .303 British – 8 x 57 IS (8mm Mauser) – 8×57 IRS – 9,3 x 62 – 9,3 x 66 SAKO – 9,3 x 74 R – .375 H&H Mag. – 7mm GJW

For updates on reloading data etc., check out our N140 powder page!