Vihtavuori Pistol
Vihtavuori N340
A flexible medium-burn powder for medium and large caliber handguns running medium to heavy high-velocity loads, and for medium and heavy shotshell loads.
Official Vihtavuori load data →
Specifications
| Manufacturer | Vihtavuori |
|---|---|
| Product family | Vihtavuori Pistol |
| Status | Currently produced |
| Application | pistol, shotshell |
| Grain form | extruded |
| Composition | single-base |
| Burn-rate position | 44 of 198 (fastest = 1) — what this means |
| Typical cartridges | 9mm Luger, 38 Special, 357 Magnum, 40 S&W, 45 ACP, 44 Remington Magnum, 12 Gauge |
Vihtavuori says N340 burns extremely clean with no residuals. It was formerly sold as 3N18 before being renamed.
Burn rate
Medium on Vihtavuori's handgun scale, slower than N330 and faster than 3N37/N350.
Chart agreement: consistent across the three charts that list it Ranked by: Hodgdon, Vihtavuori, Wolfe/LoadData.
Powders charted near it — neighbours on the chart are not substitutes, and adjacency tells you nothing about what charge either one takes:
- Alliant Herco (position 41)
- Winchester Super Field (WSF) (position 42)
- Shooters World Auto Pistol (position 43)
- Alliant BE-86 (position 45)
- Accurate No. 5 (position 46)
- Hodgdon HS-6 (position 47)
Sources
Other Vihtavuori powders
Verify the charge, not just the recipe
Good data gets you a safe starting point. It does not tell you what actually went into the case on stroke 340 — a bridged measure, a double charge, a squib. That is what an RCM Laser Powder Check is for.