Frankly at that temp I think it wasn't the powder but the parts of the steel freezing together or ice blocking the hammer from the pin or ice blocking the pin from the primer. Things get sort of brittle at temps that low, and I do know without a doubt that Oil freezes solid at -60 below, so it may not have been the power, for that matter it could have been the cases breaking for the powder going off, extreme heat and extrem cold do not play nice together.
On the other hand Powder has indeed com a very long way since then so maybe powder was one of the problems. Got to remember when you have conscripts being forced to make your weapons and ammuntition at gun point, don't feed them and work them 18 hours a day, don't expect them to be overly concerned about quality control, more like sabotage. Actually I think if the bullets were all hand loaded it would be fairly easy to rub your thumb or finger tip over the primer as you positioned it and hoped the oil in your skin or the dirt or blood or sweat would cause one in ten or a hundred to fail. All it takes is one FTF and while you are clearing that round out, not knowing if you are going to get shot or if the next one was going to fail also.
