clean burning powders

I was using IMR 4227 for my .357mag, lots of un-burnt powder.
I am now trying out some Alliant 2400, seems to be very clean.
 
What about Unique? I'm about to do my first reloads, and want to use the same clean powder for all of my handguns - 9mm, .40S&W and .45ACP. I've been reading a lot about it, and right now its a toss-up between Tightgroup & Unique.
 
aridan said:
What about Unique? I'm about to do my first reloads, and want to use the same clean powder for all of my handguns - 9mm, .40S&W and .45ACP. I've been reading a lot about it, and right now its a toss-up between Tightgroup & Unique.
Click to expand...

I just loaded 250 rounds for my wife's 9 with Unique. She's shot about 50 of them so far and it seems to be pretty good. My reloading buddy swears by Tightgroup, but I can't say if it's cleaner. I agree the 231 is not as good... lot's of residue and a lot of FTE in the 1911... even with fairly hot loads.
 
So far I've loaded with W231 and Bullseye. I recently scored a lot of old Bullseye along with bullets and primers for a good price. I'm stuck loading with it for a while as a result but the Bullseye is pretty much just as dirty as the W231.

I've loaded up a few rounds of .357 with 2400 as well but I never thought to check the first few rounds shot with it. I'll have to be sure to check for next time.

All in all an excellent thread topic and I'm looking forward to hearing about all the options along with the ones already mentioned.

I too wish that we had access to the Winclean powder. It produces a LOT of unburnt powder but the cases could be reloaded right away or with minimal cleaning. Amazing stuff.
 
I have tried almost those common powder, the same charge and bullet weight will result differently with different gun, for example titegroup burn clean at Glock but dirty at CZ. Winchester super field clean at both G17 and CZ etc. Universal happend to be the worst among what I have used. different bullet weight also show different result. I have chated with some reloaders, they said inorder to burn clean, has to select a powder with correct burn rate and a correct charge able to fill up the case, that said after seat the bullet, there should not have empty space or very little inside the case. I haven't try this yet but that seems quite reasonable to me.

Trigun
 
Meters easily and consistently? That's easy for you guys to say. I'm using such small amounts for my cowboy action and Model 10 loads that the powder measure on my Dillon 550b is showing drop to drop differences of what appears to be .2grains. At least that's what I'm seeing on my digital scale. It's hard to say for sure since it's only good to +or - 0.2 grains resolution. I'm seeing the jumps by doing the addition in my head during my 5 powder drop checks during the setup to then average to see what my charge really is. The ones that get me are when it goes from .2 light to .2 over in one powder drop. That says it's not just the resolution of the scale.
 
BCRider said:
Meters easily and consistently? That's easy for you guys to say. I'm using such small amounts for my cowboy action and Model 10 loads that the powder measure on my Dillon 550b is showing drop to drop differences of what appears to be .2grains. At least that's what I'm seeing on my digital scale. It's hard to say for sure since it's only good to +or - 0.2 grains resolution. I'm seeing the jumps by doing the addition in my head during my 5 powder drop checks during the setup to then average to see what my charge really is. The ones that get me are when it goes from .2 light to .2 over in one powder drop. That says it's not just the resolution of the scale.
Click to expand...

shoulda got the hornady, :D but +/- .2 seems a bit extreme even for a dillon (ducks). What powder? 231 or bullseye? If the charge is too small for the bar? it's going to be hard to be repeatable. I change to a handgun specific insert for my powder drop when i do short stuff on the progressive.
 
231 never again...

I started loading with a 8 LB jug of 231:bangHead:

Only 1/2 LB to go:bangHead:

9mm now universal
revolvers now trail boss

I hate breathing in the extra smoke and fumes for no reason.
 
Powders need a certain amount of pressure to burn cleanly. As you load cartridges to reduced charges and therefore reduced pressures, you will get increased fouling. As a general rule, most powders will burn fairly clean at the upper end of the charge range and burn dirty at reduced loads. And within that general rule, some burn more cleanly than others, of course.

I shoot .45ACP for bullseye. The .45ACP is a low pressure cartridge to begin with, and loading it down somewhat for target shooting makes fouling even more of an issue. Given that, I (and lots of American .45ACP shooters, which is where I learned of it in the first place) like Hodgdon Clays (not Universal or Universal Clays, just plain Clays). It can be loaded quite light and still produce remarkably little fouling. A common load is 3.7-3.8 gr under a 200gr LSWC.

A word of caution, however: it is able to do this because it builds pressure more quickly than other powders. This means that loads near the top of the scale can develop dangerous pressures very quickly, too.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom