Clean burning Realoads for short barrel Semi's

[Aniest]

I wanted to open up the discussion of reloading for semi-automatic firearms, specificially ones with short barrels. I know we talk about reloading for accuracy and sometimes about pressure curves that opertate a firearm best, but that is not my concern with this thread. With the action being exposed during cycling and such a short barrel not always allowing higher pressures and complete burns: I wondered who out there might have solid reloading "mixes" that seem to produce the least amount of cleaning required. I figure with some competition, 3-gun and other shooters out there hitting 250+ rounds in a day someone would have some "clean" receipes with lower amounts of residue and unburned powder.

Personally, I am looking to reload for AR 1 in 9 twist & 1 in 7 twist .223 and the 9mm with 124/125gr bullets: but for other readers if you have another receipe for .40/.45/.308/etc. please post it here.

I have just started experimenting with H322 for the .223 in an AR 11.5" barrel and it operates fine and is not that "dirty" for cleaning afterwards, but I am not sure how well it would work in a much shorter barrel: the first 6 inches after the chamber seems the worst for any unburned powder and heavy residue. The tighter the Lee Factory crimp and the fuller the case, although accuracy and smooth operation drops some, the rounds seem to "run cleaner" with less residue and no unburnt powder.

Since, at the time it was easy to get lots of, I have been using Bullseye for reloading the 9mm with 115gr bullets & a reasonable tight tamper crimp: the rounds are at 1075fps from the Chrony, operate the action perfectly, shoot nice and 'soft' for recoil... but it is dirty. There is a lot of actual unburnt powder: large black flakes compared to the H322 (in .223 AR) having fine black dust. If I could get the same "operate the action perfectly, shoot nice and 'soft' for recoil" and be clean, I'd be a lot happier.

If anyone has ideas for short barrel semi relaoding, for cleanliness, let at it!

Thanks!

 

[bigedp51]

Some powders are dirty burning and it varies with chamber pressure and the percentage of powder burned.

You should go to http://www.brianenos.com/forums/index.php?showforum=4 and see what powders they are using in competition. The cleanest powders talked about are Vihtavuori powders "IF" you can find it.

Below is an example of a fast clean burning in my .44 magnum that I use for practice, the powder is 100% burnt in the first 2.4 inches of barrel.

 

[Longshot338]

Funny; when I read your thread title I went on to post about 322. Seems like you already know about it...

With a short barrelled semi, you have to watch the port pressure. The closer the gas port is to the reciever, the higher your port pressures will be. H322 is a faster-burning powder, so it is a good choice. The faster it burns, the lower your port pressure will be at a given point than a slower burning powder.

Hodgdon's extruded powders tend to be pretty clean burning. Remember, any powder will burn dirty if your pressures are low. The hotter the load, the more consistently clean your burn will be.

To put it in perspective, I was loading 12ga with Extra-Lite powder; one of the fastest powders available. As far as shotgun powders go, it usually burns pretty cleanly. I made some light 3/4oz loads with pressures around the 6300psi range for my wife to shoot from her single shot Baikal. Man was that barrel ever dirty after a couple shots! I bumped the pressures up to 9300psi, and it made a world of difference.

Here is a clean burning .308 recipe I shoot in my M14:

.308Win
CCI BR-2 or #200 primer
37.5gr Hodgdon H322
155gr Sierra Matchking 2.810"COL.

As a disclaimer I had better tell everyone to check their manual before using this load; I don't want to be responsible for anybody elses loads if they should go wrong.

This load burns very clean, cycles the action on my M14 just fine, and throws 5-shot groups sub-MOA on a good day .

Alec

 

[Ganderite]

I don't share your concern for "clean burning' loads. I run a test of bullet/powder in 0.3 gr increments and then load whatever load shoot the best.

When i come home from the range I squirt some foaming Wipeout into the chamber and muzzle and then store the rifle muzzle down. the next day I run a patch trough it. i don't care if it comes out clean or dirty. It is clean after the patch.

The point is I want a load that gets good results. If I clean after each outing, it can't be dirty enough to matter.

 

[Aniest]

You should go to http://www.brianenos.com/forums/index.php?showforum=4 and see what powders they are using in competition. The cleanest powders talked about are Vihtavuori powders "IF" you can find it.

Thank you, I will get a look at it.

EDIT: From the data on that site it makes me want to look at VihtaVouri 3N37 as the VihtaVouri powder burns clean it fills the case a little more than N350 for the same ft/sec, and produces slightly better ft/lbs than N350. Although, N350 seems to be the "go to" powder for 9mm.

H322 is a faster-burning powder, so it is a good choice.

H322 works well in the AR: very minor compared to other powders. Just a minor amount of "unburnt dust" in the first 6 inches after the chamber. Bullseye in all of my manuals is loaded quite light, with its maximum load load on the case fill percentage. Thanks foir the vote of confidence in it, however.

Ganderite: I just bought a Boberg XR9-L pistol. I love it, but cleaning is a bit of a pain. I have two options: scrub and 'fiddle' with it; or soak in cleaner over night. I have been using the later, but would prefer to clean less. This has made me wonder about reducing the amount of cleaning in semi-automatic firearms in general.