Dirty and clean powders

Ruger007

Ruger007

CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Rating - 100%
127   0   0
Location
Way West
I have been playing around lately with a bunch of different powders and bullets.

Boy is there a difference in cleanliness in powders!

So I decided to make the dirtiest load I could. 44 magnum , 5gr of Tightgroup and a heavy coated 240gr Lee tumble lube bullet.

Up at the club guys actually thought I was using Black Powder. One guy said that the street lights were going to turn on.

Shot 50rds. My hands looked like I just crawled out of the Coal mine.

Now to the other end. Loaded up some 9mm with 4gr N320 124gr Lee bullet but powder coated this time. Barely the slightest amount of powder residue, no smoke. Hands didn't look like I just finished changing the oil in my Diesel.

What do you think is the dirtiest and cleanest powders? Besides BP...
 
I'm not a fan of Unique at the lower end of the published data in 45acp with 200gr lead projectiles. Gummed up my 1911 very quickly.

I like W231/HP-38 in 9mm with plated projectiles. In 45acp I'm liking light loads with Bullseye and plated 200gr projectiles. Had "dirty" issues with Bullseye in 38 Special with HBWC but appears fine in 45acp.

YMMV. Standard disclaimers apply.
 
A lot of it has to do with working in the right pressure range for a given powder. If it's that dirty it might be the wrong powder for the use or needs to be bumped up.

One of my favorite loads is 6-7gr of titegroup in the 44mag. Never considered it a dirty load but I will certainly agree that the lube can make a big difference.
 
With the 44 Magnum, 2400 was dirty with full loads, around 24.0 grains.
It may have been more of an issue with failing to ignite.
Hands, pants and the gun were dirty.
When there was no more, the switch was made to WW296. While a ball powder, with Magnum Large Pistol primers, the crud disappeared.
Used Unique for some indoor rounds but the smoke in the air was embarrassing.
 
I had a "plinking" load in my 357 Magnum. 125 grain FMJ, chased by 8 grains of
now obsolete W473AA. So clean that after 50 rounds, no residue anywhere, and
if you looked down the bore, it looked like it had not been fired since cleaning.

Other end of the spectrum, a 7mm Rem Mag with the 175 grain bullet and H870
made the bore look like you had poured liquid tar down it. It toned down a bit
with full house loads, but still a dirty powder. Dave.
 
Before I ever reloaded for pistol, I bought some lead ammo from my Club (I believe SFRC sells it too) called "Wolf" in 45 ACP
Very smoky.

Whem I got into reloading, I started to use Berry Preferred plated Bullets and used BullsEye for 45 ACP and Power Pistol for 9 mm..... much cleaner
 
A lot of the smoke comes from the lube when shooting lead bullets, plate or powder coat them and they are really clean with the same powder charge.
 
Vhitavouri rifle powders are very cleaning burning in my experience, wouldn't be surprised if that extended to their pistol line as well.
 
observations

shooting cast loads

you have bullet lube and all lubes are not created equal

powder.... not all powder are created equal

different loads / calibers etc will burn different at different pressure levels

Hard to compare a apple to a orange
 
Eagleye said:
Other end of the spectrum, a 7mm Rem Mag with the 175 grain bullet and H870
made the bore look like you had poured liquid tar down it. It toned down a bit
with full house loads, but still a dirty powder. Dave.
Click to expand...


Yes I have found that also. H870 is a made from coal. Another bad one is surplus WC872. I couldn't get enough in the case to get pressures up. Filthy
 
Eagleye said:
I had a "plinking" load in my 357 Magnum. 125 grain FMJ, chased by 8 grains of
now obsolete W473AA. So clean that after 50 rounds, no residue anywhere, and
if you looked down the bore, it looked like it had not been fired since cleaning.

Other end of the spectrum, a 7mm Rem Mag with the 175 grain bullet and H870
made the bore look like you had poured liquid tar down it. It toned down a bit
with full house loads, but still a dirty powder. Dave.
Click to expand...

I found the same with H870 dirty as hell.
 
Standardvel said:
A lot of the smoke comes from the lube when shooting lead bullets, plate or powder coat them and they are really clean with the same powder charge.
Click to expand...
This. One day a friend tested two different 38 Special loads. identical weight charges of the same same powder and identical lead bullets except half had conventional lube and half were powder coated. The smoke generated by the powder coated loads was only about 1/3 that of the lubed bullets.
 
I'm okay with lots of smoke out the muzzle, but not so much with my hands looking like I changed the oil under a truck. With a revolver, a lot of that is going to be what comes out of the cylinder gap, and will be in some proportions the bullet lube, bullet material, powder residue, and primer residue.

It appears that cast bullets (lubed) are going to be dirtier than plated ones.

I'm also suspecting that running near or below starting pressure might contribute to unburnt powder coming out. But I don't need to be hammering away full power everytime I pull a trigger.

Primer residue is going to be the chemically nastiest stuff, and a bunch of good honest carbon from powder residue reminding you to wash your hands may actually be a good thing.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom