Less smoky powder or other options in a plinking 44MAG load?

[pageophile]

Hello Gents,

Got into reloading a little while back, lots of fun and cheap ammo to boot!

Here's my question, I've got a nice "plinking" load for my 44MAG revolver: a 240 grain hard cast lead bullet over 9.0 grains of Unique (thanks to this forum for the reccomendation).

It's great accuracy wise, doesn't beat-up the gun and allows new shooters to experience the great 44MAG.

Unfortunately, it's way smokier than I'd like at the indoor range. Fine for outdoor sessions but wow, it's like smoke screen inside at times.

I know Unique can be smokey and using lead bullets likely doesn't help but there has to be a better way. BTW, I don't think it's the crimp as I'm using a Lee FCD and it looks good on that front.

Is there a less smokey powder that reacts well to mild 44MAG loads? Should I swap out the Hard Cast bullets to a plated or jacketed round?

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on this and maybe solutions.


Best regards,

Page

 

[vagrantviking]

The lube on a lead bullet is often a source of smoke so experimenting with that is one thing to try.

I use 5gr of Tite-group for my milder 44Mag loads and don't find it too bad. Also used 231 and Bluedot (also a bit smokey) over the years. Lots of different pistol powders in that range would work for what you are doing.
If you look back there have been a few threads on lighter .44 loads over the years.

 

[t-star]

they say unique has improved , but when i used to shoot it, it was almost as bad as black- i use 231, ( which is supposedly smoky as well) but i only find that on an indoor range-and i use it in all of my other pistols anyway

 

[tjhaile]

I just tried some Trail Boss in my .44 Magnum and it is less smoky than powders like Unique, Titegroup, HP-38/W231, etc. The only downside is the strong ammonia smell.

 

[H4831]

Vagrant Viking has the cause of the smoke.
I have never seen cast bullets that didn't smoke from the lube on them. Some lubes are likely worse than others and maybe, if one just concentrated on trying to get a smokeless lube, for one certain load, he may succeed.
But there is no use in you changing from Unique to try and decrease the smoke.

 

[daroccot]

Unique is the dirtiest powder I have ever used. My plinking load is 5.3 grains of bullseye with copper plated 240gr truncated cone bullets, good for about 750fps from a 5" pipe.

 

[SandRoad]

As said a couple times above, the smoke is from the lube. Change to plated bullets.

Also a fast powder that achieves high pressures will almost always be cleaner than a slower powder that produces less pressure.

An example is if you are using plated or CMJ bullets, W231 can be quite clean if it is loaded to a max pressure load in a fairly small case (say 9mm), yet when loaded down to a plinking velocity, it can get quite dirty.

If you want a plinking load in a 44mag, try Clays. Really fast and clean powder (if you use plated bullets)

 

[Paulinski]

Unique is the dirtiest powder I have ever used. My plinking load is 5.3 grains of bullseye with copper plated 240gr truncated cone bullets, good for about 750fps from a 5" pipe.

Thats weird - I find bullseye extremely dirty in my 5" 686 - one cylinder of .38 and gun is very dirty. Maybe it doesn't like low .38 loads

I'm switching to Clays and see how that will work.