Newbie question - powder residue at front of case

[ShootingNewbie]

Hi all - as the title indicates, I'm fairly new to reloading (maybe 3 months), and have loaded maybe 300-350 rounds so far (I keep pretty detailed records of what I've done at the reloading bench, but my logbook isn't close at hand, and I'm feeling lazy...).

Something I was noticing at my last range session was that the outside of the neck and the shoulder of my reloaded ammo are collecting a bit more burnt powder post-firing than I remember from previous sessions. The Winchester factory rounds that I fired that day weren't nearly as fouled - mostly just on their necks, and none on the shoulders at all.

Details:
Rifle - Savage Model 12, .223 caliber
Bullets - 69g Sierra MatchKings
Powder - charges of 23.9 and 24.1 gn of Varget.
Brass - Federal, neck-sized, second firing since being full-length sized.

No signs of bulging or case deformation (plus they were shooting some pretty nice groups by my standards - way better than the factory Winchester, in any case).

Is this something I should:
a) worry about;
b) keep an eye on; or
c) just forget about (since they'll be clean again when they've done their time in the tumbler )?

Thanks in advance!

 

[horseman2]

Nothing to worry about.
Clean it off with steel wool soaked in a bit of bore solvent and wipe dry.

 

[ultimate_monkey]

Usually fouling on the outside of the neck is due to "under pressure" and the case isn't sealing properly in the chamber , try giving your chamber a very good clean , and if it still doing it you may need to bump your charge up , only as long as your not seeing any over pressure signs

 

[Great Crouton]

Usually fouling on the outside of the neck is due to "under pressure" and the case isn't sealing properly in the chamber

I'm assuming this would apply to hand gun cases as well? First load I did with .40 was right at the suggested starting grains and noticed the outside of the case was fairly dirty.

 

[HIGHRPM]

Usually fouling on the outside of the neck is due to "under pressure" and the case isn't sealing properly in the chamber , try giving your chamber a very good clean , and if it still doing it you may need to bump your charge up , only as long as your not seeing any over pressure signs

Exactly, sounds like an under pressure causing the neck not to stretch enough and seal the chamber. I have seen that in several of my milsurps, it's a learning curve

 

[ShootingNewbie]

Thanks for the feedback - I guess I'll start by looking at the chamber and making sure it's clean.

Given that it's producing pretty good results (~.5 moa at 100 and .6-.7 moa at 200 yards), I don't want to be adding more powder to the load just for the sake of powder residue - I haven't seen any responses that would indicate that the situation is worth losing sleep over.

Cheers!