High Carbon Residue on Fired Cases

[Jmurman]

HI everyone. Just finished my loads and went to the range to check them out.

I used mixed brass .45acp. Two powders HP38 and VV N310. The bullets are Hornady XTP 200 gr JHP and Nosler Custom Competition 185 gr JHP.

I loaded 4 sets of each starting at slightly above minimum and stepping up 1 gr each to see whats going to do the job.

I braced myself the best I could and used my range bag as a rest, shooting at 15 yards.

The best I could get was 4", really...the worst 6 or 7. I was not enthused by this at all. When I picked up my brass, it was covered on one side with carbon and looks like heat discoloration.

any thoughts?

 

[jimbobborg]

Not enough powder. You aren't getting enough pressure to seal the brass during firing, so you get blow by.

 

[HiPo]

If you are looking for more carbon residue, you should try custom blending smokescreen ammunition

 

[Blacksmith101]

HI everyone. Just finished my loads and went to the range to check them out.

I used mixed brass .45acp. Two powders HP38 and VV N310. The bullets are Hornady XTP 200 gr JHP and Nosler Custom Competition 185 gr JHP.

I loaded 4 sets of each starting at slightly above minimum and stepping up 1 gr each to see whats going to do the job.

I braced myself the best I could and used my range bag as a rest, shooting at 15 yards.

The best I could get was 4", really...the worst 6 or 7. I was not enthused by this at all. When I picked up my brass, it was covered on one side with carbon and looks like heat discoloration.

any thoughts?

Are you sure you mean 1 gr increments??

 

[BUFF7MM]

If you are looking for more carbon residue, you should try custom blending smokescreen ammunition

WTF?

 

[j8064]

If you are looking for more carbon residue, you should try custom blending smokescreen ammunition

WTF?

I was gonna say if the OP wants more carbon residue he can easily get that by using Unique.

"HiPointCustoms" = just joined/first post - WTF????

 

[Traveler]

W231 does that under certain circumstances. W231 is a good powder, but I like WST better, less cleanup.

 

[ultraplanet]

Not enough powder. You aren't getting enough pressure to seal the brass during firing, so you get blow by.

This. But it is not necessarily a bad thing. I like light loads but the 4 inch group is a problem. Increase your powder a bit and use group size as your guide and don't worry about the dirty brass.

 

[Sticky]

Agreed, usually dirty brass is a sign of a lighter load, not fully expanding the case in the chamber.. not an issue, but accuracy is... keep working up your load and watch for pressure signs as you go.

And... 1gr increments is a really large step in a pistol load... you may well be missing the sweet spot with that large of a step

 

[John from MD]

Maybe you mean .1 grain increments?

John

 

[Mike3888]

Don't sweat the dirty cases. .3 increase would probably work better. 1 grain not so much in pistol rounds. I usually do .3 in pistol and .5 in rifle just to get a base line then tweek.

 

[Jmurman]

Maybe you mean .1 grain increments?

John

this

 

[Jmurman]

the best load was 4.4 gr of N310 with Nosler 185 gr JHP competition. The load the internet glows over is what the Marine team uses which is 4.1 gr which is below the listed minimum. I feel uneasy loading outside the manual listed loads, especially with VV N310. The listed loads for this powder is very narrow between highs and lows.

One thing I havent tried is 230 gr bullets. Ive used mainly 200 gr and gone for higher velocities over the 230, but am not happy with accuracy.

Anyone shooting a Springfield Loaded that has a accurate load?

 

[John from MD]

The 1911 was designed for 200 grain bullets and many competitors use 185 and 200 interchangeably. All you will do with 230 grain bullets is increase the recoil and expense of shooting.

When I was shooting Bullseye in the '70s, I could go down to 3.8 gns of Bullseye powder and a 200 gn bullet and still shoot one ragged hole at 25 yards. Maybe you should slug your barrel as manufacturing defects have been know to happen.

John

 

[Jmurman]

The 1911 was designed for 200 grain bullets and many competitors use 185 and 200 interchangeably. All you will do with 230 grain bullets is increase the recoil and expense of shooting.

When I was shooting Bullseye in the '70s, I could go down to 3.8 gns of Bullseye powder and a 200 gn bullet and still shoot one ragged hole at 25 yards. Maybe you should slug your barrel as manufacturing defects have been know to happen.

John

That's my thought too. I should start looking at bushings and barrels. How do you go about slugging a barrel?

 

[John from MD]

Well, the easy way is to buy Cerrosafe from Brownells. It is a metal that melts at around 160-190* and has little shrinkage. You pour it into the barrel, let it harden and then drive it out with a dowel and measure it. You can do this at the muzzle and chamber to determine that the barrel is in spec.

John

 

[Bikebreath]

The way I slugged my Mosin was with a lead fishing weight...find one a tad larger than the barrel and hammer it through, (with a wooden dowel). Then measure it.

 

[alucard0822]

Try comparing it to factory ammo, if factory shoots bad, then you may have an issue with the pistol or your test firing method. You do want to stay in published data till you get enough knowledge and experience to color outside the lines. In the mean time, try out the range of loads up to max, which is still usually well below max pressure for the caliber. Should also shoot over a chrony, primarily to validate your data. Have seen plenty of loads clock much higher or lower than it should by the published data, and had to adjust or switch loads as a result. I usually start with loads at about 1/3, 1/2 and 2/3 of the range from reduced to full power, then work up or down a couple tenths of a grain from the most accurate, usually the 2/3 load. Some powders also have a wider range of accurate loads, like Power pistol, in my 1911 I load a 200gr XTP from 7gr @925 in 45acp,10 gr in 45 super @ 1100FPS, 12.5gr @1450FPS in 460 Rowland brass, same OAL, same components other than brass, and same pistol, all are extremely accurate. Some other powders have a really narrow range, CFE pistol only has a few tenths of a grain between moderate accuracy and soot, a perfect load with good accuracy, and +P pressure and velocity.

 

[campns]

The way I slugged my Mosin was with a lead fishing weight...find one a tad larger than the barrel and hammer it through, (with a wooden dowel). Then measure it.

you just have to make certain that the fishing weight does not have more than 3% antimony.... but that only works 3% of the time.

Seriously, this works but I would personally be wary of it, too much chance of damaging the barrel but then again you did do that to a mosin.

 

[Magnumite]

I've used soft swaged pure lead bullets to slug barrels, both Hornady and Speer work well. However, in this case it is typically barrel fitting which is most likely suspect.

The SA Loaded models are not accurized pistols. In past few years some have been produced which are quite accurate shooters. Examinng tge barrels snd measuring in the proper locations will reveal why those pistols are accurate. Do yhe same tor the less accurate specimens will also reveal why those specimens are inaccurate.

First, if the pistol is inaccurate with factory ammo, as alucard indicated, the pistol may he suspect. A fitted barrel bushing may very well help improve the accuracy. If Improvement is noted after fitting a bushing but not what is wnted then a barrel will be needed.