45 reloaders, I need your assistance

[Street Survival]

Gentlemen,

I have a quick question for all you sage 45 reloaders. I have an M&P 45 with Sevigny Fiber Optic front sight. I reload 200grn, Moly Coated bullets with Unique Gun Powder. After a few rounds down range, my fiber optic sight is covered in carbon and I can the front sight.

So this is my question, what would be a much cleaner 200grn SWC bullet to utilize? Is the High Tek coated bullets any better? Also where can I purchase them? Last, but not least, what gunpowder to you highly recommend that we can actually locate and purchase right now? Thank you all in advance. Hope you and your families have a Great Christmas.

Edited December 23, 2014 by Street Survival

[Youngeyes]

I would think you'd be cleaner with a different powder. You also didn't say what your reloads are loaded to. Too light a load can cause soot. I use w-231 and VV320.

[Nickb45]

The hotter you load Unique the cleaner it gets. I've only ever loaded about half of pound of the stuff.

I use WST and Solo 1000 for my .45 loads.

[aandabooks]

Not a huge fan of Unique for the reasons mentioned above. If it is all you have to load with then go hotter to het a cleaner burn. I always keep a couple lbs on the shelf but it is my desperation supply.

[zzt]

Smoke and soot are your problems. A good, hard, 200gr LSWC (around 17 Brinel) that uses the red, not blue, lube will generate the least smoke for a lead bullet. Don't shoot moly. Plated bullets such as Xtreme's will completely eliminate smoke.

Soot is harder to eliminate. a 200gr LSWC loaded to between 775 and 800fps using N310, WST or e3 will give you the least soot. 800 is cleaner than 775.

If you don't mind hotter loads, Solo 1000 and American Select are both squeaky clean and consistent at 850fps and up with a 200gr bullet. Because they are slower powders you have to keep the velocity up to get enough chamber pressure for a clean burn. Unique is slower than either of these.

I have seen 4lbs of N310 and WST on store shelves recently. For the others you are better off going to a store that specializes in shotshell reloading supplies. There you will typically find 8 pounders. Distributers will start getting larger shipments of Aliant powders in January. However, e3 is still going to be hard to find (unless you specifically order it), because so few people use it.

[texasref]

I shoot 230 coated bullets and have no soot/smoke problems. I'm using TG now, but even when I had 231 there was not a soot problem o the front sight. I would agree then that you probably need to load it up a little more or change powder. I have no experience with Unique so can't speak to that.

I've found that a little past the mid-range point on the charge is where everything always seems to come together.

[Joe D]

I have always used Clays/Clay Dot in .45ACP with lead bullets. No real issue with soot in a match.

[Butterpuc]

I use WST in my HiTek coated loads and Titegroup in my plated loads. No issues with my fiber optic.

[bigboredad]

Dump the moly and go to hi tel. Your powder and powder charge will not matter. Hi tel will give you the same results as jacketed and plated at much less expense

[Steve RA]

Try some BBIs !

[GOF]

In my .45 M&P the Extreme 225 grain FP is the most accurate bullet it has ever shot, and that includes premium factory stuff. They aren't that much more expensive than lead bullets. As noted above, Unique is not a good powder for 165 PF loads. I like TiteGroup with the 225, but HP38/Win 231, or Clays/Clay Dot, also work well.

[nwhpfan]

I have the same sights on my M&P. I do shoot Moly. Mostly black and blue bullets but I've shot a lot of Precision too. I've used BE, TG which can be found pretty often on Gunbot. I've used Clay's and Universal which I haven't seen in a couple years. None have caused any carbon, or whatever to muck up the front sight.

Sometimes (after hundreds of rounds) my sight gets a little murky but I just wipe it off when my thumb. Eventually they do go bad. I probably replaced them every few thousand rounds or so...or sooner if I have a big match coming up.

[GlockCanMan]

All of my competition guns use the fiber optic front sights. I use Bayou bullets with VV N320 powder, but if you want a readily available powder, try Win 231, or Tite Group.

[jwhittin]

Another plug for Titegroup. It's my main comp powder and I have used it for 230,200 and 185 grain loads. No problem with soot for 200 to 300 rounds, then I start to notice it.

[AlphaShot]

See Nick Bs post. this could be the result of two things excessive gas causing carbon deposit on the sight the result of low powder loads, or it could be the opposite, powder burring outside of the barrell. if Nick B is correct you have the first problem.

[tcoz]

If you're at the low end of your load range, try increasing it a bit and compare. If that doesn't work or if you're not comfortable with it, try changing powders. Lots of people say that Bullseye is dirtier than HP38, but I found the opposite to be true. I'm sure it had more to do with my load than the powder.

[b2bubba]

The biggest change as far as soot / smoke for me has been changing from cast w/wax ring bullets to one of the HiTek coated. (mine happen to be blue)

IMR 700x or WST powders make a nice smoke free combo.

Happy New Year & Good Shooting