What Makes A Powder "dirty"?

[revchuck]

Folks - A consistent thread here is how some powders are "dirty" - Titegroup, for example. Reading the posts, it appears that the definition of "dirty" hinges around whether you can tell if your gun has been shot - if so, the powder's dirty .

I feel that if a given powder leaves evidence of having been used, but that residue doesn't contribute to tying up the gun, it shouldn't be characterized as being "dirty".

Maybe we should add the term "funky". Titegroup would fit here - I shot 900 rounds through a stainless S&W revolver in a two day class, and there was no powder residue to tie it up. Yeah, I brushed out under the ejector star a few times, but that was from habit rather than necessity. The gun had obviously been shot, though - the cylinder was black, and I had to resort to the old 0000 steel wool and BreakFree cure to get it clean again.

"Dirty", OTOH, should be reserved for powders such as HS6 and HS7 - you can't safely load these powders hot enough to get them to burn cleanly. 2400 would fit into this category too, though at higher pressures it's not that bad.

Alternative terms?

[50cal]

Alternative terms... how about "clean load" and "dirty load"

You hit the nail on the head with higher pressures or hot loads. This has a lot more to do with how "dirty" the gun gets than the actual brand of powder -IMO. The "cleanest" powder loaded light is dirtier than a "dirty" powder loaded hot. My range gun (P220 Sport) is supplied with VVn310 rounds with 4.2gr. (very light to say the least) and it gets filthy. I can put 20 rounds through it and the gun looks as dirty as my Brazos (.38sc) after 300 rounds of VVn105 @ 10.3gr. Dirty powder <read: LOAD> would have you cleaning the gun after 50 rounds. A clean load might need only a wipe and oil after a few hundred.

Other powders are consistent with this idea. Looking at all the different powders I have collected over the years (that sit in storage never to be used again for whatever reason), it all comes down to the same issue - pressure.

Bulleye and Titegroup "ran" dirty at range pressures. Lil'Gun (40gr.) runs super clean in my S&W M500 as does 34gr. of Varget in 22-250.

cheers

[ricciardelli]

"Clean"?

"Dirty"?

In the perfect combustion, the results would be only CO2 and H2O. However, there are very few materials that would give this result. Unfortunately none or gunpowders!

If you don't want your gun to get "dirty", keep it snuggled in it's little pistol case and leave it in the closet. Whatever you do, don't shoot it!

The idea of clean and dirty powders reminds me of a friend I had. He bought a classic automobile, and kept it in his garage. Every day he would go to the garage and wipe it down, and sit there for hours just looking at it.

He never drove it! He didn't want it to get "dirty"...

[reidry]

Another vote of agreement here.

While I've reloaded for years, I've kept my powder selection to just a few versatile powders. My first Limited gun was a Para in .40. I used AA5 for years as it was inexpensive and the gunshop I frequented always had plenty on the shelf. The residue was nasty, it mixed with the breakfree on the slide rails and was very gritty. After a weekend match the stuff on the rails felt like a coarse grinding compound.

I shot some .38 spl semi-wadcutter reloads being sold at a local gunrange when I had bowling pin fever. They were loaded with some flake powder, light loads. After 3 runs, 18 shots total that flake stuff was everywhere. Got a couple of flakes under the ejector star one night - never knew a revolver could jam.

Vhit powders leave a residue on the muzzle and in the slide, but it wipes off easily and doesn't have that coarse feel like the Accurate powder. I've used a few H powders for rifle and they seemed fine.

Ryan

[XRe]

I think the point is that it's a relative thing The VV powders just burn amazingly cleanly - they leave a fine black soot that easily wipes away, and that's about it. It's about as close as you can come to "unfired" and still use the thing. Compare that with something like old Unique, which leaves seemingly half of its mass unburned within the confines of your gun. For handgun, that's the dirtiest I've seen (there might be worse). Once you understand the scale in use, things make more sense

For instance, in .45, I'd call Clays a clean powder, and 231 slightly dirty (leaves an occasional half-burned grain of powder in the barrel or action). VV 320 appears to be as clean as Clays, with a different color soot.

Shoot 1000 rounds of anything, and the gun's *gonna* be dirty - there's no getting around that. The question is, is it in danger of not running anymore. I think that's more what folks are getting at

[Gun Geek]

Shoot 1000 rounds of anything, and the gun's *gonna* be dirty - there's no getting around that. The question is, is it in danger of not running anymore. I think that's more what folks are getting at

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Right on!

One of the common threads here (not everyone, but many) is that we would rather be shooting, or with the family than cleaning guns.

"Dirty" doesn't mean much if a gun is stripped and cleaned after every 100 rounds (like your pappy told you). However, if a gun sees 2 or 3 practice sessions plus a match or 2 every week, totaling 500 - 600 rounds, "dirty means a whole lot - you'd spend nearly as much time cleaning the darn things as shooting them.

A Glock or quality 1911 and a decently clean powder and you can clean the gun once a week instead of 3 or 4 times a week and still expect it to run.

[Ray_Z]

Has anybody considered the fact that most smokeless powders have a percentage of graphite in them? If it didn't powders like bullseye wouldn't cover the bottom of the case. It also aids in flowing through drop tubes. Doubt me? Take a couple of grains of bullseye, pour it in your hands, then rub your hands together.

Right now I'm having a lot of luck with Solo 1000 in the 40. 4.8 behind a zero 180 gives me 168pf. No smoke and it's as clean as it can be. Low graphite content? Maybe. Or maybe it's because solo 1000 is one of the last smokeless powders to be made with cotton linen instead of paper.