Jump to content
Brian Enos's Forums... Maku mozo!

Clean Burning Powders???


PistolPete

Recommended Posts

I'm currently using Bullseye with .45 ACP 185 grainers. The powder works great and I have a great load with it. The only thing I hate about this powder is it doesn't burn clean. Whenever I shoot a few hundred rounds I'm covered with filth from the powder. I get powder grains all over both my arms, hands, and clothes. Anyone using a fast burning powder that burns clean?

Thanks,

Pete

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I like Hodgdon powders. I also like to try and keep my 45 as clean shooting as possible. Having said that I have been using two powders, Titegroup and Clays.

Neither in my opinion burn "clean" just cleaner than most others I have tried.

Titegroup burns cleanest (for me) at higher pressures and my load of 4.8 grains behind a 230 grain bullet seems to be the best.

It does make a double charge on the 550B hard to detect because of the low volume in the case.

Clays burns cleaner (for me) with lower velocity loads but the range where you can go is quite limited. The perceived recoil is lower for me than Titegroup and a double charge is more readily apparent. 3.8 grains behind a 230 grain bullet is a nice comfortable target load and burns pretty clean.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have tried both vv 310 and 320 in 45 and 9mm. The 9mm accuracy wise perfers the 320, and feel I don't notice a difference. In the 45, 310 seems to be more accurate and feels softer. The price difference between TG and VV has never seemed that great to me. I buy mail order in 12-16 pound shipments. For the entire order, the difference is $45-60 which breaks down to less than 0.2 cents per round loading 3.5 grs/round. For the better "feel" and cleanliness that VV's provide, I'm quite willing to pay $2 extra per 1000 rounds.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I like TG. Its Cheap and clean for the most part.

I can tell you not to WASTE your money one that AA powder suposedly designed FOR the 45 acp! AA#5 is CRAP at any load from min to .2 over max! CRAP!!!!!

I dont think Unique is that bad!

Hightech,

I think you miscalculated a bit. Assuming you meant $.02/round X 1000 is $20.00 more not $2.00

Quite a bit, course I am frue...Freu...Fruge..... fruga......CHEAP! :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

No Larry I don't think miscalculated, but... here's my logic

I use about 3.5 grs actually a little less, but 3.5 calculates easier.

3.5 grains per round

7000 grains per pound

2000 rounds per pound

16 pounds

32,000 rounds

VV cost $60 more for 16 lbs than TG

$60/32,000=$0.001875 dollars more per round to load VV than TG

0.001875 x 1000=$1.875

So the cost difference is less than 2 dollars per thousand rounds.

When I was tried TG to make the same pf/function I needed to load about 0.5 grs more than the VV-320 even a bigger difference with the 310 (about a whole grain). So the cost difference would come out even lower by about 14% (1/7th) because for every 7 VV rounds I could load I can only load 6 TG's (using the 0.5 difference). This part is really "back of the envelope" because I don't have time to do a full analysis on both. But taking into accout the usage difference the cost per 1000 difference would be reduced to about $1.60

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The soot at the end of your barrel could be from bullet lube if shooting lead. I have noticed that the lower pressure loads with TG are dirtier than higher pressure loads. ??? TG is still a clean powder. Smokes something awful with low pressure lead loads... though, what powder doesn't. TXAG

Link to comment
Share on other sites

HTR,

Either you have a real good source for the VV powder or are paying too much for the TG. From my "local" store a lb of TG is $13 and a lb of VV runs around $24 depending on which one you want. No one I have found stocks anything bigger than the 1 lb canisters around these parts.

Of course, I have to drive 70 miles to get VV or I can drive 17 miles to Walmart and get TG. At the price of gas ($1.91 when I filled up last week) you can guess why I shoot TG.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

To add to the sootiness debate, I tried ~5gr TG under a JHP in 38 Super for steel and it was pretty dirty. Close to the Hogdon booklet's maximum load, so I don't think it's a 'low pressure' issue. In fairness, it was less dirty than a similar load using AA#5, but much dirtier than SR4756, so who knows.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...