Sooty 45 acp loads

[Rwnielsen]

Recently I bought some Xtreme .452, 200g flat points. I found a workable OAL for my 1911 out one of my books and loaded up 50 rounds. I used HP-38, 5.3g at 1.200 OAL and .471 'crimp'. These all fed, fired and cycled fine but seemed a little weak. I bumped the load to 5.6g, same OAL, loaded 100 and took these to the range. Once again they fed and fired fine but..I noticed a lot of dark soot on most of the shells. Normally I would think the load was too light and the brass wasn't able to seal the chamber but 5.6 grains of HP-38 is a fair amount

The question is, should I bump the load up (I have room) or is there another cause of the soot that I don't know about. I'm leaning towards 5.8 grains. The bullets mic out at .4515" on average

Thanks
Richard

[stand125]

If the accuracy is good and the gun cycles then all you are causing is a little more work to clean your gun. I shoot very light loads and what helped me get a cleaner burn was changing to Magnum primers. I noticed no difference in the performance with the 45acp, but did have a much cleaner burn.

Now 9mm and 40cal I do drop my powder charge with magnum primers but 38spc and 45 uses the same load regardless of standard or magnum primers.

[bigdawg86]

You should see the shells I have that are loaded with Unique! Dirty stuff!

[Rwnielsen]

I could switch over the winchester primers, they're a little hotter. These loads were with Wolf LP. I forgot to mention that
Thanks

[noylj]

What you are talking about is a non-issue. The soot, unless turned to mud from too much oil, will not cause any negative effects on the gun or the cases.
You might want to brush off the breech and extractor every 1000 rounds and wipe off the case exterior before reloading.
Yes, getting pressure up will have the case expand to seal the chamber, but Bullseye shooters put tens of thousands of low pressure rounds through their guns without any concern.

[Rwnielsen]

What you are talking about is a non-issue

You're right. I just haven't encountered this before in my 45. I'l make up a few at different weights and run them over a chrono to see where I'm at and go from there

[Ferrum]

I agree that it's probably a non-issue.

FWIW, I was just reading on a couple other forums about this. All four sites said the same thing, the powder was undercharged and wasn't burning completely.

All of the sites had the same conclusion... Grab a chrono, slowly up the charge, watch for over pressure and watch the speed. Most people's problems with the HP-38 cleared up. Was also mentioning this same problem with Bullseye in .45.

Like I said, your most likely correct that its a non-issue, but it was interesting reading.

[OuTLaw123]

I have the same "issue" the rounds group fine and cycle the gun properly so I'm happy. I wish I could chrono them.

I use w231

[Artsville]

W231 or hp38 are dirty powders. Switch to WST for 45 and thank me later.


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[J-cat]

Do you care about accuracy at all? Have you benchrested the gun to see which load is more accurate? I go with accuracy over sootyness.

[OldLincoln]

Another one with similar problem

Since I'm having similar struggles I'd like to tack onto this thread. I am deriving a load for .45ACP of X-Treme Copper Plated TNFP (treuncated nose flat point) for my Glock 30. These look like a round nose with the tip snipped off, no shoulders like the WC or SWC.

While the OP mentioned soot (which I get also but ok) but I get scorching outside the case on all my test loads from 5.4gn through 6.0gn. Crimp is .470 and OAL 1.25. I originally thought the pressure was low before today's test firing. Now I'm investigating OAL and am totally confused.

I went to the 1911forum.com and discovered the "plunk test" and the ANSI specs.

The "plunk test" is dropping your test round into the barrel (chamber end). If it:
1. drops right in with a "plunk" sound, AND
2. if the rear end of the case isn't above the barrel hood, AND
3. you cannot push the case further into the chamber, AND
4. it falls out when tipped up without prying THEN
it passed.

In my Glock anything over 1.175 fails the plunk test while the ANSI specs show a min OAL of 1.190. Even my Precision Delta 230gn plated round nose fail the plunk test while they shoot okay.

All help is appreciated.

[bruce381]

you are fine sooty "burned" cases are normal, I crimp at .471 tho I think makes little difference.

Don't get hung up on plunk test, if your loads at 1.175 feed fine do not worry about it for a cleaner burn try other powders like WST or even AA2.

plunk test is for a real CLEAN chamber too.

[J-cat]

1.175" is OK.

Imagine loading that bullet if it were a RN, then snip off the tip and think what the OAL would be.

Also, imagine the inside of the chamber and what that round looks like while chambered.

The reason you need the short OAL is because the bullet shank hits the rifling when seated longer. Imagine where the rifling starts and where the bullet shank ends. When the round is chambered, the end of the bullet shank has to sit short of the beginning of the rifling.

[Justintoxicated]

Hey, this is how I know which 45acp is mine.

[OldLincoln]

Not quite like a Round Nose with the tip snipped off. My Round Nose Flat Point bullets continue straight with the case for a tad then slope inward making a shoulder. They were hanging on that shoulder and I found it takes a 1.210 to pass the Plunk Test.