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Soot on fired reloaded brass

alligator123
I'm a reloader and on my 45 long colt ammo, the spent brass is extremely sooted up. I started out at min. load and am now at almost max load and still the soot. It is unlike all of my other calibers. Does anyone have an idea.
Thanks
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Comments

8 comments

Date Votes
  • longspur rider
    I've noticed that my Mag-tec brass doesn't do that as much as the other brass I have. Unfotunately most of my brass is ultra-max. cheap.
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  • kevind6
    What powder are you using?? Shotgun type powders like Bullseye, Red Dot, or Unique burn notoriously dirty.....I suspect that is the primary cause of your problem. A switch to a cleaner burning powder like 2400 among others will likely help.
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  • trapguy2007
    quote:Originally posted by kevind6
    What powder are you using?? Shotgun type powders like Bullseye, Red Dot, or Unique burn notoriously dirty.....I suspect that is the primary cause of your problem. A switch to a cleaner burning powder like 2400 among others will likely help.


    Has to be the powder .
    Try some of the Alliant powders (check their Scott line ) .
    When did 2400 become clean ?
    I used many pounds of it over the years ,and the soot was my only complaint with it .
    Otherwise one of the best I have ever used .
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  • 1KYDSTR
    ALSO, presence of "soot", or carbon residue at the case mouth is a sign of either A) too short an overall length on your case trim, or B) Lower end pressures that are not completely sealing the neck under deflagration. As you see, there are lots of answeres to this question!

    b]EDIT #1:[[/b][I think both crimp and annealing are excellent suggestions as to how to proceed. However, I would caution against annealing every time you size as this will oversoften the neck and lead to flow issues of its own well beyond "sticky" extraction. Work hardening is indeed bad as it leads to split necks, but having the brass flow that far forward into the front of the neck area will often lead to "ringing" in the chamber/neck where by succesive tiny rings of case brass are trimmed off with each shot and eventually restrict the chambering of cartridges as well as spike pressures.
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  • alligator123
    Thanks folks. I will try a different powder.
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  • andrewsw16
    Also, try annealing the case mouths occasionally. This should soften them up and allow them to expand and seal to the chamber wall a bit better.
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  • tsr1965
    You might also try using a heavier crimp. Sometimes, the tighter grip on the bullet, will help with ignition, and burning all the powder, hence giving you a better seal with the case mouth to chamber.

    Best
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  • SoreShoulder
    I think the problem will always be there unless you anneal the cases after every loading so they don't spring back from the chamber walls so much.

    I think a case gets sooty when the one next to it is being fired, and some blast bounces off the back of the barrel and inside of the frame and back into the two chambers around the one being fired.

    Of course, if you anneal every time so the case doesn't spring back enough to allow the soot in there, extraction will be slower.

    Cleaner powders might do the trick. But there will probably always be a little soot in a revolver.
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