.38 spcl with sooty cases

[Silverboolit]

Hi all... I am having a small issue with sooty/blackened cases in .38. Load is 4gr Bullseye, LEE 105 gr swc sized at .358, cci spp, 2500 lube. I get a nice lube star on muzzle and very good groups after reaming the throats.

Should I crimp a little tighter? I am only taking out the flair and a little roll crimp. There is only small amounts of leading at the forcing cone and about 1" ito the barrel.

This is in a Ruger GP100, .357 mag. 6".

Thanks for all of your help.

[williamwaco]

Load is not obturating the case.
Powder gases and bullet lube are leaking back around the case

Powder charge is too light.

Heavier crimp MIGHT help with ignition but I doubt it.
Your description of your crimp sounds perfect to me.

You should not be getting that leading.
That makes me suspect your bullet is either too hard or too small.

For pix of .38 special crimp see:

http://reloadingtips.com/how_to/crimping_revolvers.htm

This page is for (all) revolvers but was created with .38 special.

[bangerjim]

Agree......load too light. I get that soot on the cases when I shoot hot melt glue slugs in 38spl and 45lc. Loads are 1 to 1.5gn tightgroup....too light but works for plastic quite cart loads.

When i crank the loads up to 75% of top published levels with cast/FMJ's.......no soot at all!

banger

[Silverboolit]

Lyman #4 shows 3.6 to 4.6 of Bullseye. I will up the Bullseye and I will try Red Dot as that has a slightly higher pressure curve to it. Will load 12 of each and see how it goes.

THanks for all of your help.

[lwknight]

Light loads are fun. Soot will clean up pretty easily. Most of that soot is probably as much from the waxy lube as much as the powder.
You can up the load and/or find cleaner powder but where is the fun in that?

I love my gp100 and shoot dirty nasty light loads in it a lot. Every now and then I actually clean the gun. It looks like a hitchhiker on Space Shuttle Columbia but still shoots just fine with ZERO leading.

[MtGun44]

Other than soot, is there a problem? If not, ignore. The tumbler
fixes this nicely.

Bill

[JimA]

My plinkin' loads pretty much all have sooty cases. Other than dirty fingers they are not a problem.

[357shooter]

Agree that the light loads are dirty on the cases. All powders burn cleaner with higher presures, so light target loads get soot on the cases. Also because the brass doesn't expand in the chamber to help prevent gases from getting on the outside of the case.

As stated the leading is an issue and can be bullets too small and too hard, or both. If they are marginally small/hard a heavier charge could fix the leading. But then you may get away from having a light load.

[kryogen]

my light 38 load 3.5BE 158RF .358 soots alot also. I dont really mind.
I'll shoot a lighter boolit in my next batch to save lead.

[dverna]

If you are shooting that bullet, you are likely a CAS shooter so you want a light load. I use a 130 gr cast with 2.7 gr of Clays. Sooty cases. I do not care. Like others have stated, I tumble them anyway, so leave them in another .30 minutes - no big deal.

A heavier crimp will help but it will not eliminate it completely. Leading is the result of bullet fit and lube. Hardness (being too hard) is never an issue - at least in my limited experience. I have shot 100% Linotype with no issues - albeit in a semi auto .38 target pistol.

Don Verna

[Silverboolit]

My bore slugs at .357 and the throats were .3555 before I reamed the cylinders. The cylinders are now .358 and it has improved the accuracy a lot. Will take the suggestions offered here and try them out. Thanks and have a good day!!

[kryogen]

My bore slugs at .357 and the throats were .3555 before I reamed the cylinders. The cylinders are now .358 and it has improved the accuracy a lot. Will take the suggestions offered here and try them out. Thanks and have a good day!!

what revolver?

[bedbugbilly]

All I shoot is light loads of BE in my 38s - with WC, SWC and two different RN. My cases are usually a little sooty but it's not big deal as far as my shooting goes. I don't get leading, the loads I'm using for plinking are accurate for the revolvers I'm using - so I don't worry about it. The soot is easily cleaned up. I've had far worse of a mess when shooting BP. I attribute some of it to the BE.

[Bzcraig]

This is the reason I like Trail Boss. It generates enough pressure to seal chamber walls but still shoots soft for plinking. I tried 3grs of Acc#2 and W231 this past weekend and both were dirty in my GP100, ran out of Trail Boss.

[detox]

When fired, the softer Remington brass will obturate or form to charge hole easier than harder Starline or Winchester brass.

Bullseye is well known to be a dirty burning powder. A cleaner burning powder may cover things up more.

[lwknight]

Dirty burning powder is cool. It makes your gun look bad aye.