unburned 5744 in a 32-30

[Papa Bang]

I'm shooting 8.5gr 5744 in my Marlin 32-20 with standard and magnum primers and a 115 gr pb boolit, it performs well but there is always unburned powder in the empty brass. I've tried different crimps with no improvement Any ideas?

[kodiak1]

That is one of the problems with 5744.

Ken.

[W.R.Buchanan]

This is one of the problems with 5744, and it means absolutely nothing.

Just shoot it, and enjoy how well it works.

This powder was originally called 4475 and was developed specifically for the .223/ 5.56mm cartridge. The Armory ballisticians couldn't get past the unburned powder issue so the powder was dropped from consideration.

Some Balkan based dude (serbia?) aquired the rights to make the stuff and reversed the numbers and renamed it 5744.

It works well for many cartridges especially with cast boolits.

Their loss is our gain.

I got this story direct from the mouth of Venturino.

Randy

[excess650]

5744 isn't supposed to be position sensitive, so makes it useable in largish cases. I've used a fair amount of it in 30-30, 7.5x55, 30-06, 8x57 and 35 Rem and think if you can't find an accurate load with this powder, you have some other problem.

Yeah, you'll find unburned kernels in your cases; it seems to be normal for this powder. As pressures go up the amount of unburned powder seems to decrease.

Other powders to use in the 32-20 are Unique, SR 4756, Universal Clays, 2400, IMR 4227.

The 32-20 has capacity almost identical to the 30 Carbine, but is loaded to lower pressures.

[Guesser]

I have experimented with it in Colt revolvers in 32-20. I found that with a 4" barrel there was a minor amount left in the bore, none in the case. I tried it in 6" and 7 1/2" and the amount left unburned didn't seem to change. I was using WSP primers and 9.3 gr. Performance was good, but not enough different than some other recipes to convert me to full time use of 5744 in 32-20. I'll burn it up in 45-70 and probably not buy any more.

[gandydancer]

it also works great in the blackpowder firearms if you just want to plink and have fun with out all the clean up afterwards GD

[Papa Bang]

Thanks for all the help. 8.5 gr will shoot around an inch at 100 yards most of the time and is by far the best load so far. My son & daughter are 9-10 years old and and they think it's a blast to shoot water jugs with. I just need to work up a heavier load for? and then get the peep sight back on.

Thanks again

Papa

[Cimarron Red]

Unburned powder is an annoying trait of 5744, and one that put me off the powder for some time. But last summer I tried it again in the .30-30 and was pleasantly surprised to find that there were far fewer unburned granules than earlier lots of this powder. I've since bought cans of different lots, and they, too, were nearly free of unburned powder. Perhaps Accurate has changed the formula. Accuracy with my load of 18.5 grains under the Lyman 311299 has been superb.

[uscra112]

5744 likes to be up in the 20,000 psi range to burn clean. Your load is well below that. Try upping it half a grain at at time until you get to about 1450 feet per second. That's about as far as you can go with a plain base, but it should get you away from the worst of the unburned particles problem.

Me, I's be using something faster in the .32-20 - Red Dot, or AA#7 come to mind, only because I've got and use both in small cases with pb boolits.