what am I looking at ???

[atr]

Notice the discoloration on the brass and even on the cylinder due to powder residue
is this a natural state of affairs....any suggestions would be helpful

Interarms Dragoon 44 Mag,,,,245 gr SWC cast.....
9gr. Unique
also getting the same with 5 gr Bullseye
moderate crimp

thanks
atr6557365574

[Trey45]

Operating at subpressure is not allowing the brass to obturate in the chamber and letting soot and carbon in. Up your pressures and it should stop.

[canyon-ghost]

^^^ Trey is right, it's soot blown back from the chambers because the brass isn't sealing off. A few tenths more powder should stop it.

If by chance your loads are stout enough, it's possible the bullet could be undersize to the chambers.

[Doc Highwall]

Also the brass could be work harden from many loadings. Sometimes with Starline brass shooters have had to anneal it when it was brand new.

[John Boy]

Sometimes with Starline brass shooters have had to anneal it when it was brand newGuess I'm an exception ... use Starlines in 45 Colts, brass reloaded many times, never annealed and charged with 32grs of FFg powder and a hard factory crimp that keeps the pressure up. Blow back - minimal for a BP reload.

[Gibbs44]

I have the same with some fairly light loads. I figured it was probably low pressure and just needs a little stouter load.

[atr]

OK,,,,thanks
the brass was winchester and only fired once....
I thought the load was pretty stout but could up the grains a bit

I did check this revolver against my Ruger 44 Mag
the gap between the end of the cylinder and the forcing cone/barrel on the Ruger is just a hairline gap
but
the gap between the end of the cylinder and the forcing cone/barrel on this Interarms is significantly larger....I suspect I am getting alot of gas escaping via that gap

thanks
atr

[Doc Highwall]

John Boy, most of the times I heard it mention was with 45-70 and 45-90 brass with black powder.

[Wayne Smith]

You are loading 44Special loads in a 44Mag. Of course you don't have enough pressure to obdurate the brass.

[cylinderman]

Very normal looking to me, specially shooting cast. I load a lot of 44mag from the target load of 5.5gr unique under a 240 gr LSWC to 25gr H110 under a 250gr Keith bullet. Shoot 100 rounds of 44 mag and you look like a coal miner no matter what load. What is important is where the bullet goes the rest is what you get. What I'm trying to say is, if it shoots good for you keep shooting it

[taco650]

The only thing I would add to what has already been said is make sure your crimp is good. That will up the pressure a bit, maybe enough to get the cases to expand more. Still, you'll have a dirty gun if you shoot enough. Your big cylinder gap may be adding to the problem too.

[atr]

I was using 44 mag brass with 44 mag load and 44 spl brass with 44 spl loads
I was NOT using 44 spl loads in 44 mag brass
I think I will up the crimp and maybe a bit more powder

and yes I agree with taco650, I think part of the problem is the large cylinder gap
I don't get this with my Ruger which has much small gap
atr

[gray wolf]

Are you actual chambers larger than the ones in the Ruger ? (diameter )

[W.R.Buchanan]

Take some feeler gages and measure the cylinder gap. Tell us what you get?

Randy

[runfiverun]

Are you actual chambers larger than the ones in the Ruger ? (diameter )

9 grs of unique isn't a light load.
i'm wondering the same thing.

[jonp]

Sounds to me like what grey wolf said coupled with a larger gap. I had an Rossi once that did that due to exactly those 2 things. Gun shot just fine but I got rid of it

[Sasquatch-1]

I get the same thing sometimes in my SBH. I just chalked it up to dirty lube. It is interesting to see what could actually be causing this.

[atr]

OK the gaps between the cylinder and the forcing cone are as follows
Ruger = 0.002"
Interarms Dragoon = 0.02"
a 10 fold difference
atr

[taco650]

OK the gaps between the cylinder and the forcing cone are as follows
Ruger = 0.002"
Interarms Dragoon = 0.02"
a 10 fold difference
atr

WOW! That's a huge difference! On a side note, do you clean your brass in a tumbler before reloading?

[atr]

yes the difference surprised me too.....I checked it twice because I couldn't believe it the first time
yes I do clean the brass in a tumbler

[762 shooter]

Other than aesthetics, is dirty brass from blowback a problem?

762

[Doc Highwall]

Accuracy suffers some.

[atr]

accuracy seems to be pretty good even with the 0.02" gap.....
shooting from a rest at 25 yds it was as accurate as the Ruger....
I DO get alot of side blast squirting out through that gap, and I suspect that I am losing some small degree of muzzle velocity as some of that pressure is being bled off through the gap.

[taco650]

Just got back from the range after shooting both of my 44's (Dan Wesson 6" and Ruger Super Blackhawk 7.5"). The fired cases from both revolvers had similar amounts of soot to yours. Nearly all extracted fine. Loads were mixed. Some were light 240gr SWC's with an unknown powder, others were hot 300gr FP's with a good dose of H-110 and a third group were moderate 300gr FP's with Titegroup. Nothing was abnormal so I think you're results are common. Mine will go into the tumbler with a bit of Brasso and that will be the end of it.