Cleanest Powder.....

[swynn]

Ok...I'm learning alot...Never mention the "J" word ever agin......

I casted my 2nd round of 9mm this morning befor it got to hot...maybe 300 boolits.

I would like to here from you guys on the cleanest powder to use with my

.256/125gr Lee mold.....I have a CZ Model 85 Combat...

Thanks
Swynn

[Gee_Wizz01]

To be honest I don't worry about which powder is the cleanest. I usually look at which powder will give me the performance I am looking for. I normally use Bullseye, WW 231, or Power Pistol with 115 - 125 gr boolits. Sometimes I use Unique or AA #5. I find that cast boolits are not the cleanest form of projectiles, and your lube will also have a large effect on "cleanliness". You need to clean your pistol after you shoot, so what difference is an extra patch or two? Thats my philosophy, for what its worth.

G

[dale2242]

i`m with Gee Wizz01, Clean burning powder doesn`t mean much since I use 50/50 lube. Kinda messy. Go for what gives you the results you want and clean when you are done shooting...dale

[Char-Gar]

I don't know what is up with "the younger set" and their quest for a clean burning powder. I just don't get it. I wash my hands and clean my guns after shooting regardless of what powder I use. Just use the powder that give the best results.

[Windy City Kid]

Ok...I'm learning alot...Never mention the "J" word ever agin......

I casted my 2nd round of 9mm this morning befor it got to hot...maybe 300 boolits.

I would like to here from you guys on the cleanest powder to use with my

.256/125gr Lee mold.....I have a CZ Model 85 Combat...

Thanks
Swynn

Hi Swynn,

I think you mean .356/125gr lee mold.

I tried a lot of powders in a 9mm and I have settled on WSF.

WSF is an excellent powder for cast boolits in a 9mm, it's clean burning and the accuracy is fantastic.

[Cherokee]

I use 231, WST, AA5, Power Pistol, AA7 and they all work fine. Don't worry about the "dirty" part because CB's will be leave lube and powder residue anyway.

[swynn]

Thanks Gee and Windy...I'll get some Bullseye and WSF this weekend...and yes Windy I
ment .356 dia. I suppose I'm showing the fact that I'm realy new to all of this....But I Truly
enjoy the fact that I can make my own boolits,load and fire them and maybe hit somthing...

Thanks Guys for the help.. I have lots to ask...

Shelby

[lwknight]

I have picked up fired speer cases that look brand new never used inside.
I wish I could get some of their super clean powders.

[Heavy lead]

You know I think a lot of it is running the particuliar powder you are using at the right pressure. I know people laugh at me when I tell them Unique can be clean. 10 grains of it in a 44 mag under a 260 grain boolit sized correctly is cleaner than heck, drop it a grain or two, it's different story. 2400 of course is notorious for this, I usually work up a load until I get a clean burn, then whala, there's the load, the most accurate too.

[blikseme300]

Thanks Gee and Windy...I'll get some Bullseye and WSF this weekend...and yes Windy I
ment .356 dia. I suppose I'm showing the fact that I'm realy new to all of this....But I Truly
enjoy the fact that I can make my own boolits,load and fire them and maybe hit somthing...

Thanks Guys for the help.. I have lots to ask...

Shelby

Shelby,

My experience with CZ 9mm's has been to cast & size to .358 I lube using a Star pushing a blend of BAC and Carnauba wax. Charge is 4.2 gr HP-38 (USE AT OWN RISK DISCLAIMER INSERTED) and OAL is determined by the barrel throat. (CZ barrels typically have a short leade.)

Accuracy is good and no leading.

Bliksem

[randyrat]

heavy lead- i was gonna just say about the same thing about unique so- Dito to what you said. I found the same thing with Unique, great for stiff loads dirty for lighter loads. Bullseye is my go to for light loads.

[Dannix]

I read up a good bit about 9mm powders when I first got into reloading. For me, the quest was not cleanness but lower flash. Google is your friend. You'll probably find a lot are at THR of the firing line. Take posts there with a bit more salt though, just FYI. Places like the Enos forum you can take a bit more seriously, but standard discretion advise still applys.

I've heard great things about WSF for lighter to medium weight 9x19mm bullet grain loads. Even lead was specifically mentioned. It sounds like a good one. The one 'drawback' is that it's not the highest fps/pressure powder, by that I mean you won't get the highest fps possible out of your gun...but that's not really a big deal. Some advice -- Hold off on the expert stuff like hot loads et al until you are, genuinely, an expert. Stay within manual loads and a healthy notch below max.

Another powder I want to check out is AA#7. Don't know how clean, but I've heard it's a lower flash option, though only good for medium to heavier loads. Ramshot Silhouette is on the list too for being low flash. I've heard very good things about it in this regard.

Power Pistol is a flash and boom powder. Not that that makes it a bad powder for daylight plinking...which is basically all that most of us ever do.


I only recently got started shooting 9mm (I'm seven still loading from one of my last boxes of j-words actually), and I ended up just grabbing some Universal. It's relatively 'dirty' for me, but I'm told it cleans up with a little more pressure, so I'm going to try a bit hotter (still well within manual loads, but really...dirty isn't everything. Indeed, anything you reload will probably be cleaning than Remington factory 9mm plinkers.

I have picked up fired speer cases that look brand new never used inside.
I wish I could get some of their super clean powders.

I saw some photos somewheres of a case comparison of fired 9mm. iirc it was WSF that was the really nice and clean stuff.

One tip: Make sure you have at least two manuals to look at. I bought the Lyman and Lee manuals, but there's Speer and Sierra too. Grab powder manufactures manuals too. Another tip - 9x19 is rather OAL sensitive. To be on the save side, you can increase you OAL a little bit, like say, .05" beyond manual OAL so you got that extra fudge factor in addition to choosing middle-of-the-road powder levels.

Edit: And yeah, dirty powder is moot if you're lube is smoking.

[Dannix]

I lube using a Star pushing a blend of BAC and Carnauba wax.

That's exactly the route I'm thinking about going for the 9mm once I got enough green squirreled away for it.

Why not straight Carnauba wax? Simply don't feel like messing with a heater or have you found you needed something not quite as hard for your fps?

[MtGun44]

Clays burns cleanly in .38 Spl loads for me.

Bill

[Dannix]

swynn, note: There are 3 different 'Clays'.

• Clays. Used by many. Apparently has a dangerous pressure spike if you try to go for hot loads though. Say in the middle of the road and you'll enjoy the success of others.
• Universal Clays. Very commonly used in multiple calibers, hence the name.
• International Clays. Basically not used for pistols at all, afaik.

[warf73]

I can't speak for the 9mm, but the WST in a 40 is very clean. I use that powder for USPS shooting and general practice.
Now for loading it on my progresser its messy, it seep between the slided plates.

[chris in va]

If that 356 boolit doesn't seem very accurate out of your CZ, don't feel bad. Mine had the same issue, and only the 358-125-RF at 1.01oal fixed the keyholing.

Oh and Universal seems to have been the 'cleanest' that I've tried so far, including Unique, 231 and Bullseye.

[NickSS]

I load two types of loads for my handguns. Informal target shooting and plinking or second self defence loads. For the first I buy the cheapest powder I can find that will make the pistol go bang for the second I load for top velocity and accuracy. My plinking loads have been loaded with Red Dot, unique and WST because I got the powder cheap. My self defence loads in the 9mm are loaded currently with blue dot and a 124 gr speer gold dot to come out of my 4 inch barrel at 1208 fps average velocity.

[Dannix]

My self defence loads in the 9mm are loaded currently with blue dot and a 124 gr speer gold dot to come out of my 4 inch barrel at 1208 fps average velocity.

Hows the flash with BlueDot? You tried Ramshot Silhouette?