[drannor]

I've run into some frustration with my latest .38SPL +P load. I'm getting a lot of white smoke on firing, not quite black powder smoke, but pretty dense and very annoying at an indoor range. I'm looking for guidance on what I could be doing wrong.

LOAD DATA:
Winchester Brass
5.0 grains Unique
CCI 300 Primer
Lasercast 158g SWC
1.465 OAL (crimped to canelure)

Too much powder? Too fast for the bullet? Bullet lube smoking? Ideas?

I've used the Speer 158gr LRN in the past with identical components and no problems. I have most of a 500ct box of the SWC, and a full 500ct box of the RN FP left, so hopefully it's not the bullets! As it stands, I'm waiting for an outdoor range trip to expend the stock I have, preferably on a windy day. :rolleyes:

Thanks!

[ChristopherG]

It's the bullet lube. Cast bullets use a different range of lubes than the swaged Speers you're accustomed to, and they can make a bit of a smoke signal. Sorry, there's little way around it--though in my experience using a faster powder (like Clays instead of Unique, with an appropriate reduction in charge, working up from a book starting load, etc., etc.) may help a bit; but a smokey lube is just a smokey lube. It might also help to back it down into standard pressure loads, but some lube/powder combos just smoke, it seems. Titegroup with a cast bullet, for instance, is a total smokebomb every time.

[drannor]

*Sigh*

Feared this was the case. I'll fire what I have and switch back to Speer or the Berry's plated bullets I use in .357 & .45. I do 95% of my shooting at an indoor range, so smokey isn't something I want to deal with. I may download a batch of 20 just to see if it makes a difference.

[RON in PA]

I concur with ChristoferG 100%. My reason for replying is my concern that the ventilation system at your range may not be up to snuff. Wax lubed bullets do make lots of smoke, but it should clear out pretty fast if the fans are working correctly.

[Master Blaster]

I concur with ChristoferG 100%. My reason for replying is my concern that the ventilation system at your range may not be up to snuff. Wax lubed bullets do make lots of smoke, but it should clear out pretty fast if the fans are working correctly.


My thoughts exactly, Uniqueand wax lubbed bullets are known at least to me for their impressive smokiness.

What you should do is buy a bottle of Trailboss, its unbelieveably clean with cast bullets and smoke is nearly non existant, you cant load them to +p but you can load them for target work (850 fps), use jacketed or swaged bullets for +p loads with unique.

[ReloaderFred]

Some people have had success in reducing smoke from cast bullets by dipping the bullets in liquid Alox and letting them dry before loading. Lee sells it, as does Rooster Labs. It's pretty simple to do. Just put some bullets in a plastic tub, like the margarine tubs you usually throw away, and then put a little Alox in there and roll them around until all the bullets are coated with a thin layer. Put them on a sheet of wax paper overnight and then when they're dry to the touch, you can load them as normal.

Some powder/lube combinations smoke worse than others. True Blue and cast bullets produce almost black powder amounts of smoke, and gums up the gun pretty bad, also. Bullseye and cast also smokes pretty good, but not as bad as True Blue.

Hope this helps.

Fred

[Poodleshooter]

+1 for Alox
I cast and use Lee liquid Alox for all of my bullets,and find it to be far less smoky than other commercial lubes. It's worth a shot. You might even find less leading.
It's about a $3 investment+ a plastic can to shake them in and some tinfoil to let them dry.

[drannor]

The alox solution sounds interesting. How do I rid myself of the existing lube on the bullets? Lasercast has an odd green ring on the bullets, is this a lube strip?
LaserCast 158gr SWC (http://us.st11.yimg.com/us.st.yimg.com/I/yhst-96148220192234_1895_159170)

I have less than $40 in the bullets, so if "de-smoking" them is going to require a large investment in time, materials, or the purchase of another lot of powder I may just declare them a loss. I'd quickly exceed my sunk costs.....

My range's ventilation is decent, the smoke drifts off and eventually disappears. I'm just tired of being THAT GUY on the firing line, and my previous loads shot clean.

[Rectodynia]

I have been loading for a number of years and had never detected an increase in smoke from cast bullets. In fact, I wrote a PM to drannor, reporting this, and my experience with Unique as being both smokey and dirty.

Drannor, I apologize to you. I am clearly in a deep minority and apparently a bit lacking in discrimination. I'll watch closer on this.

Rectodynia

[tube_ee]

LaserCast bullets and Bullseye powder produced the smokiest loads I've ever shot out of my Trooper. Changing bullets to Bear Creek helped a lot, and changing powder to Green Dot (for other reasons, not cleanliness) helped a bit more. Mostly though, it was the bullets. They shot nice, but were just filthy. It's that green wax lube they use, I think. Nasty stuff.

--Shannon

[ReloaderFred]

You don't have to remove the lube before coating with Alox. Just coat with Alox over the existing lube and bullet, and you're good to go. Just make sure the Alox has dried at least overnight before loading. That should pretty much solve your smoke problem.

Hope this helps.

Fred

[BluesBear]

They changed the formulation for Unique a few years ago in an attempt to make it burn cleaner.
It worked but Unique is still far from being the cleanest powder around.

If you like the performance of Unique try Universal. Very similar performance but much cleaner burning.