"Dirty" ammunition. What exactly is it?

[seeds76]

Some people have told me Winchester white box is "dirty" ammunition and I should stay away from it in my Kimber 1911.

What's so "dirty" about it if it's FMJ just like any other FMJ ammunition?

Can some people list common "dirty" factory ammunition I should stay away from?

Thanks

 

[David N]

The Rem/UMC FMJ .380 I shoot is very dirty. It leaves a lot of "ash" behind.

 

[atazmann]

from what i can tell "dirty" ammo leaves behind lots of lead fouling and powder residue i will use the winchester wincleans or corbon in my ultracarry but not much else. and from personal experience i stay away from federal hydrashoks they left alot of lead in my 3 and 1/4" barrel

 

[Ivy Mike]

Yeah, looks like they covered the dirty aspects pretty well with leaving a lot of fouling behind.
Some of the foreign made ammo (especially the Russian stuff) tends to be dirty. Older Wolf ammo with the laquered cases can really make a mess of a chamber if you don't clean it well. Newer Wolf isn't as bad although it still leaves a good bit of powder fouling.
Old military surplus ammo tends to be dirty and when it comes from old Com-bloc countries, tends to be corrosive as well. Many shooters adhere to the rule of thumb that says 'western ammo for western guns, commie ammo for commie guns.'

 

[wnycollector]

I will second the dirty russian ammo. I bought a case of silver bear JHPs for my mak... I thought I was shooting black powder! My hands were black after shooting a box or 2 of the stuff!

Wolf classic (cammo box) 9x18 is MUCH better as far as the grime factor.

 

[Rmart30]

Just playing devils advocate here, but if you clean your gun properly after every range session, whats wrong with dirty ammo ?

 

[wally]

if you clean your gun properly after every range session, whats wrong with dirty ammo ?

I guess it depends on how much shooting you do in a given range session, but any gun of mine that won't do at least 1000 rounds without cleaning -- shooting Wolf, my hard cast lead reloads using Unique, or any other cheap ammo without failure, rather quickly becomes a safe queen.

I just wipe my guns down and put them back in the safe after a session (unless is my carry gun) and usually clean them only after a failure.

Needless to say, I have good SHTF confidence in all my favorite range toys from their proven performance

--wally.

 

[kcshooter]

Just playing devils advocate here, but if you clean your gun properly after every range session, whats wrong with dirty ammo ?

I don't think that's a devils advocate question at all, I think it's perfectly valid.

Clean vs dirty powder/ammo is a reloading question that is asked all the time, and my answer is always the same.

Do you clean your guns after you shoot them? Do you shoot more than 500 rounds out of one gun in a typical range session? Sooo, why does it matter?

Although I don't buy my range ammo anymore, I shot WWB out of many guns for a long time, 1911's mostly, including Kimbers, and never had an issue with it being too dirty.

All ammo is dirty. WWB is cheap. Shoot it

 

[Ivy Mike]

my earlier advice shouldn't be considered a warning against shooting surplus or other cheap ammo. Merely as my own personal experience with it. I've got no problem shooting dirty ammo from my guns and seeing as I rarely ever get malfunctions, the guns don't seem to mind either.

 

[markk]

from what i can tell "dirty" ammo leaves behind lots of lead fouling and powder residue i will use the winchester wincleans or corbon in my ultracarry but not much else. and from personal experience i stay away from federal hydrashoks they left alot of lead in my 3 and 1/4" barrel

How does copper jacketed ammo leave lead in your barrel?

 

[Rmart30]

I was just curious as to why... I always clean mine after a outing wether its 20 rounds or 200, I assumed most everyone else did also.

 

[Mad Magyar]

Some people have told me Winchester white box is "dirty" ammunition and I should stay away from it in my Kimber 1911.

Fire away....I suspect more pistoleros use that brand than they want to let on. You'll find that most will clean their gun after a range session regardless of # of rds fired....If I didn't, I couldn't sleep that night....

 

[Ala Dan]

I tend to agree, that Rem-UMC handgun ammo is very dirty~!

That is why I prefer either Mag-Tech, or Blazer Brass when I am not
shooting my own handloads.

 

[moooose102]

imo, dirty ammo is ammo that leaves a lot of unburnt powder, or a lot of powder residue behind. some gun powder burns better than others in certain applications. so if the pressure / burn is not optimal, you get a lot of residue left behind that quickly builds up, and starts jamming the actiion (in autoloaders).

 

[Kindrox]

How does copper jacketed ammo leave lead in your barrel?

That's what I wanted to know.

 

[bakert]

I read a lot of posts about "dirty" ammo or reloads using a certain powder. Some of the posts make me wonder if the person(s) really know what they're talking about. Most all shooting leaves a certain amount of residue, soot, ash, and maybe copper or lead fouling. As long as cartridge or reload gives the results I want, I don't worry about it being a little dirty. Also I keep hearing the Win white box and Rem UMC is so dirty but that hasn't been my experience in .357, 9MM and.45ACP. Sure after a lot of shooting at the range, especially 2, 3 hundred rds, some guns may stop running well with certain ammo and maybe any ammo. Most times all you gotta do is wipe the damn gun off, run a a brush through the bore, maybe use a toothbrush to clean hard to get to places and clean the feed ramp on autos. Only takes a few minutes to get most up and ready to go again. Some you just put back in your range bag

 

[Magic_Man]

WWB, Wolf, etc work very well for m. My M&P has only seen WWB (over 2k rounds since March) and none of my firearms have had a problem. I do clean after every trip though

 

[Deanimator]

I don't consider Winchester "white box" all that dirty. Of course I rarely shoot factory ammunition, since I can't see the point in shooting ammunition that's twice as expensive as what I load, and not as accurate.

The dirtiest commercial ammunition I've ever shot was the old Russian steel cased "Junior" .22lr. That stuff left an incredible amount of residue, somewhere between Bullseye and blackpowder, about 50/50 bullet lube and powder fouling. Paradoxically, it's some of the most accurate .22lr I've ever seen, especially out of a single shot rifle. I had a few bricks of it back in the '90s. It wouldn't feed through my Ruger MkII because the angle into the chamber was too steep. The bullet would hit the feed ramp and literally snap to one side like it was on a ball joint. You could actually snap it back into place and shoot it, but it was no good in a Ruger. As I recall, it shot very well in High Standards because the feed angle is almost straight in. I ended up giving it to a friend who had a Martini action .22lr target rifle. He tried a bunch of different loads through it, and the Junior Steel was the most accurate, as accurate as Ely, and something like 1/10th the cost at the time.

 

[Jenrick]

I consider ammo dirty in one of two ways:

1) Amount of smoke/soot that comes out of the barrel and coats the weapon or myself. Unburnt powder, lube, etc. is usually what makes up this mess. Amerc is usually the worst for this, I've had people ask where I got a black powder Glock.

2) The amount of fouling left in the action and barrel of the weapon after a round is fired. Almost all .22lr standard ammo is a good example of this, lots and lots of carbon, soot, etc left in the action and in the barrel.

Dirty ammo doesn't mean inaccurate, light weight, or any other negative, just more clean up time. Some of my guns such as my Glock I feel comfortable shooting hundreds if not thousands of rounds without anything more then a bit of lube and a bore brushing every now and then. My wheelguns I clean after every range trip.

Any ammo that is so dirty that I feel the need to clean my Glock ASAP before I carry it again is "too dirty." In general shoot what's cheap and accurate, and if you don't like spending time cleaning your guns, buy a parts washer, a dunk-it bucket, or a case of gun scrubber.

-Jenrick

 

[psyopspec]

I've been shooting WWB for years, and never found it to be particularly dirty. That and MagTech are the brands I shoot most often, and I have yet to notice a difference in performance or the amount of residue left behind. If there is a difference, the only reason I can think of that I wouldn't notice it is that I generally shoot 200-300 rounds between one or two pistols in a range session; after that, they're gonna be a little dirty either way.

 

[Kyle95621]

I use the Winchester White Box .45 in both of my Ruger P345's with no jams or serious cleaning problems. Lately, All ive been using are these rounds because of the cheap price. In the state of California ammunition prices have jumped a couple $'s