My latest .38 special reloads are "smoky"

[tbeb]

I use 158 gr. lead semi-wadcutter bullets and 231 powder and a crimp die.

I used to always use 4.3 grs. of 231 and a bullet with a red lube. Haven't used them in awhile so I don't recall how much smoke I saw when firing them. I know they didn't smoke as much as what I'm using now.

Bullets I'm using now have a black lube. I load them in front of 4.0 grs. of 231 (my wife likes this charge because it recoils a little less). Gosh do they smoke when you fire them! Is the reason the black lube or powder charge or 231?

 

[Edward429451]

That would be the lube.

 

[Quantrill]

Different types and different amounts of lubes will produce different amounts of smoke (and smell). Quantrill