Unburnt Powder

[Sig 556]

Gun- Ruger Security Six 357 magnum

Powder- VihtaVuori N350

Bullet- Speer 38cal 158gr semi-wadcutter H.P.

primer- CCI 500 small pistol

Lee Classic Loader Kit

I notice alot of unburnt powder, brown in color, in chamber and barrel.

Is this the Norm?

the unburnt powder was enough to make the cylinder not close proper.
I know this will create a big problem when I load for my Beretta 9mm,Glock 19, and Sig 556.

Thanks for any suggestions

 

[rcmodel]

Unburned powder is usually an indication of too slow a powder, or not enough pressure to get it all to burn.

N350 is slightly slower then Unique, more similiar to Blue-Dot maybe, and probably needs the pressure bumped up there to burn clean.

How much are you using in your load?

rc

 

[CSA 357]

Are you sure its not burnt? Some times a heavy crimp will help this, take some of the powder and see if it will burn, i ran into this with blue dot, and it was only powder skeletons csa

 

[Sig 556]

5.1 grains, sometimes a lil more, 5.5 grains.

 

[Sig 556]

well, it was brown in color and hard in texture.

I will check and see if it will burn next time out.

 

[rcmodel]

5.1 grains, sometimes a lil more, 5.5 grains.

Well, that right there is your problem!

You need to turn up the noise!

VihtaVuori shows an N350 starting load with a 158 grain Speer as:
Starting = 8.3 grains.
MAX = 8.9 grains.

You simply aren't developing enough pressure at 5.1 - 5.5 grains to get it lit.

rc

 

[Sig 556]

Ok RC , Great, I was just going by the Lee instructions, they recomend 5.1 as the starting load and not to exceed 5.8 with this type of powder.

It did sound kinda puny, and not enough ump!

the Vihtavuori bottle does not have any data on it.

 

[rcmodel]

See page 54.

http://www.lapua.com/fileadmin/user_upload/esitteet/VihtavuoriInternationalReloguide2009.pdf

Lee is more concerned with you blowing yourself up with the powder dipper then giving actual clean burning load data.
That's probably just the amount of N350 your dipper dips!

rc

 

[Sig 556]

you are correct RC, that is what Lee dipper measures out to 5.1 grains.

Thanks alot on the Data Link, from what I read , it shows 5.5 starting load to
6.3 max load.

 

[schmeky]

RC Stikes again. He's absolutely correct, slower buring powders need a given amount of pressure to burn efficiently.

I made this mistake with Ramshot's Silhoutte powder. At first, I thought this was not a good powder due to unburned residue in my 9mm loadings. Once I loaded the powder "properly", it turned into a fantastic powder for 9mm. It went from unburned residue (insufficient powder charge) to super squeaky clean.

 

[Sig 556]

I also purchased some Ramshot True Blue in case this V-N350 did not work.

at $35.00 a lb. (local gunshop) you would think VihtaVuori N350 would kickazz!

 

[chunk]

dude, vihtavouri n-350 does kickazz

 

[Walkalong]

Vihtavuori is good stuff, but so is True Blue. I just loaded some Zero 125 JSP's with True Blue this afternoon. That makes for a nice stout load, although other powders can get you even more velocity (along with the flash & blast) if you want.

N350 is right around True Blues burn rate.

 

[rcmodel]

Thanks alot on the Data Link, from what I read , it shows 5.5 starting load to
6.3 max load.

Well, you said .357 in your first post. SO, I gave you .357 load data in Post #6.

But if you are loading .38 Special, you are correct.

rc

 

[ForneyRider]

When I put a crimp on my 41mag loads, I got less residue.

 

[GP100man]

Folks:
i think this thread holds true to almost all powders , sticky??????
i helped a buddy with trying to down load 2400 for 44mag , what a mess!!!!
i just could`nt get him to understand it needed pressure to work!!
i finally got him to switch to ww231, he was much happier!!

GP100man

 

[rfwobbly]

dude, Vihtavouri n-350 does kickazz

+1 on the VV

 

[ArchAngelCD]

I haven't used VV powders but it looks like the charge is too light like the others have said.

From what I've read N350 is kind of a slow powder for use in the .38 Special. N350 is in the burn rate range of AA#7 and Hi-Skor 800-X. You might want to move to a slightly faster powder. You will probably get better results using N320 for target .38 Special rounds or N330 which is similar to AA#5 for hotter .38 Special rounds.

 

[Walkalong]

N310 and N320 are good for .38 Spl, but I have settled on Clays for plinker loads in .38 Spl & downloaded .357. Cheaper and works just as well with the right charge. Clays beat out my long time favorite, 700X, in testing lately. 700X, and others, still do very well, but Clays was my favorite all around performer. (125 & 158 Gr bullets. 140 testing still to come)

 

[ArchAngelCD]

Walkalong,
I also like Clays but I just can't get past it's poor metering at light charges used in .38 Special target rounds. I wish it metered better in my Lee powder measure. That's why I'm sticking with W231 which I also like a lot.

 

[Walkalong]

It meters very well in my Redding 10X. I finally broke down and bought it 4 or 5 years ago and am glad I did. I was using a Hornady pistol measure with the brass bushings before. I would modify bushings to get charge weights I wanted. (15M, 17M, etc) I made a couple of parts so it would dump automatically while mounted on my Projector. The 10X is soooo much nicer, and I can dial back to a charge as long as I am using the same lot number.

 

[GP100man]

on all powder measures powdered graphite goes a long way!!!

GP100man