Guys,
I found my old load notebook from years ago and found that I had used lots of Hogdon's Universal in a M29 I once had. My notes (and memory) claimed it was EXTREMELY clean burning with mid-range charges behind a 240gr Lead SWC and (I think) with several different primers.
So, I bought a pound Friday and loaded some .357 rounds with it. 4.0 - 5.0 grains Universal behind 162gr SWC and 168gr Keith SWC using WSP primers. It was no cleaner than Bullseye, which isn't exactly "clean". There were also lots of unburned flakes in the empty cases, cylinders and barrel. I lay an old towel over my sandbags and remember Universal only leaving the mildest brown powder marks from the barrel/cylinder gap in My M29. This time, with both my M66-7 and BlackHawk, there were sooty black powder marks on the towel, with just as much powder residue on the cylinder flutes and top strap as when shooting Bullseye?
Why isn't it burning as cleanly in my .357s as it did in my old M29?
TIA,
Sean
I found my old load notebook from years ago and found that I had used lots of Hogdon's Universal in a M29 I once had. My notes (and memory) claimed it was EXTREMELY clean burning with mid-range charges behind a 240gr Lead SWC and (I think) with several different primers.
So, I bought a pound Friday and loaded some .357 rounds with it. 4.0 - 5.0 grains Universal behind 162gr SWC and 168gr Keith SWC using WSP primers. It was no cleaner than Bullseye, which isn't exactly "clean". There were also lots of unburned flakes in the empty cases, cylinders and barrel. I lay an old towel over my sandbags and remember Universal only leaving the mildest brown powder marks from the barrel/cylinder gap in My M29. This time, with both my M66-7 and BlackHawk, there were sooty black powder marks on the towel, with just as much powder residue on the cylinder flutes and top strap as when shooting Bullseye?
Why isn't it burning as cleanly in my .357s as it did in my old M29?
TIA,
Sean