Why the soot with my .38spl loads?

[H1500308]

See attached picture.

I'm getting a tremendous amount of soot on the fired cases. The three cases on the left are with Unique and the two to the right are with AA#5.

The gun is a Marlin 1894 rifle.

Load data is the following.

The Unique load is:
5.1g
125g Berry's plated
Wolf SP
Lee U-die
roll crimp

The AA#5 is the same except 6.5g.

What's going on....not enough crimp??....do I need to step up the charge??

Thanks

 

[ReloaderFred]

There isn't enough pressure in your loads to expand the case in the chamber enough to make a good gas seal. This is common with light loads.

Hope this helps.

Fred

 

[Dark Skies]

Yup. What he said. I get it a lot in my low-power reloads when shooting my Winchester Trapper on our indoor ranges. People complained my Cowboy Action loads were too loud so I reloaded with the lowest charge available and they always came out sooty. I just gradually increased the load until I got a good compromise.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

Bump that charge up closer to 6.0gr Unique and it will clean up some.

 

[Walkalong]

Or try some 700X, American Select, Red Dot, or Clays. That will do the trick. What velocity are you looking for? I shoot that Berrys 125 Gr bullet in .38 and downloaded .357. I like it.

 

[Randy1911]

Back when I shot CAS, I loaded my 45 Colt very light and they came out looking like I had rubbed them with charcoal. The higher the pressure the better the seal.

 

[redintex]

+3 on the charge. Just bump up gradually toward 6g and you will find your "sweet spot."