Excessive Smoke

[JohnD386]

Just made a few rounds for my 257 Roberts. I used IMR4350 and IMR4064 with 110gr Accubonds. Keep in mind I'm am still very new to reloading. It seemed to me that upon firing there was a excessive amount of smoke compared to factory ammo. Is this normal or have just never noticed it before. It was dead calm with no wind at all. The groups were ok for starting out. About a 1.5" at 100yrds.

 

[nvbroncrider]

Smoke? Out the barrel or do you mean tarnished necks on the cases?

 

[RiverRider]

It's possible you're seeing only a partial powder burn if your loads are on the very light side. Modern smokeless powder needs to operate within a pressure range. I could not tell you what the minimum pressures required for a good burn on 4064 or 4350 are, but I think they need to be pushed up into the 50,000+ psi range to work their best.

During load development on high-velocity centerfire rifles, I have noticed instances where velocity spreads decrease as the charge increased and to me that implies a more consistent and complete burn. I think ignition is the key. The process has to start off "on the right foot" in order to go according to plan.

Then again, maybe your loads are close to factory spec and you just never paid attention to the amount of smoke produced at a dead calm. One thing for sure though, "smokeless" powder isn't really smokeless in many instances!

 

[DrMike]

Smoke? Out the barrel or do you mean tarnished necks on the cases

Good question, Jake. There is always some residual and visible "smoke" with smokeless powder. We are not usually aware, however. It is difficult to envision how much colour you saw in the air, if that is what you are describing. If it was soot on the neck, it is likely due to low pressure that didn't adequately seal the case again the cylinder walls.

 

[Oldtrader3]

The times that I have seen to much smoke generated by a smokeless load was when there is too much gun oil left in the barrel. Gun oil at the temperatures generated by a rifle cartridge burns gray and atomises smoky. It also takes a few rounds to burn it out as well.

 

[JohnD386]

Smoke is coming out the barrel. I did run a few patches down the barrel prior to firing to remove any excess oil from the barrel.

 

[tjen]

During load development on high-velocity centerfire rifles, I have noticed instances where velocity spreads decrease as the charge increased and to me that implies a more consistent and complete burn. I think ignition is the key. The process has to start off "on the right foot" in order to go according to plan.quote]

This has been my experience as well. While I may still have some room for more powder thus velocity accuracy usualy starts to drop of too.

Every powder and cartridge combination will differ and so far I have been loading medium sized cases with medium burn rate powders. 223rem/35rem/358win the 22hornet was simular with the 221rem as a stand out. Still working on it with AA1680 for now than back to Lilgun once I have some good loads developed for AA1680. Soon I will have to shot my 270win V-100 and see how it does/acts.