Unburned Powder 38 Special Short Barrel

[Flouncer]

Just back from the range where I shot 40 rounds of 38 Special reloads. The cartridge was 5.0 grains of HS-6 with a 135 gr Berry's plated flat nose, Ginex SP primer and a OAL 1.55". These were fired from a 3-inch barrel Ruger LCRx revolver and were similar to factory Federal rounds in terms of perceived recoil and accuracy. I noticed a few grains on my hands, then some more on the table where it looked lie someone had used the black pepper shaker. I would gather that some powder is unavoidable and normal. Is this a sign of too slow a powder for this combo or anything else ? - thanks

 

[GLShooter]

You'll never get a complete burn on the short barrel. Plus the cylinder gap allows for some powder escape.

Greg

 

[K22]

What GLShooter said plus, using a firm roll crimp will aid in a more complete burn, just don't overdo it on the crimp.

HS6 is a suitable powder for the 38 Special. However, I prefer 231, which is a flatten ball powder, somewhat faster than HS6 and burns fairly completely in my 3" S&W with 125 grain Hornady XTP's.

 

[6MMsteve]

try Titegroup But really I know nothing about pistols....just how to be dangerous,,,so I sit in my chair and look at the wall...I stay out of trouble....I like TG in my 9mm but I would like to try some 231 also

 

[243winxb]

Speer has 6.8 grs for a +P starting load in 38 spec. Speer data

Its still going to leave a few grains.

I tried it in 38 with 163 lswc .

Has nothing to do with the barrel length. When extracting the fired brass, muzzle up works best.

 

[CJ6]

As mentioned earlier I crimp (fairly heavy) and I also use 231.

 

[DirtySteve]

You want to see un burned powder go to a Police range with concrete floors. When done we swept the bays and well touched a match to the pile on the floor and watched the fire works..

 

[Charliemac]

You never get away with some unburnt powder with some loads. For me Unique is the worst.

 

[Flouncer]

Thanks all. I also have a pound of Winclean 244 which should be similar to their 231 and that is good for 7,000gr/lb/6 gr per load = a lot of rounds. Just got the turret press figured out and ready to rip !!

 

[Rickhem]

You want to see un burned powder go to a Police range with concrete floors. When done we swept the bays and well touched a match to the pile on the floor and watched the fire works..

Same here. We used to have a scout troop, I think they were explorer scouts, come to our indoor range and have a few hours of instruction and shooting. One of the things that they did every year was to finish up by using a squeegee to push along the range floor a bit, make that into a pile, and after explaining that not all the powder burns when shooting, someone would touch that pile off. It was impressive the first time I saw it, and it never failed to get the kids and the parent's attention every year.
I know of at least two local ranges that burned almost to the ground when fires started in the range area, and got too big too fast, probably due to all that unburned powder.