[AR guy]

Hey I just went to the range today and shot my 9mm lead cast bullets. I'm using a 124gr RN bullet and 4.0 grs of Tight group with a CCI 500 primer and my OAL is 1.135" I'm shooting my ruger p95 and my son was using his Taurus PT 92. All shot good and cycled real good the question I have is my shells had a good amount of soot on them. And when my son was shooting I noticed what seemed like a good amount of smoke with every shot. He said the same with my gun too. So does the sooty shells mean I have to crimp more? And what about the smoke? Am I doing something wrong?

 

[X Ring]

The soot is usually an indication of light loads, the smoke can also sometimes indicate a light load. Sometimes a different lube can help with the smoke. I’m not near my manuals right now so I can’t check you load. If possible, you could try to up your load and see if things get better.

 

[AR guy]

Well according to my manual 4.0grs of TG is the max load. My accuracy was good.

 

[Alpo]

Were they your cast bullets, or store-bought cast bullets? Because store-bought bullets come with a waxy "hard lube" on 'em, and that stuff smokes like the dickens. If you cast your own and lube 'em with alox, and a lot of that smoke will go away.

I just looked at Hodgdon's site, and 4.0 is the max load, but they are seating them at 1.125, not the 1.135 you used. This deeper seating will decrease powder capacity, and increase pressures.

Soot on the case is normally caused by the case not expanding completely to fill the chamber, and burning powder gases coming back by it. The standard solution is a higher pressure cartridge or a thinner-wall cartridge case, or both. You might try seating the bullet a little deeper and see if that cures it.

Me personally - I wouldn't worry about it. It cleans right off when I tumble the brass.

 

[AR guy]

They were store bought bullets. And the seating, I only made a few at 1.125" cuz when I posted my bullets for comment a few guys said I needed to leave a bit more bullet to crimp. So I seated it just a bit less to crimp better. But I'll try the 1.125" again to see how they shoot. And yeah the soot just came right off when I cleaned them. I just thought it may have been a sign of something badly done. But as far as the bullet shot it was good accuracy and ran thru the gun good, so I just had that soot thing as bad. But thanks for the comments they are always welcome.

 

[steve4102]

Smoke is from the lube not the powder. Well maybe a little from the powder. If you are going to shoot lead, get used to the smoke.

 

[AR guy]

O ok. That's good then. It doesn't bother me just thought there might be a problem. So it's all good, won't give it too much thought. Thanks.

 

[gdmoody]

They hit the nail on the head, every time I shoot cast bullets, I have a smoking problem, but you can't really call it a problem cause it ain't!!