Just took out my very first .45 acp rounds in my springfield 1911 GI. Missouri bullets 200 grain SWC, 12 brinell hardness over 3.8 grains bullseye mixed brass and CCI large pistol primer. Light FCD crimp seated 1.25.

 

I fired 50 rounds. Pretty smokey stuff and by the end of 50 shots my fore-arms were covered in flakes/specs of black junk. Doesnt appear to be unburnt powder though (which would be hard to do with bullseye, anyways!). Very accurate, little/no leading from what I can see after firing only 50 rounds.

 

So....

Why are my arms covered in gunk? The cases dont really have sooty outsides at all. The gun isnt especially filthy, either. Cases dont show preassure signs and I know that i was throwing 3.8 grains not anything crazy high. Should I bump up the charge a bit or should I live with it and be happy with the accuracy? Anyone get the same thing? Maybe its bullet lube...?

It is the bullet lube burning off. Some is smokier than others.

According to Lyman (based on a similar cast 200 gr bullet Lyman 452630) , the suggested starting load is 4.9 gr Bullseye to a max of 6 gr.

 

The 3.8 seems to be a pretty light load. I have had the same kind of soot behavior when I load light.

 

If the load is accurate and you don't get any squibs, what the heck the grime is easy to wash off.

I had the same thing happen to me with Bullseye powder when making 45ACP rounds for my S&W 25-2 revolver. It is a very fast burning powder, and the pressure builds very quickly. My crimp was too light, so the bullet was starting to move before all the powder had been properly ignited. The soot you saw was unburnt/partially burnt powder. Apply a tight crimp when using Bullseye (or any other fast) powder and you should be good to go.

Well i bumped it up to 4.1. Still no leading, still very good accuracy, still very dirty! Chamber is still gunky lookin, still getting big flakes on the arms. Strange, because this load is definatly not very light. I get a good flame at the muzzle, good kick etc.

 

Think its a combination of a relativly light load and a loose chamber? Like, the load is on the cusp of not sealing but since its a loose chamber it still blows by? Im definatly getting bullet lube fouling inside the gun.

 

Thoughts?

Did you apply a heavier crimp?

You may be getting excess flame becaues as Lunker suggests, your crimp is weak and the bullet is moving to early. Kick is too subjective. A hint to me my crimp is off in .45 is that I can see a flash of copper, in essance seeing my bullet. Of course if you have a chrono, you would see lower velocity. Or toss a round in the bullet puller. Takes me about 3 GOOD smacks to pop the projo free. If you do it in 2 light hits......... again subjective but you get the idea.