I'm old school and am begining to load for my handguns again,.38 special, .44 special and .45 ACP. What are the best, cleanest powders on the market now. All I remember is Unique, 2400, Bullseye, Red Dot, etc.

Vihtavouri propellants are reputed to be the cleanest burning. You will pay a premium for this feature.

Many say: you are going to clean your guns anyway aren't you?

Most decide to pay less for a powder that leaves more residue.

This isn't meant to be funny but, the cleanest powders are the ones that are never ignited, period.

Most folks concerned with this don't shoot too much. If you set powder off by nature there is going to be soot or something. If you use lead bullets it will be worse than with jacketed or plated ones.

If your lead is too soft or too hard, too small or the wrong kind of lube, things are going to get dirty fast!

The Hodgdon line of "Clays" powders are clean burning compared to the ones mentioned above. Vitavhori (sp) aren't all that clean in my experience. I used some N350 behind my normal 160gr LSWC and got smoke like you wouldn't believe.


Unique will be fine at the top end of most loadings. Bullseye ALWAYS works, hence the reason it has been around for over 100 years, same with Unique. If I could only have two powders those would be on the "short list".

I like the Accurate Arms line of powders the best. They are all ball powders that meter wonderfully through my powder measures. Accurate (consistent) charges = accurate loads, most of the time. The Accurate Arms line from AA#2 to AA#9 are my mainstay for these reasons.

Cleaner? Nope, they just work good.

Unique has a new formula that does burn cleaner.
Win.Super Field is the cleanest I have used.

I feel that cleanliness is important only in my match ammo. In these instances I'll shoot over 200 rounds at a time and I generally don't have time to run off to scrub the cylinder between stages. I used to think it was important in street ammo, but now I'm not so sure. Low flash qualities are more important to me now. Clean ammo is nice for practice, but it tends to make me lazy when I don't need to clean my guns after every practice session.

Clays is the best there is for match ammo, largely because it's both clean and cheap. Vihta Vuori is both clean AND low flash, but is very expensive. For this reason I use it only for very serious applications.

Be aware that some powders do not burn cleanly at all and can cause some serious technical difficulties. A good example of this is XMP5744 in the .45 Colt. Yeah, it's very filling and can't be double charged, but the unburned granules often fall into the cylinder stop window and have already completely tied up the gun. It's a great powder for the .45/70 though.

Dave Sinko

If you want clean, shoot jacketed bullets. Like Skip I use primarily the AA family of powders. Nothing meters better, and with 2/5/7/9 in a line in my cabinet, I can reach in and come up with a powder that will excel in most any application. Plus, they're lead bullet friendly and cleaner than most. Don't wear your new white linen suit to the range, though.

No powder is "clean" at low/target velocities. Period.

The fuller the case the cleaner it burns.

Clays is a clean powder, and seems to be THE powder for 45 acp. Every match that i go to, it seems like all of the revolver guys are shooting clays. It's consistent, meters pretty well, shoots soft, and it's easy to get.

Everyone has good things to say about Viht powders, but i don't use them because they are sometimes hard to find, and they are pricey.

I never liked Unique, but then again i haven't used it since Alliant has put "Now cleaner burning!" on the can.

I say find something that works in all of the calibers you plan on loading and something that you can easily get.

Hodgdon Clays and Alliant American Select are both very clean burning and perform great in 45 and 38 at target velocities. I'm sure in 44 Spec. too but I don't load for it.

While some powders are "cleaner" than others, it's a relative measurement - they're all dirty.

Low velocity loads have lower pressure, less efficient combustion and therefore they smoke.

Lube can also affect the smoke content. Soft lube is better than harder crayon type lubes, but the trade-off is smoke.

Go to the higher end of the cartridge you intend to shoot and it will smoke less.

I prefer W231/HP38 as a low velocity propellant and W296/H110 for magnum, with Unique for midrange.

clean burning is usually over rated.
If your loading for an auto that tends to be a bit finicky about a dirty chamber, it might be a feature of merit assuming high volume shooting.
for as long as you can complete a day of shooting as you define it, without a fouling related stoppage ... use what works.

Clean burning is important to me even with a revolver. I've been using bullseye for years, but I would have to brush out my cylinder and clean under my extractor every stage. Just to make SURE that nothing would goof me up on a speed load.

Listening to other revolver shooters at matches, i ended up drinking the kool-aid and trying clays for my 45acp revolvers. It's very clean, and i can get away without cleaning the cylinder for the whole match.

I have yet to try it in 38's, just because i have three ammo cans full of rounds i've loaded with bullseye for steel matches. When that burns up, i'll sure try it in 38 as well.

I have also found that american select is also a very clean powder, and soft shooting, too. Any of the newer powders are clean.

I use mainly coated or jacketed bullets for matches, but i still shoot a lot of cast bullets. When you're shooting cast bullets, clean powders ARE overrated--they are dirty regardless.

quote:

they are dirty regardless.

I agree whole heartily. That being said, it doesn't have to be obnoxiously so. Meaning big lead deposits in the barrel and so forth.

I have shot a bunch of lead in competition and came away with a shiny new looking barrel. The front of the cylinder or up by the forcing cone may be a different matter!


By the way, Pinger, in your picture in your signature, is your off hand in front of your firearm? From the angle we have given to us, it kind of looks like a dangerous situation. Many tactical shooters keep their hand on the chest or stomach until they have the firearm out in front sufficient for a 2 hand grip. If you had been on some of the ranges I have you could have gotten a reprimand from the range officer. I had to tell one contestant that I shot against that he was pitiful to shoot with. I likened it to being on the range with your mom! He got quiet then!

Stopped using Unique, 2400 and Bullseye years ago. Like smith crazy I like the Alliant powders.

I've never really had a barrel leading problem. All of the cast bullets that i've used were bullets that i've cast and lubed with RCBS pistol lube. That stuff works great, but your hands are black by the end of the match.

I was actually moving right to left, and i was going around the barrel. The gun was pointed at the wall until it was out of the way. I try to avoid right to left movement, but on that stage there was no way to shoot it without backing up.
I guess it's hard to tell that the gun was pointed almost to my rear and in the opposite direction of my left hand in a picture that small.