I shoot a lot of Federal Champion 9mm FMJ picked up for cheap at Wal Mart. The other day I saw some Federal Champion .38 Lead Round Nose and got the last box they had. I shot some today, and after only 12 or so rounds, I noted that this ammo was pretty dirty. Lots of powder residue in a very short time encroaching on the side of the cylinders close to the front edges. Made the reloads at the range a bit messy on the hands.

I have only shot one box FMJ in this gun (Model 64-5) and did not notice this much powder residue with the other ammo. The other ammo was PMC Bronze 132gr FMJ. Now, I'm not concerned about lead fouling, as I only shot 24 rounds, and after cleaning, everything is nice and shiny. I just don't like all the powder residue it produces.

Does anyone have experience with this ammo (Federal Champion .38 LRN) that can confirm it is pretty dirty, or is it just my imagination?

Pretty much any cheap Lead Round Nose ammo is going to dirty up your gun. I've shot Remington UMC .38 LRNs and the Federals out of my 686 and every time it's a dirty event. They still shoot just fine and are pretty darn cheap but if you want less work to do after a range session stick with FMJs or JSP and so on.

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S&W 686-6 Plus Pro Series

G, I thought that I was shooting BLACK POWDER! Not your imagination. There were smoke clouds. Bob