Went to the range today to pop off a few rounds of hand loads and noticed a strange scoring on a set of Remington factory loads which didn't show on my hand loads.

One side of the brass is scorched on the factory loads where my hands loads didn't have the same scoring.

The revolver is a 637-2. The factory loads were +P and the hand loads were 50% office load. Maybe have a total of 400 rounds through the revolver. I didn't notice this before but may not have looked.

Any idea if I have a problem with the revolver?

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1375657136.557817.jpgImageUploadedByTapatalk1375657159.733392.jpg

Thanks

I find the same thing with most of my revolvers. The heavier loads expand the brass more and the brass seals the chamber better so less gas leakage. Lighter loads don't expand the brass as much. I don't worry about it, and I don't think you should.

Depending on who made the brass may matter, too. Folklore has it that Federal brass is soft.

Bill

The odd thing here is that I think the OP said that the +P rounds allowed gas to slip by but the 50% hand loads did not. Still, I agree that it's nothing to worry about. Variations in tempers/thicknesses of the brass could be the culprit. I get the same thing with different loads. I never bothered to figure out what type of rounds were doing it.

Thanks guys!

Happens aalllll the time ! Forget about it !

Larry

If you think that's bad you should see what happens with 45 ACP, powder stains from case head to mouth. Not really a big deal, 2 hours in a tumbler will clean the staining enough to size and deprime. After that it's a session in the ultrasonic and then a final polish in the tumbler.

Further proof of the wimpy performance of today's +P ammunition. It really is kind of a joke.

You may all now jump all over me for picking on your manly carry ammunition. (smile)

Dave

__________________
RSVN '69-'71
PCSD (Ret)

After playing with QuickLOAD for a few days, I am now surmising
that a lot of that soot comes from powder that is still burning
when the pressure lowers enough that the case releases from the chamber.
I get a real nice crust on 44 mag full loads with W296/H110 but
mid pressure loads using faster powders that are 90+% burned
up by the time the pressure goes under 5-10Kpsi are much cleaner.
I have always noticed that some loads are dirtier than others but
because QuickLOAD gives you information like how much of the powder
is burned at various points in time or in the barrel, it finally clicked in
my brain that the loads with the big flash (powder and gas burning
in the air) are usually the ones that also leave a dirty case.
It's a lot of fun to play with the what-ifs as long as one doesn't
take any particular loading too seriously.
Another benefit to this particular part of the data is the ability to
model dozens of powders and pick one or 2 that are the most
efficient. They should also be some of the cleanest if my reasoning
holds. We shall see as I try some new propellants in the 445.

So, yeah. It's normal. In fact those look pretty clean actually

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Nemo

That's an interesting thought. You expect sooty cases on low pressure rounds but, like you say, some hi-pressure loads leave burn/sooty marks too.