I mentioned in another thread that I've loaded 50 bazillion rounds of 38 Spl 148gr HBWC over the past 35 years. My first priority is accuracy, but as a clean-freak that dislikes cleaning guns, my second priority is cleanliness. To this end I have experimented with dozens of powders and bullets over the years. Cleanliness-wise, I've never been able to see a lot of difference between various brands of swaged HBWC bullets, no matter what type of lube is used. Powder choice definitely does make a big difference though. To make a long story short, the currently available powders that are cleanest burning in these type loads are VV N310, VV N320 and WW WST, in that order. People note that the VV powders are more expensive than other powders, which is true on it's face. However, if you take the price per pound and divide it by the amount of loads that you get per pound (approx 2400-2500 in this case) and the few dollar per pound price difference becomes quite small.
