Unburned powder

[Brian Dudley]

Not so much a RELOADING question, but I thought this might be the best thing. I took my 12g 1880 grade 2 lifter with 32" barrels down to the club today and shot a round of skeet with it. First time shooting it much. I was shooting RST lite 1oz loads of 7 shot. Factory loads. I noticed a lot of unburned powder in the bores. What might cause that?

[Dean Romig]

Possibly the ambient temperature and how the powder and/or primer were affected by it?

[Robin Lewis]

Not so much a RELOADING question, but I thought this might be the best thing. I took my 12g 1880 grade 2 lifter with 32" barrels down to the club today and shot a round of skeet with it. First time shooting it much. I was shooting RST lite 1oz loads of 7 shot. Factory loads. I noticed a lot of unburned powder in the bores. What might cause that?

I had the same problem shooting 16ga RST lite shells at the Vintage Cup last year. I had powder build up in the latch to the point I couldn't close the gun. I had to us my pocket knife to get the powder out before I could continue to shoot. The weather was nice, so I don't think it had anything to do with the powder not burning?

[Dave Suponski]

Our friends at RST make a great shell but they do burn a bit dirty. Cold weather will make this a bit worse.

[Brian Dudley]

I have not really noticed this issue as bad in other guns. I doubt that the gun would have anything to do with it. It could be the weather. It was colder yesterday.

[John Campbell]

An oversize bore could contribute. This is not uncommon in old guns that have honed bores. A larger bore allows gas blow-by, reduces burn confinement, and leaves residue... especially with some powders like Red Dot or Clay Dot.

[Bill Murphy]

John's answer would be my choice. RST low pressure loads, together with the large bores, (.750 on some Parkers), contributes to less complete burning of the powder coating. I doubt that the incomplete burning extends to the explosive components of the powder. Call Alex and ask.

[David Holes]

I have also noticed this with my early parkers with oversized bores. So I will assume the bore size is a major factor.

[Richard Flanders]

Good answers. To some degree some unburned powder is the small price you pay with low P loads, especially in the cold. When you shoot in extreme cold keep your shells inside your coat somehow and don't pile your extras on a table. My bbls are a disaster when I shoot up here at -25deg - they look just like black powder burn. I try to put a factory target load through each bbl as my last shot to clean them out.

[Rich Anderson]

Mr. Flanders has hit the nail on the primer. The low pressure loads don't burn as efficiently as their counterparts.

[John Farrell]

The boys at the Greasy Grass episode had the same trouble with the Springfield 45-70 and clogged chambers which made extraction and reloading a problem. And they found it out in June when it was pretty hot on the prairie.

[Daryl Corona]

John;
Were'nt they still using black powder in those 45-70 loads in that time period?

[John Farrell]

Exactly my point. The residue was so thick in the 7th Cav trapdoor guns it was impossible to operate the ejector and the caking in the chamber made extracting and reloading a chore. Reports from the scene in the after action reports told of dead soldiers with no fingernails from trying to extract hulls from the guns.

The caking Brian is talking about is the same problem. It has a way of finding little places to hide that eventually causes field problems.

About 20 years ago I purchased a Browning Double Auto from the estate of a local shooter. The gun showed a lack of care by the barrel pitting on the exterior. The interior of the receiver was so caked I had to use an awl to chip it away in order to be able to clean the gun.

[Dennis V. Nix]

After seeing the battlefield a few times and then reading about it I would not have thought those soldiers would have even gotten off many shots compared to the amount of Indians attacking them. Not a very good day for George and his boys.