Sooty cases and or scorched cases . What causes each ?

M

Metal god

New member
I've been loading pistol for about a year now and always thought a sooty case meant low start pressure not sealing the chamber . I how ever just read that a sooty case means the powder is just a dirty burning powder . Is it a little of both or just dirty powder ?

That leads me to the next question . What about scorched cases , what does a scorched case indicate ? I only have one powder that does not scorch my 9mm cases and that's Titegroup and only one that does not scorch my 45acp cases and that's HS-6 with 230gr lead RN . I have not tried Titegroup in 45 yet . CFE pistol scorched my 45acp cases all the way down to the extractor groove . Before you start saying try this or that powder . You should know my local powder selection is quite poor . NO bullseye , W-231 or most of all the good stuff so keep that in mind .

When I see sooty or scorched cases I say to my self not a good powder for the application . Is that a correct way of looking at it ?

Two examples of powders that gave me sooty scorched cases . Auto comp and 125gr plated bullets in 9mm , Longshot and 200gr plated bullets in 45acp . I have just put those powders away along with CFE pistol because of it .

I thought I was starting to get a good understanding as to the relation between burn rate and bullet weight for caliber but now I'm not so sure . Thought I'd ask this question one last time to be sure I'm not giving up on some powders prematurely .
 
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I wonder about a soft spring, allowing some ejection before a complete burn. That would vary with powder and load level.
 
Could be a mid to low charge causing the case to not fully expand in the chamber. That being said none of my brass comes out as clean as new factory ammo no matter what charge I use. It doesn't bother me, hey all get thrown into the tumbler.

A caveat, blowback firearms such as my CX4 Storm will really blacken cases as the fired round gets pulled from the chamber before the powder is completely burned.
 
A caveat, blowback firearms such as my CX4 Storm will really blacken cases as the fired round gets pulled from the chamber before the powder is completely burned.
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The to firearms doing most testing is a Springfield 1911 and Springfield XD9

As for charges . The CFE pistol gets scorched cases to the extractor with all charge weights . Longshot and 45 was pretty much the same except only about 3/4 of the way down the cases . As for the HS-6 and 45 . I got some minor soot at the low end but when I hit the mid to upper charge range they cleaned up quite well . Titegroup and 9mm had no soot at any charge . After testing a bunch a pattern started to emerge . Light for caliber bullets did not do well with slower powders .

Then I read sooty cases is just dirty powder burn . It did not sound right but thought I'd ask . As for my concern for shooting powders and or loads that give sooty and or scorched cases . My thought is that my chamber should be getting that same soot and scorch marks . I don't want that stuff building up in my chamber in extended range trips if I can avoid it .
 
Most of my pistol brass comes out scorched, when using my reloads. For whatever reason, I never found out why. Thanks for asking this question, as I've always wondered.

45 comes out the most scorched.

9mm pistol comes out scorched. Shot out of an MP5, not scorched (but they have the fluting marks).

I always load near or at the maximum end, so it probably isn't due to lower pressure.
 
Great question. I've been reloading for a year and had the same thoughts as you. Looking forward to the reloading veterans who chime in.
 
When I see sooty or scorched cases I say to my self not a good powder for the application . Is that a correct way of looking at it ?
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Not really, your brass may have been shot to many times and they have hardened up. That will keep them from expanding out and sealing the bore also, aside from what has been mentioned above.

Most of my 9mms come out scorched on the sides but they are almost past their prime. I'll shoot them until they split.

Loading a little hotter with a little slower powder does help that problem.

Lighter loads, you'll have to get use to it like we have.
 
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