What are the cleanest handgun and rifle powders? Plus a question on powder attributes

[AMProducts]

Aside from blindly recommending a powder, the question you ask is a bit more complex than it seems. In general, the hotter the load, the cleaner burning it is. This is true for both rifle and pistol. However, certain powders will tend to burn cleaner over a wider series of conditions than another. In general for rifle, IMR type or Hodgdon "extreme" extruded powders will burn cleaner than any ball type (this means H335/SMP735/WC844) will burn dirtier but I would not consider this a good reason for dismissal. Also, fast pistol powders will burn cleaner than slow pistol powders, so unless you're pushing high velocities HS-6 is a dirty pistol powder.

Over the years, I've had good results with titegroup, clays, and HP-38 even though HP can be a bit dirty, but titegroup tends to give me a lot of muzzle flash vs the other two. Since I've been doing more night shooting lately, this is getting bothersome.

If you are trying to fight muzzle flash, moving towards a cooler burning propellant in rifles becomes something of a necessity, the HH335/SMP735/WC844 that are dirty have substantially less muzzle flash than extruded IMR type powders, which is the main reason these are used for loading military ammo.

 

[deadshot2]

Aside from blindly recommending a powder, the question you ask is a bit more complex than it seems. In general, the hotter the load, the cleaner burning it is. This is true for both rifle and pistol. However, certain powders will tend to burn cleaner over a wider series of conditions than another. In general for rifle, IMR type or Hodgdon "extreme" extruded powders will burn cleaner than any ball type (this means H335/SMP735/WC844) will burn dirtier but I would not consider this a good reason for dismissal. Also, fast pistol powders will burn cleaner than slow pistol powders, so unless you're pushing high velocities HS-6 is a dirty pistol powder.

Over the years, I've had good results with titegroup, clays, and HP-38 even though HP can be a bit dirty, but titegroup tends to give me a lot of muzzle flash vs the other two. Since I've been doing more night shooting lately, this is getting bothersome.

If you are trying to fight muzzle flash, moving towards a cooler burning propellant in rifles becomes something of a necessity, the HH335/SMP735/WC844 that are dirty have substantially less muzzle flash than extruded IMR type powders, which is the main reason these are used for loading military ammo.

Muzzle flash? Oh, you must be referring to that 3 foot long blue flame that comes from my rifle barrel Actually, it just seems like 3'

BTW, it isn't just the "slowness" of the powder that reduces flash but also the moderating agents that are added.