Powder Clouds and shooting ability

[Monochrome]

Lets face it, smokeless still makes clouds of powder.

last week i was out on the line with 100 rounds of remington 130 fmj fp ammunition. The clouds of smoke wafting down range was horrible. Much like shooting a percussion revolver. Just dense clouds hanging in the air.

Today, with unique, same big clouds hanging in the air. Then I remembered something, all ammunition i have shot in the last year is like that. How do you deal with it? I was getting smoke inhalation symptoms with those 100 rounds, but is a mask worth it?

 

[Cadillac Jeff]

Maybe try gulf

 

[Cadillac Jeff]

Golf

 

[Brad]

The smoke from powder is generally minimal. With cast the lube produces far more smoke and odor than the powder. With jacketed I don’t even notice the smoke from the powder.

 

[Jeff H]

HAD to log in for this one.

I realize everyone's physiology is different and that sensitivities to real/physical triggers vary for individuals.

Cigarette smoke makes my sinuses clam up, like right now, even if picking it up from a car ahead of me on the highway. Wood smoke, cigar smoke, no problem. I don't know why but cigarette smoke does it. I honestly do not think it's psychological, but I'm not a psychiatrist.

As far as smokeless powder burning, THAT is one of the most wonderful smells to me in the world. I would be very sad it if caused me an adverse physical reaction. One day, at the Laguna Seca range, between Monterey and Salinas, CA, the wind was coming directly into my face. I was looking forward to the wafting. The most horrid stench was rolling in from the back stop and it was nearly unbearable. I asked the RO about it. "Landslide, from the rains," he said. I asked if there were a bunch of half-buried, rotting sheep out there. "No," he said, "it's the rotting vegetation." I stuck it out, but a bunch of guys left.

@Monochrome , if you like to shoot, and that bothers you that much, get to the range early, gauge the wind and pick a more ideal station, or talk to the RO and see if you can be positioned upwind on the line.

 

[Missionary]

With cigarette smoke it may be the "factory additives" that mess with your sinus.

 

[L Ross]

Lets face it, smokeless still makes clouds of powder.

last week i was out on the line with 100 rounds of remington 130 fmj fp ammunition. The clouds of smoke wafting down range was horrible. Much like shooting a percussion revolver. Just dense clouds hanging in the air.

Today, with unique, same big clouds hanging in the air. Then I remembered something, all ammunition i have shot in the last year is like that. How do you deal with it? I was getting smoke inhalation symptoms with those 100 rounds, but is a mask worth it?

Indoor range? If so they need a better air handling system. Outdoors even big bore black powder cartridge rifles drift away pretty quickly most days.
When my wife and I shot CAS, in those little fake building stages, we shot full BP loads in everything. When we'd get done the timer, scorer, and any spectators would be gasping and choking. We'd often obscure out own targets. It was historically correct!

 

[JWinAZ]

Different smokeless powders have different odors. I can't tell what powder it is by the smell though. Shooting BP on a cool damp morning with the wind coming from down range gets the smoke, and its warmth, back into your face. Kind of nice! The first couple of times.

 

[RicinYakima]

With cigarette smoke it may be the "factory additives" that mess with your sinus.

Sometimes it is the nitrated cigarette paper.

 

[Reloader762]

The only time I notice smoke and smell is when my buddy is shooting cast bullets using Lee Alox lube, can't get him on the PC wagon. Smokeless powder wise, the only powder I notice is IMR-4227 in my 357 Mag. loads, it just has a distinctive smell I pick up on when shooting it.

 

[Monochrome]

Well the thingy is,, i shoot outside in the back yard. The smoke is rather bad. For some reason.

The factory loads I was using were from a megapack of remington 130 grain fmj-fp i bought in 2011. For a princely 109.99. Previous year they had been a staggering 69,00$

It was a windy day, in michigan upon good friday. I was having to wait for the wind to stop blowing my target paper around. I only had so much tape on me at the time and a piece of branch wasnt heavy enough. The smoke was nasty and acrid, I could SEE the plume of smoke from each shot follow the bullet downrange. It was pretty close to percussion revolver smoke cloud. Havent shot mine in a decade but i remember what its like.

My unique loads were the same way yesterday. And the last time i should HP38 they were the same way.

 

[Ian]

My Aloxed .45 bullets used to do that in the stage pits at the IDPA competitions on humid, still mornings. Everyone bitched about the smell and hanging cloud so much that I switched to plated bullets for a while before I lost interest in participating. Winchester white box stuff does stink a bit, but the Alliant powders smell good to me. Not as good a IMR stick rifle powders, but still good.

 

[Jeff H]

....I only had so much tape on me at the time and a piece of branch wasnt heavy enough....

Not to stray TOO far off topic, but a dedicated plastic tool box or tool-tote with tape, pasters, staples, stapler, tape, wire, etc., is a handy thing for range days. Got tired of running back into the shop for this and that and burning up precious shooting time.

 

[Winelover]

I do most of my rifle/carbine shooting with cast, out of an enclosed portable blind. Only two windows open for semi-autos, three with a bolt or lever-action. I use either Lar's Carnuba Red or his 2500 lube. Don't even notice any smoke. Could be because half the barrel sticks out the window. ,Even then, it doesn't obstruct my vision.

 

[CZ93X62]

As a past user of Goex Flaming Dirt black powder, I use that stuff as my baseline for smoke production.

I wish I could smell ANYTHING these days. My sense of smell has been absent for 6 years or so.

Bullet lubes do smoke a bit, but in most of the places I shoot the wind stops blowing for about 15 minutes each year (deserts). In these areas you want a bit of wind when shooting lubes containing beeswax, because beeswax-burning-odors cause Africanized honey bees considerable consternation--and you don't want to be the source of those odors on a still day. Those critters will start a business trip mui pronto.

 

[fiver]

if you slow motion a lot of jacketed loads you'll see all sorts of weird stuff come out the barrel.
burning powder granules, and powder smoke, long before the bullet hits the air.
it amplifies your recognition that all barrels ain't the proper diameter by a long shot.

i used to purposely use 50-50 lube with unique for cowboy shooting.
stuff smoked like black powder, a couple of guys complained so i invented ass crack sweat lube [made with soy type candle wax]
they asked me to go back.

 

[Monochrome]

if you slow motion a lot of jacketed loads you'll see all sorts of weird stuff come out the barrel.
burning powder granules, and powder smoke, long before the bullet hits the air.
it amplifies your recognition that all barrels ain't the proper diameter by a long shot.

i used to purposely use 50-50 lube with unique for cowboy shooting.
stuff smoked like black powder, a couple of guys complained so i invented ass crack sweat lube [made with soy type candle wax]
they asked me to go back.

Thats a big issue with the plastic sabots used for modern muzzle loaders. When i first started out using them back in 2001, I was getting bad groups until i was shooting in bad light and someone pointed out that there was a small spurt of gases and smoke coming out the barrel BEFORE the projectile did on their video camera.