ArizonaShooting.ORG

I load 4.0 grains of Tite group with a 124 grain bullet and CCI small pistol primers. When I fire this load, I have smoke, not fire just smoke. Outside it is not a problem, but indoors shooting gets really bad. Does anyone else have a smoky area after you shoot this recipe? Is tite group such a slow burning powder?
Thanks
Thom

Coated bullet?
I never had a problem with titegroup smoking. I don't use it anymore for other reasons but it was clean when I did. It's a fast burn or medium fast burn powder

Titegroup has a tendency to burn dirty if the load is weak. I made a bunch of 147 grn. FMJ with a charge of 3.4 grains and it was some filthy smokey stuff. But when I loaded up some Berry's 115 grn. plated RN over 4.6 grains (which is listed as being a higher PSI load), I had no problems. Still not as clean as AutoComp or WinClean 244.

TG with lead will smoke pretty good. With plated or jacketed it's cleaner. Haven't tried it with any coated bullets. My load is 4.2 with a 125 grain JHP and don't have any smoke.

Yes i am using the red lipstick bullets. Thanks for the info. I have loaded all the titegroup that I had at 4.0. I will just have to shoot it up. The next powder that I have is Power Pistol loadings @ 5grains. Same bullets and primers.

I shoot coated bullets all the time and they smoke, but not much, just slightly more than plated and jacketed and a lot less than regular cast bullets.

Funny thing too .. notice if I get the coated bullets moving they smoke less. .357 virtually no smoke at all. same bullet in mouse fart 38 ..more smoke.

I even get changes in batches. I have been ordering the same bullets for over a year and sometimes I get a batch that smokes more than another.

With lead at least, it's the lube that smokes. I've never used coated bullets - do they size them and then coat them, or size them after coating? I would think after. Might just be a function of how heavy handed the operator is with the lube that day?

i don't use lube on coated bullets, my bet is the light load, i use w231 and it can be a little smokey due to light load, heat it up and it basically goes away, but why beat yourself and gun up, range ammo is just that, get the unit to function at required distance to need and load to that.
happy days
Rj

thom wrote: ↑October 8th, 2020, 10:13 pm I load 4.0 grains of Tite group with a 124 grain bullet and CCI small pistol primers. When I fire this load, I have smoke, not fire just smoke. Outside it is not a problem, but indoors shooting gets really bad. Does anyone else have a smoky area after you shoot this recipe? Is tite group such a slow burning powder?
Thanks
Thom

Thom

Try bumping it up to about 4.3gr. I have used this powder for years, and never have that much smoke. But I use plated bullets mostly. But what your seeing with the projectile size as SMG stated is under powered load. 4.3gr runs w/124gr bullet, runs in my FA S&W 76 subgun, all of my 9mm hand guns and my Tavor Carbine. Its a great load. Give it as shot and see if it works.

4.0 is book max with a 124LCN, so probably right under max for the coated. My guess would be TG burning up the coating as it is a pretty hot burning powder, which is why I moved away from lead to plated and then to jacketed for everything. Apparently at least one manufacturer was cautioning customers about using titegroup with their coated bullets.

good rule of thumb for coated bullets is to use cast lead load info, and go from there, just sharing what i've learned and seen
best of luck with it
Rj

Thanks for all the information and help.