What’s the big deal with ‘dirty ammo’?

[daniel craig]

So to start:

I don’t shoot nearly as much as some of y’all do. I also don’t do any formal competition shooting.

With that out of the way:

I always here people complain about certain ammo being dirty abs how how they won’t put it through their guns. I’ve shot a few of those brands of dirty ammo (mostly because at they time they were the cheapest) and found that while it was in fact dirtier that other brands it performed just as well (in terms of firearm functionality). Went home, cleaned my guns, put them away and wondered what the issue is.

Is it that people prefer to not not spend more the than 10-15 minutes cleaning their gun or what?

 

[Sovblocgunfan]

“Dirty” ammo means a bit more cleaning to some, a bit more mess maybe. I suppose dirtier ammo *could* introduce more dirt and particles into places of the gun that don’t see regular cleaning, like under the ejector star of a revolver or something.

some may associate “dirty” ammo with “lower quality” or “cheap” ammo that may not function as well. I haven’t found that to be the case at all.

I think in reality the grouse is usually about the extra few minutes’ cleaning.

 

[Demi-human]

I’ve shot a few of those brands of dirty ammo (mostly because at they time they were the cheapest) and found that while it was in fact dirtier that other brands it performed just as well (in terms of firearm functionality). Went home, cleaned my guns, put them away and wondered what the issue is.

How many did you shoot in a sitting?
Round count is always pertinent to cleanliness for me.
All firearms get cleaned at the end, how many shots until that happens is the rub for me, as I don’t clean out in the woods.


Since I can’t reload rimfire, this is where my biggest concern is. It just so happens I can shoot A LOT of 22 in an afternoon.
Power pistol in 45Auto is loud and dirty, in 9mm, a clean and civilized load. I can always change my hand loads, but rimfire I will be choosey and not buy those that I have found to be more foul than others.(Ahem, Winchester, cough!)

Conversely, I have found the few boxes of Winchester USA 45 Auto I have used to be very clean shooting, to the point of scorching the cases blue, while also being inexpensive.
But I’ll take my everso slightly dirtier SWC handloads to those. It’s the same 15 minutes either way. Most of that’s letting things soak in.


I suspect the ones that are worried about it don’t clean every time anyhow.

 

[Speedo66]

I don't know if this qualifies as dirty ammo, but when I shoot my K-T S2K, as a left handed shooter I notice much more sparks and unburned powder in my face coming from the ejection port when I use Russian steel 9mm.

Being the cheap bastard I am, I continue to use it, but prefer the higher priced spread.

Clean up procedure is the same, just more shmutz on the bolt assembly.

 

[twofewscrews]

I actually wondered the same thing until one day I went to an outdoor public range near me to break in my pump action shotgun. I was shooting Federal and Remington game loads, some estate 00 buck, and some Rio slugs, all of which produced no smoke or at least not enough for me to notice. A guy showed up with a revolver and a bullpup shotgun. I think he was shooting Black Aces loads, but I'm not 100% sure on that. Anyway, the amount of smoke produced by whatever he was shooting was pretty extreme. Outdoors it didn't make a difference but in an indoor range it would have filled the place with smoke in no time. Not sure if it made his gun any dirtier then what I was shooting, but there's no way I'd shoot that stuff indoors.

 

[.38 Special]

I suppose it depends on the definition of "dirty". I immediately thought of Unique powder, which does leave behind more of a mess on the gun. I'm not sure it takes any longer to clean, though. The same motions with the same tools are required either way.

On the other hand, I sometimes visit an indoor range with a poor air handling system, and I get tired of choking on my own fumes, so I make up "special" loads for the occasion with Win 231 and plated (rather than cast and lubed) bullets.

Anf finally, I tend to avoid "dirty" .22 rf as well, but not so much because of the mess but rather that I haven't found any of it that is reliable and accurate.

 

[Dewey 68]

I actually wondered the same thing until one day I went to an outdoor public range near me to break in my pump action shotgun. I was shooting Federal and Remington game loads, some estate 00 buck, and some Rio slugs, all of which produced no smoke or at least not enough for me to notice. A guy showed up with a revolver and a bullpup shotgun. I think he was shooting Black Aces loads, but I'm not 100% sure on that. Anyway, the amount of smoke produced by whatever he was shooting was pretty extreme. Outdoors it didn't make a difference but in an indoor range it would have filled the place with smoke in no time. Not sure if it made his gun any dirtier then what I was shooting, but there's no way I'd shoot that stuff indoors.

He was most likely shooting uncoated lead rounds in his revolver and most of the smoke was from the lube. I enjoy shooting lead indoors, as long as the ventilation system is working well. Puts out a nice cloud but disperses pretty quickly in the range I frequent.

 

[twofewscrews]

He was most likely shooting uncoated lead rounds in his revolver and most of the smoke was from the lube. I enjoy shooting lead indoors, as long as the ventilation system is working well. Puts out a nice cloud but disperses pretty quickly in the range I frequent.

Should have been a bit more specific. The smoke was produced by the shotgun not the revolver.

 

[daniel craig]

How many did you shoot in a sitting?

Before covid ammo prices 200-500 rounds in handguns.

 

[Bfh_auto]

So to start:

I don’t shoot nearly as much as some of y’all do. I also don’t do any formal competition shooting.

With that out of the way:

I always here people complain about certain ammo being dirty abs how how they won’t put it through their guns. I’ve shot a few of those brands of dirty ammo (mostly because at they time they were the cheapest) and found that while it was in fact dirtier that other brands it performed just as well (in terms of firearm functionality). Went home, cleaned my guns, put them away and wondered what the issue is.

Is it that people prefer to not not spend more the than 10-15 minutes cleaning their gun or what?

Why do certain people only drive X vehicle?

 

[TacticalSpeed]

Just a minor annoyance for me when I shoot "dirty" ammo as is requires a few minutes in extra cleaning. I'll deal with it for the price

 

[Slamfire]

If your gun is not dirty, then you are not shooting it.

 

[daniel craig]

Why do certain people only drive X vehicle?

Good point

 

[twarr1]

I’ll own up;
I enjoy pretty much everything about firearms and reloading but I loathe cleaning. Shooting ‘cleaner’ ammo let’s me go longer between dreaded cleanings.

 

[beag_nut]

Doesn't dirty ammo usually refer to .22LR? That is what I seem to recollect.

 

[Riomouse911]

Right now it’s probably more of a “Beggars can’t be choosers” situation so “dirty” ammo flies off the shelf as quickly as “clean” ammo does. Folks who prefer a brand that isn’t known to be dirty are using what they can find rather than picking their favorite.

Personally, every gun I own gets dirty when I shoot, so they get cleaned when I’m done. No harm, no foil . I shoot Unique and Bulkseye reloads, WWB .5.56 and 9mm, Aguila and Armscor rimfire…So I’m really cleaning after every session .

Stay safe.

 

[RetiredUSNChief]

It all boils down to two things, I believe:

1. How much do you shoot? (If you shoot a lot between shootings, it could become a functionality problem.)

2. How much do you like cleaning?

 

[FROGO207]

Agreed! The biggest thing is if you shoot a bunch of ammo at one sitting you don't want to have to stop in the middle at some point to clean the crud out and from the action enough to be able to finish the range session with that firearm. Blue Dot in 38 SPL SWC loads were particularly dirty for me with the 1000 FPS max allowance for my indoor range. Some .22 LR ammo will cause failure to feed within 100 rounds in some of my semiautos. Particularly the lead with wax types. Also when I reload having carbon residue on and in the brass makes it much harder to clean. Using 700X in 230 grain 45 ACP ammo and you can reload it three times before the brass looks "dirty".

 

[Tirod]

There's another issue many don't discuss - different action types vary the amount of residue. Amanual or bolt action keeps a lot cleaner as you aren't extracting brass while the barrel is still pressurized. It doesn't blow back into the action. A self loader - AR, HK, .22 auto, most auto pistols - will ALL blow back residue from the chamber into the action.

The other alternative is to never buy cheap import or white box ammo, and that pretty much keeps them cleaner, too. It does often double the cost of shooting, tho.

 

[JohnKSa]

Back when I was shooting primarily revolvers, I remember having two brands of ammo that were quite different in terms of the fouling.

Unfortunately, the load that shot really cleanly was less accurate and had more recoil, while the one that was quite accurate and recoiled a bit less was really dirty.

Neither one was going to foul enough to cut a shooting session short, but the difference in how quickly they cleaned up--and especially in how dirty your hands would be after a shooting session was very pronounced.

 

[P5 Guy]

38 and 44 special I load lead bullets with Unique powder. Can't get much dirtier than that.
Stainless steel revolver almost look like they were Parkerized. Still functioned fine and put the bullets on the target.

 

[drobs]

At the start of most recent run on ammo (early Covid), I bought steel cased Tula Ammo 223 and 9mm for reasonable prices. Grabbed 1k of each. Turns out the 9mm jams in both my Glocks and my friend's Beretta 92. The 223 is even worse, I can fire one shot and then the extractor on my AR15's tears the rim right off the case, leaving the case stuck in the chamber. This happened in 4 different AR15's.

I took the 9mm over to my local gun shop and sold it on consignment. I let them know what issues I was having and offered to sell it at a reduced price. The owner said no way - he just sold some at $1 a round. I said fine and we priced it at $1 a round. All of it sold while I was standing there. I still need to dump the 223.

I mentioned this issue about the Tula 223 on another board and the response was, my AR15's are over gassed. The solution is to either get a heavier buffer or to cut coils off the recoil spring. I have no interest in doing either as these AR15's run just fine on all other steel cased ammo to include Wolf & Barnaul.

Another recent 9mm failure I had was Maxx Tech. This is brass cased ammo. It also jammed in multiple 9mm handguns of mine (Glock and FN Hi Power). I dumped it as well on consignment. However, I had a few boxes left over and found that it works perfectly fine in my CZ Scorpion and Arex Rex Zero 1 (Sig 226 copy).

I have a feeling that Tula 9mm would've worked just fine in my CZ Scorpion. The gun has a straight blow back action. While it's controls are very H&K MP5 in feel with it's charging handle out by the end of the hand guard, it really has more in common with a Hi Point Carbine than a MP5.

 

[RON in PA]

You folks want to complain about dirty ammo? Shoot black powder. You'll do some cleaning.

 

[twarr1]

You folks want to complain about dirty ammo? Shoot black powder. You'll do some cleaning.

That’s why my BP guns usually stay at home.
Although I can get 18 rounds out of the Colt Navy if I wipe down the arbor between cylinder loads

 

[trackskippy]

If your gun is not dirty, then you are not shooting it.

View attachment 1026552

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Same goes for your hands.



I shoot a lot, and most of my handgun loads use Unique. Outside, its not bad, inside, you notice it a lot more, and you get that annoying Unique "taste" in the back of your throat.