[Tommycourt]

Last week during my trip to the range a guy I know down there came out of the bathroom and washing off his arm. I was standing at the gunsmith counter which is next to the bathroom door and exchange courtesies. He was shooting an STI DV (I think) and he said he had to wash all the gunpowder off his arm. He was shooting a 9mm using Independence 115grn round nose bullets. I asked him where the powder was coming from and he said off of his pistol. I went to my lane and he came over and showed me his arm and it was speckled with black powder and and small tinge of brass. He said he thought it was coming from the bore of the pistol. This pistol also has race grooves cut into the nose of the slide. He threw me a box of his ammo and said to shoot it and see what happens. I had my SR1911 9mm and I had no problems. He told me he paid $2300.00 for the gun. I know nothing about these guns except it is a semi auto. Before he left, and after shooting he showed me his arm again and there was a lot of black specks all over. What could be causing this? I might see him tomorrow when I go and just see if he shoots the same pistol and what the results are. Any suggestions?

Tommy

 

[VThillman]

Here's some pics:

https://www.bing.com/images/search?...qpvt=sti+handguns&qpvt=sti+handguns&FORM=IGRE

Several of the pics show side 'ports' in the slide. I suspect relevance.

 

[Oldhand]

I have had hat happen when I wasn't getting full powder burn. Lowered charge and problem went away. But that was reloads.

 

[buster40c]

STI are rated as good guns but I wouldn't pay that much for one. But I am cheap so there ya go. My LGS had me do a shake test of a new $795 STI and an $1100 Colt Gold Cup. The STI was tight but the Colt rattled like an old worn out gun. I don't know if the rattling would affect the accuracy but it sure sounded cheap.

I had no idea STI made that many different guns. I would agree with VT on the ported slide could be cause of the powder residues.

 

[Tommycourt]

Well I need to make a correction here. It was a DVC Carry and he paid $2800.00. I had a chance to shoot it today and was not really impressed. Trigger pull was supposed to be 4lbs. and the length of pull on the trigger seemed excessive. I only put 5 rounds through the pistol, but I didn't shoot any better than if I were using my SR1911 9mm. He also was shooting his Sig 9mm and getting powder "flecks" on his arm. Again he was using Independence 115 grn. brass round nose. It was almost like shooting a reloaded round where the taper crimp was not enough and extra powder was coming through the breech area. I researched Independence and they are made by Alliant Powder who is owned by ATK which is a big government entity. They also make Blazer and Federal rounds. Blazer uses CCI primers, Federal brass casings and Speer bullets. Seems to me that the Independence round is a cheaper version of Blazer although I could be wrong.

I used some Alliant powder loading some .45 cal. rounds and I can tell you that at the time they did not having any loading chart and specs. It just stated that for .45 cal., 8.1 grns. was the max and to start, drop 10% which proved to be a little too much. Now they finally have a loading chart. I found the powder to be hot and dirty so after 500 rounds I gave up using it. I still have approx. 3lbs. of that powder that I probably won't use. I don't recommend it.

Tommy

 

[VThillman]

Seems like I read that DuPont and Alliant were the two big American powder manufacturers back in the day. Alliant provides powder to outfits like Hodgdon, which is a powder blender, not a powder manufacturer. Um, maybe.

One of the old standard magnum handgun powders is Alliant 2400. The Reloder series of powders is Alliant. I've used RL22 in .270 Winchester loads.

 

[spikedriver]

I believe that some Independence ammo is made in Israel and distributed through one of ATK's subsidiaries.
I've got some Indy .223 stashed somewhere, I'll have to look when I get home from Minnesota.

I hadn't heard ATK was government owned. I believe they do currently have the contract to make ammo at the Lake City arsenal though. Geez, I hope it's a private company.

 

[spikedriver]

Seems like I read that DuPont and Alliant were the two big American powder manufacturers back in the day. Alliant provides powder to outfits like Hodgdon, which is a powder blender, not a powder manufacturer. Um, maybe.

One of the old standard magnum handgun powders is Alliant 2400. The Reloder series of powders is Alliant. I've used RL22 in .270 Winchester loads.

Does Alliant supply IMR and Winchester powder also? I know Hodgdon owns IMR and Winchester's powder brands...

 

[Tommycourt]

I hadn't heard ATK was government owned. I believe they do currently have the contract to make ammo at the Lake City arsenal though. Geez, I hope it's a private company.Spike,

I worded it wrong. Alliant is a subsidiary of ATK which is a privately owned company however they are so big it might as well be a government entity. I read the itinerary on them and they are into anything and everything including a humongus amount of work for the government. Probably another one of those companies who get to spend our money on anything they want and a chit pot load of lobbyists.

Tommy

 

[VThillman]

Does Alliant supply IMR and Winchester powder also? I know Hodgdon owns IMR and Winchester's powder brands...

My memory - the decrepitude thereof - mumbles that Alliant may be the only domestic powder maker left. Some of the powder blending companies - Hodgdon and Accurate for instance, buy some powder from 'overseas', in Europe and even Australia. Varget is Aussie powder I think.

If you're going to 'spread this news', you better find better sources than me; sometimes I must dream this sort of stuff.

 

[Oldhand]

Alliant makes Unique, Red Dot, BlueDot and others. Although Unique had a eputation for being a dirty powder, it always was extremely accurate in all my handguns. Only stopped using it when my sources dried up.