Abnormal black residue?

I've been using 3.8 grains of Bullseye with 185 gr. and 200 gr. Missouri LSWC bullets and after about 100 rounds I get a lot of black residue around the muzzle of the gun and on the exposed part of the barrel near the breach.  I realize Bullseye is a somewhat dirty powder so is this normal or is it a sign that the load could be improved upon?  Also, I've been field stripping and cleaning the gun (.45 ACP Range Officer) after every use mainly because of this residue.  Is this necessary?  If not, how often should it be done?

Edit:  I forgot to mention that the gun cycles fine using the stock recoil spring if that makes a difference.

Normal in my experience.

On the blued revolvers I sometimes shoot, residue from several different powders shows up as dark gray.

AFAIC, "dirty" powder is a non-problem "problem" until it starts interfering with function. Some 1980s-vintage .38 Special +P stuff did do that with S&W revolvers somewhere north of 100 rounds without a cleaning. Not sure that even the ATF at Waco had very many officers fire more than 100 rounds in a session, but then again I haven't read any reports detailing that little item.

beeser,
I'm so busy that sometimes I shoot several matches before I can reclean my Springfield.  Sometimes the entire inside of the slide looks like the Exxon Valdez exploded in there.  Certainly not ideal, but nothing that causes function problems for me.

I shoot the same load, and I find similar residue around the muzzle.


So, my opinion is that anything between clean and Exxon Valdez is OK.

Some of the old-timers on here will remember Joe White.  I once heard someone ask Joe how often he cleaned his guns.  Joe replied that he shot them until they started to malfunction and then paid someone to clean them.  Joe didn't like cleaning, and I'm not far behind him.  It depends a lot on the individual gun, but a 45 match gun can often digest a lot of rounds before either function or accuracy are affected.  When just training I let them go a long time between cleanings.  When a match is coming up I always tried to clean them and then shoot a few rounds before the match.  Starting a match with a pristine gun never felt quite right.

Dr.Don wrote:Some of the old-timers on here will remember Joe White.  I once heard someone ask Joe how often he cleaned his guns.  Joe replied that he shot them until they started to malfunction and then paid someone to clean them.  Joe didn't like cleaning, and I'm not far behind him.  It depends a lot on the individual gun, but a 45 match gun can often digest a lot of rounds before either function or accuracy are affected.  When just training I let them go a long time between cleanings.  When a match is coming up I always tried to clean them and then shoot a few rounds before the match.  Starting a match with a pristine gun never felt quite right.

Thanks for reminding me that I'm a dinosaur. I remember Joe (retired U.S. Border Patrol). One time at Perry when looking at the score board I commented to my wife how the scores were down even for the top shooters. Joe overheard and said, "Considering the conditions, those scores are very good!" Anyway, I remember Gil Hebard saying that a gun should always be kept clean. He said something along the lines that if a dirty gun shot better, then the manufacturers and pistolsmiths would turn out pistols with dirt and grime built in. I clean mine every so often. I've found that some need it more often than others, like some of my .22's. They need a chamber brushing pretty frequently. I think that nobody ever had an alibi because their pistol was too clean. A couple of times a year, I like to detail strip my wad and ball guns. To me, it also is an opportunity to to inspect parts subject to breakage, i.e. the extractor and firing pin stop. While the gun is stripped, I give it a thorough cleaning.

" 3.8 grains of Bullseye with 185 gr. "   This load may be to light & low pressure to burn clean?       You want a lube star on the muzzle. This shows you have enough lube. I feel cast bullets need to condition the barrel. This may take more than a few shots. When bullet fit and lube is working, very little cleaning is needed. i use 50/50 bees wax/alox. But i have never seen  black residue  using my load of 3.8 Bullseye with 200 gr. bevel base at .452" diameter.