I've started shooting some 147gr cast bullets using Universal clays (only pistol powder I have) and they are the smokiest ammo I have ever fired.

It's not a real problem but my reloads with Berry's 124 have a very mild smoke to them.  

Is this normal with cast bullets or Universal with cast bullets?  

A lot of that depends on the lube the bullet maker uses.

^^ this

Thanks for the replies.
The bullets are from S&S Casting.  Kinda sounds like their isn't much I can do.
What's the opinions of Universal in 9mm with bullets ranging from 124 to 147?  

I found Super Field to be too smoky.  The lube is important but some powders are noticably more smoky than others and make a bad thing worse.  I use W231 now.

The wax seal ring burns as the
muzzle blast wraps around the
bullet on exit from the muzzle.
It is an unavoidable problem
with lead bullets....

I don't like it either, but I just ran
across 1000 115 LRN's that I will
load for outdoor match use.

Good Luck.

John

About all I shoot is 115 gr. LRNs in 9mm.  4.4 grains of Accurate #2 powder pushes `em out the barrel well but mine are a little smokier than I would like. Lead round characteristic I can`t avoid so not too worried about it. Cheap ammo for blastin at the range.

Lord knows I've tried a bunch of powders and several different lubes with the same result - smoke city.
I kept reading it's the lube, it's the lube so I switched from Lyman's Orange Magic to Jake's Purple. You guessed it still smokey! Everyone says the Lee Liquid Alox is awful but I don't think it's any worse than the other two hi-temp lubes I've tried.

My current attempt to reduce the BBQ smoker effect while shooting is to use a single base powder. I'll find out at the end of the month when I get a chance to hit the range and try out the new loads.

Check out this video of a get together I attended. At the 1:48 mark a guy (red tank top) is shooting my HK with my cast lead reloads and Jake's Purple lube. Now skip to the very end and the last guy is shooting my Mac10 in 45. These 45's are cast lead bullets lubed with LLA, certainly not any more smoke than the Jake's lube, maybe a little less!

Smokestack video

Plated bullets – right?

I shoot Ranier plated bullets all the time with TiteGroup or W231 and see very little smoke.

OTOH, I’ve never shot reloads with any cast bullet that didn’t smoke.  Some are worse than others, but all are bad.

That said, there must be some way of avoiding this.   I’ve shot commercially loaded 38 Special ammo loaded with all-lead bullets and they don’t smoke nearly as much as reloads (cast vs. swaged maybe?).

Shot some 9mm, 122 gr cast bullets today with little smoke.

Using Win brass, Magtech 1 1/2 primer, and Power Pistol.

Starting load to max listed powder charge, no difference in smoke.

The commercial cast bullets had a blue colored lube on them.