7mm TCU and Reddot Powder

[typz2slo]

I have an excess of Reddot and use it in several calibers but have not been able to find a load for it. I have a load using Herco but my supplies are limited on that. Herco works good for a firesizing load and is comfortable shooting. I have Lyman Cast #3 manual and #4 on the way. Anyone have any information on this?

[runfiverun]

I'm afraid anything you do find will be in the 3 maybe 4gr area.
red-dot is super fast in this case, and even the parent case [223] only uses 7-8grs with a 55-60 gr boolit.
tripling the boolit weight but only increasing the bore diameter by .06 is gonna make extrapolating data pretty rough.

[GhostHawk]

I guess you could call me the poster child for reloading with Red Dot. I love the stuff, and it shoots well for me.
I shoot it in everything from the little 7.62x25 Tokerov to my new .444 Single Shot rifle with a whole lot of stuff inbetween.

I have and am leafing through the Lyman 4th Cast manual and I don't think your going to find red dot any where in that section.

You have as noted above a small case volume and a bigger, heavier bullet than the .223.

Personally I would not be afraid to try 5, but only after starting at 4, then 4.5, watching for good accuracy from any given load.
I don't think I would try going above 5.5 without taking very small steps, and intense scrutiny of each shot fired.

I'm doing more or less the same thing with .300BO only mine is in a single shot so I don't have to worry about the action not cycling.
I'm starting at 4 and play with smallest bullets possible, and work from there.

I can not tell you where I saw it, but I have written in my notes to not for any reason exceed 6.5 gr of Red Dot in the .300Blackout.

I have had very good luck with 7 grains of Red Dot behind a 93 gr cast bullet in a 7.62x39 single shot. Hits the same POI as factory ammo at 50 yards. But that case has a lot more volume to play with.

[typz2slo]

I have been shooting Reddot in my 30 30 and it seems to like around 7-7.5gr and my 41mag likes 6gr. May not get too far with this but I figured it would be worth a shot. In the Lyman #3 manual Reddot is used in just about everything but I havent found a good cartridge in size to compare the 7mm TCU load to.

[shaune1022]

I'm using 6 grains of promo powder in my 7tcu with the Lee 130 grain. I have the boolit seated WAY out there to fit the throat. Get a nice sharp fire formed shoulder along with nice rounded primers still. Hope this helps you a bit.

[typz2slo]

I'm using 6 grains of promo powder in my 7tcu with the Lee 130 grain. I have the boolit seated WAY out there to fit the throat. Get a nice sharp fire formed shoulder along with nice rounded primers still. Hope this helps you a bit.

It does and I have both the lee 130 and lee soupcan mold for this caliber.

[runfiverun]

I'm a big fan of red-dot too.
but avoid using it because I wanna save every bit of it for when everything else is used up.:lol:

I'm using 3.5 grs of red-dot and 700-x in the 300 b.o. under the LEE 230gr [bevel base] boolit it's right at the minimum with a sr primer, switching to a sp primer pushes the load too far down and stability issues pop up, even with my 7 twist barrel.
4 grains is a stable load.

[GhostHawk]

TY Run!

I'm not using anywhere near that big of a bullet, yet.
I do intend to try the Lee .312-185 gr GC through it sized down a touch (Sizer currently dropping .3095, been thinking about bringing it up to a solid .310)

[runfiverun]

I'm sizing to 310 but have to keep an eye on brass tolerance.
.0010 is what I need anything larger is too big. [unless I go to jacketed]
with the rcbs 165 silhouette I'm using AA#9 right now and pushing it along to 1300 or so, that is a good combination and very accurate [did I say accurate]
I have a couple of other combinations in mind, a 140gr boolit [from ACE molds] using AA's 4100 and a 120gr spire point from lyman that'll see some AA-1680 or AA-2230.

for your 180 gr combination I'd bet @4,0 grs of red-dot will be a pretty solid performer.
try the different primers too it does make a difference.
sometimes the colder primer and a little more powder is a much better combination in the long run.

[Shiloh]

I have been shooting Reddot in my 30 30 and it seems to like around 7-7.5gr and my 41mag likes 6gr. May not get too far with this but I figured it would be worth a shot. In the Lyman #3 manual Reddot is used in just about everything but I havent found a good cartridge in size to compare the 7mm TCU load to.

From what I've read on this thread, GhostHawk is yor resource for Red Dot. I've loaded 9mm, 38 special a and .45 with it.
I have also loaded .311 round balls in .30-06 with 3.0 grains of it. Good for 25 yards or so. Accuracy falls off severely after that.

Shiloh

[typz2slo]

I havent pushed anything with reddot but my 41 mag. In it, it seems to do like Titegroup. The farther from 6gr in .10gr increments the velocity started to flatline. It seems that 5.5-6.0 was the best load for it and it was an easy shooter as well. So for that cartridge 6.0gr is good enough to hit a 16" plate at 100yds repeatedly. Once I get all my brass firesized it looks like 4gr in the 7 tcu will be a good place to start. I am enjoying the slow cast boolits more than the fast j words. Plus when the boys go to the range they can shoot until their arm falls off and I dont have to take out a loan for an afternoon of fun.

[MT Gianni]

Search out Junior1942 and WC820 in the 7 tcu. It is a very economical load.

[quilbilly]

I'm a big fan of red-dot too.
but avoid using it because I wanna save every bit of it for when everything else is used up.:lol:

I'm using 3.5 grs of red-dot and 700-x in the 300 b.o. under the LEE 230gr [bevel base] boolit it's right at the minimum with a sr primer, switching to a sp primer pushes the load too far down and stability issues pop up, even with my 7 twist barrel.
4 grains is a stable load.
All of the stores carrying powder around here including Cabelas just got a big shipment of Red Dot in along with Bullseye and Unique. My fingers are crossed that the next shipment will have 2400.

[GhostHawk]

4 grains of Red Dot looking good in the .300 BO if that is any help.
Next step is to try the bigger bullets, see what that does. They are loaded, but ran out of time today.
After that I think I will have to try 4.5 and 5 grains.

[JohnH]

TY Run!

I'm not using anywhere near that big of a bullet, yet.
I do intend to try the Lee .312-185 gr GC through it sized down a touch (Sizer currently dropping .3095, been thinking about bringing it up to a solid .310)

I'm using the 312-185 sized at 310 in a 10" 30 Herrett Contender. 5.2 grains clocks 850 fps and shoots quite well. The 30 Herrett and the 6.8 SPC are near equals in case volume. Some are building AR's they are calling the 30 AR HRT, by taking 300 BO barrels and having them reamed out with a 6.8 SPC reamer and using 30 Herrett dies for reloading. This case is good for another 200 fps over the 300 BO in a rifle barrel.

[captaint]

The heaviest charge I throw of RedDot is 6.8 grs. That's in the 41 Mag.

[GhostHawk]

Runfive I do believe you are correct sir!

Started today with some .3095 sized 155 gr over 5 grains and it says "Hey, these are fun"

I need a scope on this gun, red dot simply is not giving me the target accuracy I want.

185 gr next, but I may drop back a touch on powder. I'm not seeing a big POI change between 4 gr and 5.

Lots to play with, which means lots of trips to the range, ohhh my, how terrible! (Tongue firmly in cheek, I'm having a blast)

[runfiverun]

I have been throwing 700-x into the mix with the plain base boolits with some good luck too.

since I have to put a gas check on most of my boolits I figure I might as well put some oomph behind them and usually push them into the 13-1400 fps area.
popper has sent me some recipes he has been working on but he is more interested in getting to 18-1900 fps.
I have a 140gr, and a 120gr mold that just might get me there if I get more time to work with the little gun this summer, it has more bearing length than the 165 rcbs boolit does.
so I guess we will see how it fits the throat of the 300.

there's a lot of combinations these little guy's can use to get us what we want them to do, so getting locked into just a fast pistol powder isn't the only way to get there.
the 300 has a pretty wide range of powders available to it, and at some point I will probably even try AA-2230 in mine.

the 7mm tcu may not have exactly what you want printed out either but by being super careful and reading anything you can find on the cartridge and others similar to it, you can work out some very good loads to suit your rifle.