Blue dot and .40 S&W not working well

[bdecker9]

Just be careful, I had some Lee book loads that were way too hot even under max w 40 and BD. Got lucky and nothing broke, but was scared after examining the brass on a couple test fires.

[hd09]

I've been loading 7 grs. Blue Dot behind Lee's 175 with no problems in a Glock 27

[bdecker9]

Was just thinking, maybe load is too hot. I'm thinking, one of my book loads (start) was way too hot in 40. Your load sounds kinda hot iirc. Been a year since I've loaded any 40 tho.

[gpidaho]

I've had very good results using 7.5gr Blue Dot under 200gr plated bullets for the 40 S&W, this load was fired in a FN Browning High Power. I'm out of BD but would like to find more. GP

[376Steyr]

6.8 grains of Blue Dot under a 200 gr. cast RFN is the sweet spot for my Ruger SR40. Over 7 grains and it started kicking harder and accuracy fell off. 6.5 grains was softer shooting, but less accurate.

[Bonz]

Nothing but Hodgdon LongShot in my .40's ( powder is currently available at Powder Valley )

[Moonie]

If it ejects and picks up a new round but fails to go completely into battery that points to something other than the powder charge normally. All the rounds in question pass the plunk test?

[dougader]

You didn't say what primers you're using. IMO, a standard spp works best with BD. I also wouldn't start with a near max load like that.

Were your 231 loads using the same powder coated bullets? Just wondering if the diameter of the bullets in your BD loads is larger than the others and causing a failure to completely chamber your handloads.

[geargnasher]

I have shot thousands of Blue Dot loads in my XDM40 with the Lee 175TC boolit.
It works perfectly anywhere from 6.5-8.5 grs....dale

Ditto. Must use a soft lube, though, or it will gum the chamber front end and cause battery failures. I don't know why the PC didn't work with it.

Gear

[Deadpool]

I just PC'd a bunch of 40.. finally excited to load them up. Did the wet method. I have a theory that after wet method but before baking, they can be coated again with the dry method even better than regular dry, and probably without the airsoft BBs.

[Bullwolf]

I haven't checked my cast 40 S&W Blue Dot load with the chronograph yet... But I have measured some 40 S&W JHP hand loads using Blue Dot. Here was the resulting data.

Firearm used was a full size CZ 75B chambered in .40 S&W
Load was 8.4 grains of Blue Dot, using a 175 grain JHP.

FPS
------
1069
1027
1063
1073
1030
1030
1038
1020
1019
1045
1035
992
1006
1075
1068
1036
1005
1065
1040
1059
1007
1017
991
1008
1005
991
1071
1027
1052
1019
1034
1039
1048
------
Average FPS = 1033
Standard Deviation = 25

Blue Dot burned well (clean) for me in 40. My cartridges all fed and functioned fine. I like Blue Dot in the 40 S&W, as long as you don't mind the correspondingly higher powder charges, vs using faster burning pistol powders. You won't accidentally double charge a 40 S&W case using Blue Dot without noticing it, or cleaning up overflowed powder.

My default 40 S&W cast load however uses 4.8 grains of Unique, and a Lee 401-175-SWC boolit. Unique goes almost twice as far as Blue Dot per lb in the 40 Smith cartridge IF you are lucky enough to find any.

(1400-1500 rounds per lb for Unique, vs 780-850 per lb for Blue Dot)

4.5 to 5.0 grains of Unique will do close to the same thing, with a 175 grain cast lead boolit, and a few less FPS in the 40 S&W - while using less powder.


- Bullwolf

[Bongo Boy]

Clays, Nitro 100, Solo 1000...with Nitro 100 being quite possibly the best all-around I think. I've done 155 cast, 180 Montana JHP (absolutely phenomenal), 180 truncated cone (cast and plated), 185 gr hollow point (MP Molds), and 180 grain flat point (Accurate Molds). All seem to do very well with Nitro 100 and that powder is probably going to show up on the virtual shelf long before something like Bullseye does. I might suggest AA2, but a) you're never going to find it, and b) I don't care for it because it won't stay in the cases when the shellplate rotates (flies all over the place like vodka in a Martini glass on a fishing boat).

You can actually go down below 3.0gr of Nitro 100 with a 180 gr cast bullet in 40SW and just have a butt-gusting laugh averaging abut 750 fps. I also show 3.0gr of Clays, Nitro 100 and Solo 100 under a 180 gr truncated cone (Lee), but my notes say I preferred Clays in this loading over the other 2. I think that was a 'feel' thing. My notes also have 4.5gr Solo 1000 making "900-950" fps with a 180, but it isn't clear that I actually chrono'ed that or was pulling the numbers from thin air. I also have 4.0gr of that same powder doing "825-875" fps with the same bullet. As I recall lots of folks over at the Enos forum were loading Solo in 9 and 40 and seems to like it because of low smoke. I don't recall it having a big edge over Clays, but folks seemed to think clays and lead bullets were too smoky for real fast shooting. I'm not that fast.

For more 'realistic' loads, I always liked 4756...but good luck getting that, too. It's an ultra-low flash powder with reasonably good velocities at lower-than-average pressures. Very nice stuff I thought.

There are 2 shotgun powders I have on the shelf that I have yet to use, but I expect they will perform very nicely in 40SW and you might actually find them--E3 and Steel. I think they are both Alliant shotgun powders, and I'd bet they will both load up about like Clays or Solo 1000. Actually I only have E3 on hand...Steel was one I had planned on buying up but then things went to...

[saleen322]

Blue Dot works great in 10mm. In the 40, it would probably work for the heavier bullets but it is pretty slow for a case that size especially with lighter bullets.

[JRR]

I'm loading 6.8 gr. of bluedot under the 180 gr. RCBS round flat point. In my CZ75B SA, I can place 2 mags (20) rounds into a 6" black at 25 yards. The recoil is mild and it still ejects the cases about 10 ft. to the right and slightly behind me. Overall length is 1.135".
Jeff

[leeggen]

I have been using 6.5 to 7.5 (7.5 feels a little hot to me,7is good) of bluedot and a desent crimp on the tl401-175tc. That is from my PX4 40S&W with 4in barrel. crimp is about .040 back from the front ring.
CD

[coffeeguy]

Sorry this took so long, been rather busy and I just haven't had time to go back to the range. It was just that particular gun, barrel was too short and the boolit didn't stay in the bore long enough to build sufficient pressure to cycle properly... Tried the same load of a 4-inch barrel and they worked flawlessly. Someone asked about the plunk test; yes they passed; kept the same adjustments on my dies and switched to Bullseye, worked like a charm...I guess this gun with the shorty barrel just doesn't like Blue Dot. Lesson learned!