True Blue from Ramshot - tried for the first time today.

[BNE]

I'm not sure this is the correct area for this post, but I thought the info should be shared.

I tried to buy some Hodgon Clays or Universal in February. Of course, none was to be found. I saw some "True Blue" and decided to try it. I was looking for something for light loads in .38, .45 and .44. It took 4 months to be delivered.[smilie=b:

I loaded some in .44 Mag today and found the following:

1) It metered EXACTLY same weight with each drop.
a)I tried it with the "Little Dandy" pistol loader and with the adjustable RCBS powder dispenser.
2) I made some with 9.8grs and some with 12.5 grs. (FYI, 9.8grs is below the minimum suggested, but I wanted to see what it would do.)
Surprisingly, I could not feel a difference between the two loads. Although a family member told me that there was a sound difference, so maybe I'm just not sensitive enough to tell.
3) Accuracy was as good as I normally am able to shoot.

4) It burned clean! I only shot 20 rounds, but it had very little smoke and my gun was clean after. (The smoke may have been from my tumble lubed boolits.)

Overall, I was very pleased. :grin: I hope this info helps if like me you can't find your favorite powder in stock, but this one is available.

[7of7]

Thanks for the info. I am also looking to give it a try..

[robg]

8.5g under158gclswc in 357 mag works well, it does meter very well in my lyman powder measure

[cricco]

I've been using it for a few years now. Very snappy powder. Clean burning, and accurate. It's a great all-around pistol powder. Higher velocities are easier to achieve with this stuff. I like it.

[dromia]

I am a big fan of the Ramshot line of powders and would unhesitantly recommend them for most applications.

[DukeInFlorida]

People report dramatic VELOCITY differences in even slight variations in drop weight.
The folks who care about velocity (I'm not one, but there are those out there) don't like True Blue at all.
It's a rather fast burning powder, and fast burning powders typically benefit smaller case capacities.
The tiny ball bearings (powder) are neat to watch. It's a true spherical powder.

I would say that True Blue is, out of all of the pistol calibers, best suited for 9mm.
The container of it that I have left says something about it being suited for small to medium calibers. They show load data (on the container) for 380 auto, 9mm, and 357 magnum.

I first tried some for 9mm a while ago, and liked it. The problem for me was that it was very difficult for me to find locally.

[aspangler]

IO have loaded thousands of rounds of 9mm, 38, 357 with true bluem and love it. I can't get it locally anymore so I am going to red dot. Managed to find two pounds and loaded son 38 and it worked almost as good as True Blue for me.

[mdi]

Yep, another satisfied True Blue user here...

.357 magnum, 9mm, and .44 Magnum. Haven't tried it in much else as my shooting has slowed, and I'm having enough fun with those. May try some in my 45 ACP soon...

[longranger]

Very snappy powder

My experience as well in my .41 Mags. other powders I like better it shoots as good as any other just the snappy thing I didn't like given I have other powders to play with.

[Bucking the Tiger]

I have tried it and love it for .38 Special and .45 Colt. I found I like Enforcer a lot better in .357 Magnum and .44 Magnum.

[rockshooter]

I've been using it in 10mm with a Speer 155gr JHP. It meters like water and is super consistent. Accuracy is good, functioning is fine in a Glock 20. Would be nice to find more loading data.
Loren

[indy durtdigger]

This thread is a little old but I'm sure there are people like me still looking for info like this so here is my recent experience to date. I picked up a 4lb jug of this powder at a price I couldn't walk away from and then ran into a lack of information situation. Despite the age of this powder data can still be limited or lacking and as I slowly update my now 15-20+ year old manuals the best resource I have found has been Lymans cast boolit load manual. So far the only cartridge I've used True Blue in has been .357 mag. and I do believe I will like it BUT my initial experience has prompted me to finally order a chronograph and start over from scratch with the starting loads.
In my initial load work up for revolvers I found the powder to burn completely, be a little smokey and leaves soot similar to Bullseye or Unique. I am sure that those characteristics will vary in different cartridges,charges, bullet weight, and style of firearm. As others have said a quality powder measure will throw exact charges each and every time and the powder is sensitive to minute variations hence the decision to order a chronograph and start over. I was attempting to get 1250fps and knew by the excessive leading (and signs of pressure in one pistol) that something wasn't right. According to the chronograph I was seeing velocities some 60fps above the published max velocity in Westerns loading manual while being .5 gr shy of the max allowable charge.
As said I added a valuable tool that I should have gotten years ago and will start over with an update to this in a week or two.

[Tom W.]

You can download a manual from RamShot. I use True Blue in my 9mm, did use it in my .357 when I had one. As stated earlier, it meters consistently, shoots well, and while not as cheap as Red Dot, Green Dot or most other powders it shoots just fine.

[RedHawk357Mag]

I tried it and was extremely happy with it. Very clean cases, very tight extreme spreads, and really great SDs. Need to settle down and do more accuracy work but better than average with just standard starting loads. Can be loaded in large variety of calibers. And the biggest plus...the loading data from manufacturer/distributor is actual gun barrel length barrels.

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