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jh45gun
06-16-2008, 12:28 AM
I have heard that blue dot and cold weather do not go together very well. Comments?

454PB
06-16-2008, 12:47 AM
I've heard it to, but never have seen it. Bluedot is one of my favoite powders, I use it in everything from 9mm through .338 Win. magnum. Of course it has a "window" of applications where it really shines, and for me that's .357 magnum to .454 Casull.

I live and hunt in cold country, but I must admit I fired very few shoots where Bluedot was the propellant at -20.

I recall that many years ago, Bob Milek wrote an article about using Bluedot, and he was the one that reported some pressure spikes in very cold conditions. I think it was in Handloader Magazine, and I have every issue since 1972 or so. One of these days when it's too cold to shoot, I'll have to search through that pile of magazines and see if I can find it.

From my personal experience burning many pounds of it over the last 25 years, it has not been a problem.

JIMinPHX
06-16-2008, 01:14 AM
Blue Dot gets to doing flaky things when you try to load it down too far. With full or near full power loads, it seems to do real well in most cases. I don't have much cold weather experience with it.

shotman
06-16-2008, 06:58 AM
blue dot is made to be compressed any slow powder will give problems in a loose load rick

Johnch
06-16-2008, 07:59 AM
I know in shotgun loading
When the temps get below freezing , Blue dot is not a good choice
I got 200+ FPS SD in velosity in a load that had a SD of 40 FPS or less when the weather was 50 degree's
This is on a 1450 fps load

It has something to do with pressures , but I am no expert on it
So I changed powder

John

Tom W.
06-16-2008, 04:26 PM
Never had any problem with it, and I don't use magnum primers. But then again, it doesn't get too awful cold down here....

Newtire
06-19-2008, 08:46 AM
I have used BueDot in .44 mag in loads that were no means compressed=12 grains and 240 grain cast swc. I also used it in .444 Marlin with a mere 14 grains and a Lee 200 gr. RNFP. I also used up to 20.5 gr. (Lee dipper capacity) with a 245 gr. Lyman in the .444 and no troubles. Very good plinker loads and extrememly accurate.

I used Magnum pistol primers in the .44 magnum & Magnum rifle primers in the .444 because that's what I had & didn't know any better back then.

I never ever had a problem with ignition or erratic performance. Since I ran out of BlueDot, have been using Unique at 12 grains in the .444 with same Lee 200 grain boolit---same results.

I heard the thing about BlueDot being temperature sensitive & would also like to know about that.

Not to start a flame but in my experience, I have not seen problems with reduced loads and I have put quite a few rounds thru the .444 using that stuff.

wolfspotter
06-19-2008, 08:11 PM
Bullseye and Blue Dot are my favorite powders for 45 ACP. A 200gr lead swc and 10gr Blue dot was my standard accurate load till the weather got below freezing and I'd get the click, bang.
Switched to magnum primers and backed off to 8.5gr and get outstanding groups, even below zero.

beagle
06-19-2008, 09:23 PM
I lucked into a bunch of Blue Dot once and was loading a bunch of .44 Mags with it. I noticed in cold weather, i'd have pretty good velocity spikes out of it. Not needing that I stopped using it cold weather. I'm not sure if this was an isolated set of circumstances or not but I decided to stop using them in cold weather./beagle

Ricochet
06-20-2008, 10:41 AM
Don't know about Blue Dot, but some double base powders have given dangerous pressure spikes in extreme cold, due to the nitroglycerine freezing and breaking up the structure of the powder grains. At least that's the explanation George Frost gave in his book Ammunition Making.

felix
06-20-2008, 11:05 AM
Sounds like a correct assessment to me too. ... felix

9.3X62AL
06-28-2008, 01:18 AM
I recall Bob Milek's text from the 1970's concerning Blue Dot and sub-zero temps causing weirdness. This was right after the powder was released as a component, and he used it in -35 F temps on bobcats IIRC to get those pressure excursions. My recollection (BIG caveat there) was that the text was in either Shooting Times or Guns & Ammo.

My usage of Blue Dot has been in fairly high-density loads, and I haven't seen any big variance in velocities or in downrange distribution caused by load dynamics. I can induce those targeting anomalies well enough without assistance from a powder, thank you very much. :) I haven't done much shotshell work with it, 90% of my 12 gauge stuff is done with Herco and 1-1/4 oz of shot--the rest with Red Dot x 1-1/8 oz. Yeah, totally Old School, I know.

This here social science major appreciates the explanation of the probable "why" from Ricochet, and concurrence from Felix. You hard science-oriented members are a big help for those of us with moonbeam-and-seance science backgrounds.

selmerfan
06-30-2008, 12:08 AM
There's a bit of a "cult of the Blue Dot" over at 24hourcampfire.com for using it with everything from .223 Remington up to 7mm Rem Mag for reduced loads in these cartridges. I have had great success for plinking loads with it in the .30-06, 2400 fps and a 150 gr. bullet is a joy to shoot and it groups under an inch at 100 yds! If you're interested, just go over there and search for Blue Dot range reports. Seafire is the guy that is doing most of the initial testing.
Selmerfan

chasw
07-20-2008, 09:52 AM
Oh yes, cult of the Bluedot, count me in. One of my favorite powders, but always with mag primers, regardless of the ambient temp. Its a stellar performer in .45 acp, 9mm P and .44 mag. For example, 15 gr under a 240 gr lead boolit in the .44 mag delivers about 1500 fps in a Marlin carbine. It likes to get up into its sweet spot of pressure and doesn't do as well with lighter loads. - CW