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Thread: What do you load with Blue Dot?

  1. #61
    Boolit Master waco's Avatar
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    Never tried Blue or Green Dot.....Only Red.
    Will they do anything special that other powders won't?
    Waco
    The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
    Proverbs 1:7

  2. #62
    Boolit Master
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    I've used it in the 44mag but have moved on to 2400. It's been so long I don't remember the charge I used.

  3. #63
    Boolit Master 15meter's Avatar
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    Second foray into blue dot territory, 22 grains in a 375 H&H under A NOE bullet cast @ 292 grains. Found it in Lyman's manual. First range test was promising, load the next batch @ 24 grains.

  4. #64
    Boolit Master 15meter's Avatar
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    24 grns. Blue Dot in the 375 H&H was stiff recoil for a plinking load, went the other way to 18 grains way more fun to shoot.

  5. #65
    Boolit Master
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    I shot probably 200 rounds of 10.0/Blue Dot/158 LSWC through my Ruger Police Service Six. The reloader who made them (and to whom I would have trusted my life to his last day on this planet) asked me to shoot six of them and let him examine the empties. I shot 5 of the 6 "horseapples" I aimed at with them (which "exploded" in a most satisfactory way), and we both looked at the cases. He explained that he'd shot this load through his S&W M19 .357 with no problem but a friend's Colt Trooper MkIII exhibited flat(ish) primers, and he wanted to make sure he didn't see that with my revolver. I mentioned that the load felt like something I wouldn't wish to run through a K-frame .357 on a regular basis, but that it shot fine, and the primers looked very much like what I would expect from factory

    He had another load concocted withe Blue Dot and 125gr Sierras, but judged them as being too hot for anything but N-Frame S&Ws, Ruger Blackhawks & T-Cs. I honestly believe my humble little PS6 was and is far stronger than the S&W K-Frames or a Colt Trooper MkIII perhaps even as tough as an N-Frame, but he was far less willing to test that.

    It wasn't long after that, that I think ALLIANT put out a disclaimer in which they did not recommend the use of Blue Dot for loads using 125 gr. projectiles in .357 Mag. I never got the full story on it, and my friend passed (in his sleep) before I could ever ask. I always wondered about that, though.
    Does that sound familiar to anyone? <--Serious question, not meant to sound sarcastic.

    I remember remarking to my friend that I had never been able to get 2400 to burn completely in a 6" barrel, no matter the caliber. He told me he hadn't, either, and nodded to the bottle of Blue Dot on his loading bench, saying he was trying to find a powder giving velocities at or near those obtained with 2400, but with far less "outside lighting of the countryside." I think he finally went back to Herco, or one of the IMR-SRs. He passed and his estate was divided before I could secure his reloading notes.
    For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow. Ecclesiastes 1:18
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  6. #66
    Boolit Master DanM's Avatar
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    Gotta like BD in 10mm. In my new Glock M40, 6", 9.5gr gives 1178fps with the Lee TL175 boolit, powder coated and sized thru a .401 die. SD is kinda high at 48fps, but somehow still very accurate. That is the only 40cal mold that I have for now. Lucky for me it works so well.
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  7. #67
    Boolit Buddy appleseedgunsmith's Avatar
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    For my Buffalo Sluggun in 20ga I have a smokeless load that hits 1000 fps. 720 gr bullet and a load of 24.5gr bluedot. Bullet is a solid base modification of Lyman 57730 heavy minie. I tried black powder in it and never got acceptable accuracy so I went to the dark side.

  8. #68
    Boolit Master copdills's Avatar
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    12 ga Lee 1oz and 7/8 oz slugs and 00 & 000 buck

  9. #69
    Boolit Buddy kaiser's Avatar
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    $5.00 a pound is a bargain these days! I use 12.9gr of it for a .45Colt pistol and rifle with a 250 or 255gr cast bullet. This load gives no more than "cowboy" load pressures. Before this, I used to use it for 12ga loading.

  10. #70
    Boolit Master chutesnreloads's Avatar
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    Tagged as future reference

  11. #71
    Boolit Grand Master


    Larry Gibson's Avatar
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    Kosh75287

    "It wasn't long after that, that I think ALLIANT put out a disclaimer in which they did not recommend the use of Blue Dot for loads using 125 gr. projectiles in .357 Mag. I never got the full story on it, and my friend passed (in his sleep) before I could ever ask. I always wondered about that, though.
    Does that sound familiar to anyone? <--Serious question, not meant to sound sarcastic
    ."

    Post #11 will get you to the Alliant warning. After that warning came out and after I had pressure tested Blue Dot in the 357 under 125 gr JHPs and in the 44 Magnum under 255 and 270 gr cast I contacted Alliant and spoke with a technician regarding the "pressure spiking". I reported that in post #28 of this thread.

    I continue to load Blue Dot in the 357, the 41 and the 44 magnums and have chronographed and pressure tested I know not how many rounds w/o a single instance or indication of pressure spiking. What I did find was the pressure drops dramatically when Blue Dot is compressed. I recommend it not be compressed.

    A comprehensive test comparing Hercules Blue Dot with Alliant Blue Dot in the 44 Magnum; 'http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?51566-Blue-Dot-Hercules-vs-Alliant-test

    Here is another thread covering 6 years discussing Blue Dot with more information on the probable pressure spike reports; http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...-Alliant/page2
    Last edited by Larry Gibson; 01-22-2018 at 10:48 AM.
    Larry Gibson

    “Deficient observation is merely a form of ignorance and responsible for the many morbid notions and foolish ideas prevailing.”
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  12. #72
    Boolit Master dougader's Avatar
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    I used to prefer Hercules Blue Dot over W296/H110 in 357 magnum as it got to velocity and accuracy expectations with much cleaner cases and no sand blasting effect on my cases like the ball powders do.

    Have and do use it in 9x19mm, 9x23, 38 Spl, 357 Mag, 41 mag, 44 Spl, 44 Mag, 45 Colt, 45 Auto and 480 Ruger.

    Speer 11 has some crazy hot data printed with BD and although some of my old loads were pretty hot, none were max from that manual. Speer 14, and now Speer 15 are more sane and what I use for my data now.

    Pretty close to finishing up my last keg of Hercules BD, and don't plan to buy any Alliant BD when the current keg is gone. Looking at Longshot, BE86, 2400 and AA#9 to take over those chores.

  13. #73
    Boolit Bub doctorxring's Avatar
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    I get nervous if my Blue Dot stash goes below 5 pounds.

    It is the most versatile gunpowder I've found. I like to
    keep it around for a SHTF propellant if needed.

    I've loaded these cartridges with it with excellent accuracy,
    and as others have mentioned it will get good velocity if
    needed. I generally use it for reduced loads for fun at 100 yards
    in rifles. Not position sensitive and no filler needed or desired.

    9mm Luger, 38 Special, 357 Magnum, 44 Magnum, 45 Long Colt

    223 Rem, 243 Win, 6.5x55, 30-30, 7.5x55, 308 Win, 30-06, 8x57, 45-70

    dxr

  14. #74
    Boolit Master
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    Today loaded some 30/40, .222 and 7.62x54R.
    Plan to load some 30-06 tomorrow.

  15. #75
    Boolit Master

    Rcmaveric's Avatar
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    I have been loading with 2400 in my .357 Mag. I got blue dot for my shot gun and thought why not. Tried a few blue dot loads in my .357. A little stout maybe next rounds a few grains lighter and i might have a winner.
    "Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far."
    ~Theodore Roosevelt~

  16. #76
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    Since 4756 was dropped, I find Blue Dot's pressure curve is well suited to shotgun loads in QUALITY MINT damascus shotguns.

  17. #77
    Boolit Buddy
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    I've personally used it in 40S&W, 357 Sig and 7.62x25; lately I've switched mostly to AA and Ramshot powders due to their metering characteristics.

  18. #78
    Boolit Mold
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    I loaded 9mm with 7.8 grains Blue Dot under a 124 grn Hornady FMJ-FP and chronoed 1240 FPS out of a Glock 17. case was filled to mouth. Book max was 7.9 but could not even get that much in the case. I settled on 7.5 grains to reduce powder spillage and averaged about 1225 fps.

    No buying in bulk is as cheap or cheaper than loading. And I hate chasing brass. Long live revolvers!!!

  19. #79
    Boolit Grand Master


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    Quote Originally Posted by doctorxring View Post
    I get nervous if my Blue Dot stash goes below 5 pounds.

    It is the most versatile gunpowder I've found. I like to
    keep it around for a SHTF propellant if needed.

    I've loaded these cartridges with it with excellent accuracy,
    and as others have mentioned it will get good velocity if
    needed. I generally use it for reduced loads for fun at 100 yards
    in rifles. Not position sensitive and no filler needed or desired.

    9mm Luger, 38 Special, 357 Magnum, 44 Magnum, 45 Long Colt

    223 Rem, 243 Win, 6.5x55, 30-30, 7.5x55, 308 Win, 30-06, 8x57, 45-70

    dxr
    No kidding, I've never owned a gun that I did not try blue dot in, and that includes rifles. I will say I almost never go for the light bullets in a caliber, and that seems where people get into trouble. I don't know why people just love to see those blazing fast 125 grain loads in 357 mag. Use blue dot behind a 150-180 grain bullet, and it is fantastic. I have yet to find an H110 load that is more accurate than Blue dot in a handgun. The only thing I see wrong with blue dot in the 41 mag, is the old data was insane. I've gone up to 13 grains with a 228 grain SWC, and that is plenty hot, it's got to be pushing 35k-40k PSI. I see old data for some bullets like a 245 grain cast as high as 16 grains! I don't see pressure spikes, not in the way that some describe as one shot being noticeably stronger than the next. There does seem to be a zone in almost every loading where velocity seems erratic. I find 10-11 grains to be not so good in 41 mag. It doesn't spike, but velocity spreads are way more than I consider acceptable. I've also not found it to be nearly as temperature sensitive as people claim. I shoot all year, and that includes temps -10F. Velocity sure is lower than summer time, but it's really not much worse than the other old school powders.

  20. #80
    Boolit Master




    EMC45's Avatar
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    Used it in 10MM loads. They were warm.
    You can miss fast & you can miss a lot, but only hits count.

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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check