Home Forums Reloading Varmint Rifles .223 Blue Dot loads - Favorite bullets?

It's been rather slow around here, so I figured a good old chat about Blue Dot loads would bring out all the opinionated varmit huntin sons o'bitches. Heck, we might even hear from someone who's got experience in the matter.

So what's your most favorite bullet for down loading in the .223?

I've been shooting the 63 grain Sierra with a max charge of Trailboss and that one thumps pretty good but it's getting a scosh loud. Shot some 53 Vmax today with 4 grains of Blue Dot. Wasn't giving up much to the 63 Sierra. A little quieter too. If you were gonna go shoot pests on the sneak so as not to bother the neighbors, which bullet and why?

I've never tried this Blue Dot stuff, so I have no experience with it...

however... if I did, I'd probably reach for the 40 grain Nosler Varmageddon bullets, the ones with the tip.. I'd do so, because they are cheap and that is why I have over 2,000 of them sitting around, waiting for the Spring 2015 varmint season.....

it opens up well on varmints, even at slow speeds...

but I have to question anyone's sanity of using a ShotGun or Pistol powder in a rifle cartridge..... as they told Ralphie: "you'll put your eye out kid..."

What's Blue Dot?

Toooo funny Seafire. Thanks for the laugh..

I plan to shoot some cast 55's in 223 this year, and would like load recommendations for Blue Dot. May try some in 218 Bee too. Could likely get them stepping out of the Bee with BD.

for quiet and effective, go with the Hornet bullets. I have shot up a bunch of the 35 grain VMaxs. They come undone completely with 12 grains BD Down at 10 it gets a lot quieter but still works. The Nosler 35 grain BT lead free works very very well. Kills Porcupines and coons well. The Speer 33 grain HP works about like the VMax.

I do not like the 36 grain Barnes Varmint Grenades. They need too much speed to work well and that makes them too loud. If you run them fast they will kill well though.

223 custom-14 twist
12.0g BD-40g Nosler 3000 fps
14.3g BD-safe max load 3200
14.6g BD-Absolute max load in my gun

I weigh every charge, LARGE flake powder bridges in my Redding powder measure, light/heavy charges

These are not low pressure loads

I've tried a lot of different combinations of bullets over Blue Dot since I first read Calhoons article in the Varmint Hunter years ago. One of my favorites is the Winchester 46 gr HP over 11.5 gr of BD shot out of a rifle with a 26" barrel. Bought a bunch of those Bullets when they were 0.06 cents a piece and still have lots left. Last year I saw a good sale on the black tip Varmageddons so I really stocked up. Can't imagine getting into a thick Prairie Dog town without a 223 & BD loads. Went thru a couple Midsouth bulk boxes of 50gr Varmint Nightmare X-treme last year and they did good also. If you guys think they shoot good out of a rifle give them a whirl out of a 15 or 16 inch barreled TC.

Your mention of Winchester bullets reminded me of why I hate Winchester bullets.

A few years back I grabbed a bunch of Winchester 55gr SP's for pretty cheap. Only problem was they wanted to fall into the case when seated to mag length in my AR. I tried everything and never had any luck. No matter the amount of neck tension, a few would fall into the case and most would easily push in with my fingers. I sent a few 100 back to Winchester and they said they were in spec.

It is pretty obvious to me the canelure was pressed too hard and the bullets diameter compromised everywhere but the base. I can put the calipers on the length of the bullet and it will only touch the base a tiny bit. I can twirl it around in the calipers as if it were on bearings! I tried to do the same to a bunch of other bullets and no dice.

So, I decided I'd try them with Blue Dot and shoot them up in a bolt gun. No joy there either. Seated to touch lands and I still don't have enough neck tension to hold them tight. One in six just falls in the case when seated. I won't be buying Winchester stuff on purpose ever again.

Tried to show the light shining through.


Hanging out.

Seafire......

You are a lucky dog in finding those Varmageddon bullets. I've been looking high and low in all the LGS, mostly high, and have found none. Not even one of those bullets in another caliber. Are you finding them easily over there?

We both like the NBT but I have no experience with the accuracy of the Varmageddon with regard to accuracy. What say ye?

I did notice that those bullets have "unlimited" as the upper end of the velocity range so apparently they are going to stick together at some of those higher velocities.

What is the bullet performance on varmints, say of the jackrabbit and rockchuck and coyote size ?

Well my source has been to buy in bulk from Nosler's Shooter's Pro Shop....

They are close enough to performance on sage rats, to be able to sell minimal difference ( if any ) compared to the ballistic tips..

as far as jackrabbits, about any jackrabbit I have ever shot with a 223, regardless of bullet or velocity, come apart like they have the structural integrity of a balloon...

haven't put one into a coyote yet...shot at a couple at good distances, but evidently missed...haven't nailed a rock chuck with one yet either...

out last year, I have no idea who shot them, but there was some seagulls, and a stray barn owl, that got him by them and they put good holes in them... and killed them on the spot...along with a couple of ravens and crows also...chowing out on Sage Rat guts...

45 gr hornet bullets and 50gr bulk Spitzers. I loaded 12.5gr bluedot under a 50gr bulk spitzer for 2550fps out of my 14� contender. It was mild and very accurate. It was my go to load with the contender because standard loads blew a ball of flame 3-4 feet out the end of the barrel. You definately didn�t want to shoot them across the hood of your truck .

There was very little muzzle blast with the bluedot load out of the 14� barrel and it still killed critters very well. Coyotes, coons, and a few fox fell to that load with minimum pelt damage.

Almost any of the sub-50-grain bullets will work pretty well for certain purposes. It just depends on what you want to do with 'em. If you want 'em to tear things up at lower velocities, instead of just punch a nice hole, plastic-tipped bullets tend to expand most reliably.

By the way, Midway has 40-grain Varmaggedons available now, but they're the hollow-point instead of plastic-tipped version. The HP's don't expand as violently, but they work pretty well, and are very accurate.

Have you guys seen any Blue Dot on the shelves? It seems like other powders are available, you might have to look but they are there. I haven't seen any blue dot in a long time.

Have not seen it here. The thing about Blue Dot is, if a guy has a couple pounds, he's stocked up good.

I have about half a pound left so it wil keep the 222 fed for awhile. Just haven't seen it around for over a year.

I haven't seen it on the shelves, although an email to Ben Ammonette at Alliant told me they are still making it...

I have converted over to SR 4759 as I was able to score a pair of 8 lb'ers of it....and I was getting low on Blue Dot.... I mean I am down to like 6 to 7 lbs of it now...

Ha!

Nice score on the 4759 Seafire. Sounds like its probably going to go away for sure. On my Blue Dot I'm down to 1-5# 2-1# sealed and a started 1#. SR4759 I'm down to 4-1# sealed. Should hold me for a while.

My favorite .223 bullet with BLueDot is whatever cheap bullet I can find and buy a lot of, along with Wolf SR primers, which are also "value oriented"

Blue Dot is a wonderful option in the 223.
I run 13.8 under 40s and it's much quieter and cooler than full-house loads. Depends on what you're :into: I guess.
As for BD pow pow -- thank God I bought that 5 pounder a couple of years ago in between panics. I was just visiting with my LGS proprietor and he's not seen any -- pistol powders are still way back-ordered.
So -- not to hijack the thread, but if anyone has tried Lil Gun in the 223 under light bullets, how about a new thread for THAT? I am sitting on 7 pounds of it, using it in my Fireball but wonder if it would work in the 223.

I've wondered about Lil' Gun in the 223 too.
What loads are you running in the fireball? It seemed erratic in mine, more so in the Lapua brass than the Norma with 40 gr Varmageddon hps.

I lucked into some a few months back - Natchezz had 1lbs in stock, with a 10lbs limit. I only bought five. In the interim, I sold my house and moved into another, and so far haven't had time to sort out a reloading area. Ain't that the way it goes.

I was planning on using up my stock of 50gr Vmaxs and TnTs (totaling around 1200 bullets). I may have overbought on the BD....

Kaiser Norton

Nice to see this thread. I've been wondering about BD loads for a few weeks now. Any loads recommendations for 40-55gr bullets? Might be nice to shoot these instead of 22mag.
Here's an old thread from the campfire about BD that I book marked.

http://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/3008680/all/Why_I_like_BLUE_DOT

Seafire is the God of Blue Dot. But BD is a long-time secret load ever since Jim Calhoon wrote about it in the late 90s early 00s in Varmint Hunter.

I was immediately hooked, like having a hot, accurate Hornet.

I run Blue Dot in my 22BR at 14.4; 223 at 13.8, and Fireball at 10.7 or so. Make sure your charges are CORRECT because these loads are close to full-power, pressure happens quick.

All under 40s or 35s interchangeably, shoots as well as I can in field positions. Won't run a gasser.

starting to lay in a spring supply of 35 grain NTXs, and for the new 20 Practical, the 24 grain NTX.....

those two bullets really rocket with Blue Dot loads...

especially that 24 grainer in 20 caliber... like 3800 fps plus according to the old Shooting Chrony...

Saved for future reference

Same here!