Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Predators and Varmints Blue Dot fun loads

Hey Guys

Even though I have used it for decades in my .44 Magnum, I am finding myself grabbing Blue Dot for use in my varmint rifles more and more. Where I live most of my shooting is at ground squirrels (whistlepigs) and most folks use just a .22 rimfire to dispatch them. But over the last few years I have had lots of fun ignoring the closer ones preferring to dispatch them at 'outchonder' distances with something like a .17 Hornet, .17 Remington, .204 Ruger or a .221 FB. But ground squirrels are small and easy to kill. You dont need a lot of power but because they are small you do need an accurate gun to take them out with. Since 98% of my kills on them are less than 300 yards or so the .17 Hornet and .221 are great for the task. The .17 Rem and .204 are a bit of overkills. And I have bought quite a few barrels for them both over the years. But lately I sort of rediscovered BD for mild rifle loads. 10 grains of it in the .17 Rem will push along a 20 grain bullet at over 3300 fps and do a fine job at scattering a squirrel. AND very accurate as well. Just yesterday I was at the range with a variety of .17 test loads (20 and 25 grain Vmax, 20 grain Nosler, some old 25 grain Calhoons, and some 20 and 25 grain Bergers and only the Noslers would not give me consistent sub half inch 100 yard groups. I got quarter inch groups with the 20 grain Vmax and Bergers. So....what's not to like about this? The barrel never gets more than slightly warm so no time needed to let it cool between groups. Neat.

The .204 with just about any kind of 32 or 40 grain bullet will do just as well. 3/8" to 1/2" five shot groups are the norm at 100 yards when pushed along with 12 grains of Blue Dot. I just used the CCI 400 primer as I have quite a few of them. 16 grains of BD in my .22/250 with the 40 grain bullet or 19 grains with a 55 grain bullet in my .243 are wonderfully accurate too. And quiet! Muffs still needed but more bang than boom now. I sure like that too.

Anyway, dont be afraid to give BD a try if you want your barrels and brass to last longer and still get amazing accuracy. I think that I am a convert for life now. I really do.

Tag

I converted from IMR 4227 to Blue Dot for most of my varmint loads. But I just shoot raccoons and Coyotes with the occasional skunk at less than 150 yards so I like to put together loads that run 2800-3000fps with 45 gr. bullets. My only snivel is the need to trickle the powder charges of Blue Dot via trickler into the pan of a scale. Blue dot likes to be precisely weighed. On the other hand it is an awesome 45 LC powder and good for moderate 444 Marlin loads.

I dont ever trickle my BD powder charges. I am well under max loads so I just use my old trusty RCBS powder dump like I do for all my other powders. If it is off a tenth or two then no big deal at all. I check to make sure that I dont have any double charges but in 15 or so years since I first started using this powder in rifle cases it has never happened to me. Knock on wood!

BD was my favorite mid power level .44 magnum powder for 20 years at least. Still a good choice. I am more than a little be fond of it but as of late, mostly in reduced rifle rounds. Nice to shoot 50 rounds and never get your barrel hot. I am quite the fan for sure.

I have found in my testing that groups will start getting variation in the vertical with very small changes in the powder charge but you might not be as picky. That and I would never trust a powder measure using Blue Dot. I may be safe but like I said small variations have made a difference in my groups.

I have not ever had a reason not to trust my powder dump with Blue Dot. Over the last 40 something years I guess that I have never not trusted it with any powders of any kind. My varmint hunting partner uses BD in his .223 and I know that he uses a powder measure as well, but not sure what kind his is. But my groups have been tiny in all I calibers that I have tried Blue Dot in and 100% of them have been dispensed by my old Uniflow. I dont recall anyone else having the issues that you have had with it. I just love how well it works for me. I just loaded up another 50 rounds of .204 with it earlier today and every 12 grain charge came out of my dump.

Hmmm I ran a series of charges through a Uniflow dropping them directly into the pan of a RCBS scale and got variations of more than half a grain. Blue Dot is not nearly as uniform as IMR 4227 in shape so I took that test to heart, set my measure a bit light and topping up with a trickler, still do it that way and still get the variation out of the powder measure.

I have to admit that I was a bit intrigued by your findings. So, since I already had Blue Dot in my Uniflow measure I decided to see what happens with me. I was going to do 10 but what the heck- did 20 instead. My garage was 75 degrees but I plugged in my Pact scale and let it warm up for a couple minutes. Then I checked it with test weights it came with and it was right on the money. So off I went.

I "double tap" the handle on my dump and have for over 40 years. Tap twice when I raise the handle and twice on the way down. Aids consistency. And old benchrest shooter got me to do it that way. I loaded 12 grains last time I used it and other then fill the reservoir back mostly full I began.

12.1, 12.1, 12.2, 12.1, 12.1, 12.3, 12.0,12.0, 12.0. 12.2, 12.0,12.0,12.2, 12.0, 12.1.12.1, 12.0, 12.1, 12.2, 12.0

None of them were low and only one of them hit 12.3. Since I am at least a couple grains under max I was more than happy with the .3 over. My groups are incredibly small using the thrown charges and I am more than happy with how they perform on the field on the less than 300 yard ground squirrels which is like 98% of my shooting anyway.

So you use what works for you and I will use what works for me. And for sure, tossed charges of Blue Dot work very well for me an my guns.

I am wondering if my old Uniflow might need some work? I have it filled with IMR 4895 presently for a run of 308 but I may after this do a detail clean of the measure and try it again with Blue Dot. I mean I can live with .3 tenths off at the worst I guess. Normally I strive for perfection.

Nothing at all wrong with being a bit persnickety and striving for the best when it comes to handloading. Especially when it comes to safety. With my little cases such as the .17 and the .204 after I charge them I push length of pipe cleaner down each neck to make sure that all cases are charged and none have a double charge. Piece of mind is wonderful and cheap.

I have an electronic powder dump, a Hornady, but I like never use max charges and, I dont know, just like cranking the powder out with that old Uniflow I suppose. I am comfortable with familiarity are I have been more than comfortable with that Uniflow dump for the last several decades. Good feeling that is.

I have never been completely trusting of powder measures most often using them in conjunction with a scale. But there are many cases like my 4895 load using 150's in the 308 that the powder measure works just fine with. I seldom run max loads either.