Home Forums Reloading Varmint Rifles 20 Prac+BlueDot=Poor mans Vartarg?

I've got a bunch of Blue Dot and a hankering to whack some P-dogs this summer.

Anybody used Blue Dot in the 20 Practical?

Poor mans Vartarg without the case prep?

Guess that is a fair assessment....

I've loaded a couple hundred for this varmint season...

12,5 grs with a 32 gr V Max.....

not losing sight picture during recoil, so can see my hits...

Speed?

Run my Practical with a full case of IMR 8208..Benchmark or H4895 w/40 V's

I had a bowl of Golden Grahams for breakfast.

I don't live in California..............................

13 gr Blue Dot had the 32 Zmax whistling 3,300 fps into tiny groups.

I had a .223 Tikka SL I sold a few years ago that I had worked up a Blue Dot load for.

50 gr Zmax with 13 gr Blue Dot.

10 shots just for BSA


I sold the Tikka but had 4-500 rounds sitting here. Ran em through the sizer and FF'ing in a .223AI Shaen built for me. Only 2,700 fps but dang if it aint stacking them too.

Fwiw, full house Vartarg loads are sending 32's at 3,750 fps with 19 or so gr of powder.

Hig , you are going to blow your face off with those loads..... just kidding.... in true campfire fashion I have no experience with a 204 practical.... but Blue Dot and 55gr Nosler in my 243 is da bomb...
So I am an expert....

I run my .243 with a full case of Reloder 26.

With the component shortages, I sure would think Blue Dot loads would be a much hotter topic.

I hear you can use small pistol primers instead of small rifle too.

exact reason I developed and worked up loads using Blue Dot, SR 4759, Unique, Steel and a few other powders that give a lot of shooting per pound of powder...

current load right now with a lot of 40 gr v Maxes using Blue Dot, with an 11 gr Charge is running at 2850 to 2900 fps MV...

for 50 to 150 yds, its just fine for sage rats... good for further out also.... but why go further out when there are plenty within 150 or less...put the cross hairs on it and they explode 1/millionth of a second later... 1 pound of powder delivers 635 rounds..... 2 lbs is almost 1300 rounds...

regular 223 loads, are pretty much over kill in realty.... burning less powder per round, stretches out barrel life dramatically...

IIRC from last season... 32 gr V Maxes out of my 20 Practical ( bolt action Ruger) with 12.5 grains of Blue Dot were running in the 3250 to 3300 fps range..

will head out tomorrow to try my luck again....

Don't know much about the .20 Practical, never heard of it until now. I do know a thing or two about Blue Dot. Thanks Seafire!

5 shot groups

My 243 is an 1/8 twist and most of it's diet is 105gr with a case full of RL26... great minds think alike... but being the loony I am and having several thousand Nosler 55 shot boolits I had to make a pest load.
Double duty save money kinda thing...

DD

as you know now all it is is a 223 necked down to 20 caliber

Built my first barrel in 2007

Dies......Forster BR seater in 204R

Redding 223 bushing dies FL or neck.....bushings in .227"...228" .230"

40 V max come out at 3900+

Fuggin P/dogs hate 'em

prairie dogs don't hate them....

after they get wacked with one.... there is NO Thought in their heads...because they are DEAD....

got to blow up between 50 and 60 of them today over in Klamath County... slow day... pups still aren't out yet...

Seafire,

I'd like to take a moment to point out something that I've had to tell customers a whole bunch through the years.

"I can only kill them once."

Men seem to understand this concept.

Women? Well, they kinda don't like you pointing that out....

I had a chance to buy an 8lb jug of Blue Dot a year or so ago and didn’t, it was pretty cheap too. I had a pound that I’d never used but have since started using in cast bullet rifle loads with small pistol primers because I have a lot of them. I’ve grown to like it but can’t find it now and really kick myself for not getting it when I could. I ended up buying 8lb of 4227, which is working ok but a little harder to light than the Blue Dot.

I bought 5 lbs of Blue Dot 4-5 years ago.

Kinda feeling clairvoyant.

YMMV.

Anybody else find it funny that everyones three shot groups aint schidt to BSA, but post a hummer of a 10 shot group and all is silent?

LOL.

I normally go thru about 10 pounds of Blue Dot per year....sometimes a little more...

I do prefer to just buy it in the 5 pound container.... but those aren't always on the shelves here in Hooterville...

One can never had enough Blue Dot, SR 4759, Unique, and Alliant Steel , or enough small rifle primers....

Under the Brandon Administration, Hornady is still doing a good job of making V Maxes available...and some other varmint bullets I typically shoot a lot of...

I think since Jan 1st, I bought about 10 to 11,000 bullets.....

Seafire,

That is a lot of gut piles!

I hope the 32 Vmax at 3,300 fps from an 18 pound gun doesn't wear me out.

I’m curious what BSA has ever done other than cherry pick group picks and cut down others. I’m pretty sure I’ve never read a positive post he’s made unless it was tooting his own horn.

awwww... you're man enough to handle it..... especially by Californian standards...

only way that is going to wear you out, if hauling that 18 pounds all over the place, unless your shooting bench is the hood of a pick up....

1975 to like 1987 Chevy Pick ups and Suburbans are ideal.... they have a hood that is the size and as flat as a billiard table....

Limit your shots to a 100 to 150 yds and that 32 gr V Max is really going to turn a sage rat into Chunky Tomato Soup....

Was just out about 10 days ago over by K Falls.... most I've ever had, but I had SEVEN bald eagles in waiting on tree limbs and water wheels, waiting for dinner...

As soon as I hit one of those little grass munchers, and it exploded... I had eagles catching them in mid air, and scarfing them down before one of the other eagles got to the little dearly departed....

that was with a 223 and a 40 V Max, with 11 grains of Blue dot, and I kept my shots to 150 yds and under...

must have been some hungry eagles... I've never seen that many watching over my shooting area... I've had up to 5 frequently, but this was the first time I've ever seen over 5 at one time in competition for Dinner time....

After what I've been loading, since I can't locate my 32 pound of Alliant Steel,

I'm down to about 12 to 13 pounds of Blue Dot.... I'm starting to feel kinda naked...

Gotta a huge container of Primers I need to find also....

Moving 4 summers ago, I'm still missing half of my things... so that the wife and my son could have all of their things...

I've moved a lot in life... moving SUCKS...

Seafire,

So, you've misplaced 32 lbs of gun powder and a huge container of primers?

Millionaire/hoarder problems....

LOL

no, evidently someone who claimed to be a friend, and got greedy once Biden got into office.. and came over needing something and then loaded it up and took off with it when I was tied up with something or just went into the house....

Seafire is about $999,999.99 short of being a millionaire....


just buy deals when they pop up... and when democRats AREN'T in office.. when supply and prices are normal or on sale...

but this is southern Oregon... no shortage of drug users, welfare abusers, and people who think being clepto is no problem...

sadly I know many people who will go into Walmart and swipe a jug of engine oil and filter, because they know the store won't stop them, and will not notify the cops, per order from Walmart home office....when they can easily afford it...

its a different mind set on the west coast than I grew Up with...

Just humm the Marine Corps Hymn while you pull the trigger and you'll do just fine...

I remember that Ford Pickup you built putting the Dodge Diesel in it...

a man with those skills can do anything....

I'd varmint shoot with ya any day...

Myself, I am considering putting a muzzle break on my 11 grains of Blue Dot load, with a 40 grain V Max...

the recoil off that is just Brutal.....

I've had to put up with democRats too long around here....

Yeah man, 11 gr Blue Dot and a 40 gr Vmax in a target rich environ would put JeffO on permanent disability! LOL

He could build his own brake though if he could only get the Vmax box open.

One of these days I'll have to run up there and you can show me how the OR boys never miss.

We don't miss... its just sometimes the sage rats don't cooperate is all.....:)

I found Blue Dot in 2 different places. Well, one for sure but may be able to get it from another source for a little less money. The local place has it in 1 and 4 lb containers and it’s 38.73 per pound in the 4lb jug or 43 by the pound. The other place it is 38 per one pound container which is what I’d like to have. I won’t wait too long to find out though, it will disappear on me again.

don't confuse Blue Dot, with IMR Blue...

4 pound jugs will be IMR Blue....not the same powder as Blue Dot.

Blue Dot is an Alliant Powder... and available in one pound and FIVE pound containers...

Be more than happy to have you as a guest Higster.....

can get you out in the fields... I just hope they come out more than they are now....

still a very late spring with the rains... haven't seen the little ones and females out yet... when they come out, the numbers will increase dramatically....

around here the males were out, and then the weather has gone south, and its like early March of so...

I haven't even seen the big males out around my place feels like going on 3 weeks or so....

I've only wasted about 200 or so males so far this season.. and with all the rain, the alfalfa fields is going to get thick and tall real quick....making a little harder to hit them or see them until the first cut happens in late May or Early June....

If you can make it toward Klamath Falls there.... we can get you in the fields....

Yeah man, I might be able to make it up there in June after the first cutting. Let me know.

No confusion here. I called the LGS and asked what they had and that was what they told me. If it was Blue Dot, the 5 lb container will be 31 a pound and that makes it a no brainer!

John, have you ever used IMR blue in the same way you use blue dot?

I called the shop yesterday to see if they still had it in stock. They do so I asked if if was a 4 or 5 lb container. She pulled it off the shelf and said it was 4 lb and it is Blue Dot. I guess I’m going to have to take a drive over this week and see for myself…

Well I am seeing that Alliant has dropped putting their Steel Powder in 8 pound containers, and it is now being sold in 4 pound containers...

maybe the marketing dept and the accounting dept, are trying to make bulk powder to not seem so expensive, while still jacking up the average price per pound...

Traditionally Alliant has been big in the 5 pound containers for quite a few decades...but things change... and I have seen much on the shelves to verify that positively or
negatively...

keep me posted on what you find out if you would please....

just make sure its not IMR Blue..... nothing wrong with the powder, but its not the same burn rate as Blue Dot from Alliant... close but not the same
and in this area, tolerances can be tighter, instead of more lenient.