Home Forums Reloading Varmint Rifles Blue Dot Load Disaster

I look forward to hear on how they work out for you pappy.

Maybe if that’s the only rifle one had and you wanted to squirrel hunt with it, that’s a possible reason…. :-)

I’ve always wanted to shoot cast bullets in my Centerfire 22’s, 222, 223 and 22-250. I bought a mold, cast them, gas checked them, powder coated them, sized them again and started playing around. The absolute best I could get any of them to group was 2 moa on the best day and they were never consistent. 22 caliber cast bullets are a pain from casting to loading and I finally decided it wasn’t worth wasting the primers trying to get them to shoot accurately. Afterall, I have 10’s of thousands of rimfire 22 and 17M2 and these cast 22 loads weren’t doing anything my rimfires weren’t already doing with much less time, effort and cost. Yeah, it was kind of fun playing around with them but it soon got too frustrating tying to get them to shoot accurately. Maybe if I get really bored this winter I’ll try again but that’s a big maybe.

Well after knowingly putting well over a 100,000 rounds down range with Blue Dot loads in rifle cases from 17 Fireball to 338 Win Mag, to 444 Marlin & a 45/70, I always like to ask a simple questions of the critics of using this powder, in a rifle case?

How many shots have you fired down range with any safe Blue Dot loads, or are you sharing your assumption, that you are smarter than anyone else who has used these loads, and you just know better....

What is an opinion worth, if you never tried what you are criticizing?

I know what my level of experience is with these loads and why I shoot them.. at the top of the list is that they work and stretch out both your barrel life and your wallet. I've got accurate barrels that have fired 30 and 40,000 rounds down the barrel and are still accurate.. say minute of sage rat or prairie dog at 200 plus yards.... and in a 223, can give you 500 plus rounds out of a pound of powder in a 223 or smaller...

Most critics of Blue Dot in rifle cartridges never worked with it or even pulled the trigger using it....

be like me saying I know Finnish powder is unsafe and totally useless .. how do I know? Because I've never tried it..
So that should make me pretty smart right?

Finally saw some blue dot show up at Scheels, it’s over $50 a pound, no thanks.

Looks like I missed all the fun.A little rant sure spices up the reloading forum Have about 101 rebuttals to those statements but don't
want to reignite the issue . ( no pun intended ) Just want to say experience is the best teacher and I'm going to make sure I hold on
to the handrail when I go down to reload and look both ways before crossing the street and use my jack stands when doing an oil change
and use extreme caution when removing the seed from an avacado . OK enough said.
Probably still use AA2 and True Blue for my handgun loads though . Heard those can be double loaded too. Sorry ! I'll stop now

Don't assume True Blue is an equivalent of Blue Dot, or a good substitute.

I tried a pound, I have'nt finished that pound for rifle shooting, and haven't bought its replacement.

Last 16 pounds I bought earlier this year, was in 4 pound containers ( shrunk down from 5 pound containers )
bought them at Sportsman's Warehouse here in Oregon. With a military discount, I paid $113.00 for each one,
but was limit to one purchase a day. So I checked back each week for a month and they had a new one on the shelf,
so that one came home with me also....

So 16 pounds, that I average 500 rounds out of a pound of Blue Dot or more, depending upon bullet used
( we're talking 223 here )... that will last me for more than 8,000 trigger pulls.

Add that to the 12 pounds or so that I had before I found those on the shelves... I should be good for quiet a while.

No sir , the thought never crossed my mind . Load those in 32 H&R mag and maybe someday 327 Federal ( ahem Starline )
AA2 for 32 range loads and True Blue for Henry 327 someday ( ahem Starline )
Chose those after a lot of studying and used Bryan Pierce Pet loads for lack of other good resources.
The AA2 works as advertised. The True Blue needs work. My first 32 H&R TB load 5.5 grains ( mid range ) produced a pierced
primer. But that is a story for another thread. Like the sights on my Charter Arms Professional. ( another project )
As you might be aware I also load 308 Win . Use IMR 4198 for range loads and Varget for more serious stuff .
Started reloading as an older guy hobby at it for less than a year. ( learned much )
By the way my system for handgun loads is to place primed cases with primer facing upward until charged .
It's really hard to double load them that way