Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns I need a replacement for Blue Dot in the 41.

I have been using Blue Dot for moderate loads in my SBH and now the 657 Smith. (12 to 13 gr Blue Dot w/ a 210)

Alliant has a while back recommended against the use of Blue Dot in this cartridge and I just emptied my last can of this powder.

My loading manuals show SR 4756, or AL 5, or HS 7 as producing similar results in the 41, ie about 1200 fps with 12 grains under a 210 gr bullet.

Any suggestions?

AA#7 is a good one for moderate to warm loads. Unique for mile to moderate.

If you can get the SR4756 it is one of my favorite powders. 12.0 grains is getting 1250 fps with a 210 from the 4.25" FAs. It is also a great powder for full power loads in all the "Specials", like .44, .38 and .45 Colt..really boosts velocity. Also use a lot of it in 9mm and .38 Super.

ob

When I had a 41 mag, I used H110 with 210gr JHP for many hundreds of rounds with good success. My buddy and I both shot the same load in hunter pistol siloutte. the load was 20.5gr. It might be a bit hotter then you are looking for.

Unique would be my choice

Unique and Universal are never a bad choice, but you'd be close to the top end for them. I'd probably try AA7, 4756, 800X or HS-6 for your purposes.

Depends on what I could find.

Check out some Titegroup. I have been using it in my 41 mag smith and it loves it.

I'm betting HS6 or AA #7 would make you happy.

Thanks for the suggestions. I am fairly sure I have seen 4756 at Cabelas. But that was before all powders became impossible to locate. I will watch for it as well as the alternatives mentioned. Hopefully something will turn up before I use up the 250 rounds I loaded last weekend.

I still have some Unique in the cabinet. I quit using it because I got tired of scraping carbon off of my revolver. (It is new "cleaner burning" Unique.

H110? I burn a lot of H110 (21 gr w/ the Hornady 210 XTP) and I found a can of Win 296 at a local shop last summer. They work well for those 1400 fps loads.

And I burn quite a bit of Universal. Six grains behind a 210 Berry's, crimped just over the ogive, makes a very pleasant shooting practice load at just over 800 fps from my 7.5 inch SBH.

This is something I had never heard about. Could you (or anyone) expand on this information?

Thanks

Apparently there is some published load data out there that is overpressure in the .41 Magnum. There is nothing wrong with using Blue Dot in a .41 but I am sure that is was Alliant's lawyers screaming "liability" which is why the alert was sounded.

Regardless of what powder is used in what gun one should always start low in the published data and work up watching for pressure signs.. It is the idiots who start off with top end loads, don't have a chrono and push the envelope that are the problem children...

Bob

As I remember the warning: "Do not use Blue Dot with light bullets such as 125 gr in 357 mag, do not use with light bullets in 44 mag, and do not use with any bullet weight in 41 mag.

My load manuals show Blue Dot minimums at 11 gr to 12 gr and maximums at 12.5 gr to 13.6 gr with various 210 gr bullets. I have been shooting 13 gr Blue Dot loads which were loaded before the warning came out. I finished the can off at 12 gr Blue Dot with 210 gr Hornady XTP and 210 Berry's bullets.

I am sure enough that they are safe in my revolvers, that I am not afraid to finish off the pound of powder.


I called Bimart (a Pacific Northwest department store chain where I usually buy components), two local Sportman's Warehouse stores, and the Boise Cabela's. None had any pistol powders.

Then I called Cliff's Reloading and Safes in Boise. "Several cans of SR 4756".

"Great! Here's the credit card number. I'll be in Friday to pick up a couple cans."

Current Alliant data still does not list BD for .41 mag or for 125gr .357 mag. It does list 200 gr. .44 mag though.

Gratz on the 4756.

+1 Used BD for 30 years, no reason to quit now.

But there are other good powders available as well; Unique or 2400 are never bad choices, but 2400 is always a dirty deal, Unique is slightly better.

I also like Winchester AutoComp.

MM

Blue Dot...still have most of a four pound can left from the 1970s...still works fine but I never did get the claimed velocities from either .38 Super or .41 Magnum that a lot of other people were reporting. The ONE place it did shine is with the 125 grain JHPs...and now they are telling everyone not to use it for that bullet.

IS...start with 10 grains of SR and work up to about 13.0. Just depends on the gun and bullet. SR4756 used to be a fairly slow burning powder just a little faster than 2400. Back in the 1980s IMR changed the burning rate without bothering to notify anyone to just a little slower than Unique. When I bought a new 4# can and used the loads I had always used I had a lot of high pressure signs... After some inquiries I found out that the burning rate had been changed. From what I had read "Canister SR4756" was the powder that was in a lot of Remingtons factory ammo.

Although Unique is probably my all time favorite powder it has never worked well for me in revolvers past target loads. In semis, .38 Super, 9mm, 10mm, .45 it works great mild or wild. Past 1100 fps I prefer SR4756 and past 1300 fps H110/296.

Bob

Thanks Bob,

1150 to 1200 fps is what I am looking for w/ the 657. That should make a pretty decent top end load for this gun.

Last week, as I was getting low on ammo for the 41, I ran a few 170 Sierras W/ 23.4 gr H110 through the 657. It was much more comfortable to shoot with those hot loads than I had anticipated.