223 Blue Dot Reduced Loads.........

WNC Gun

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Have been seeing some specs floating around on the web about reduced loads in 223 using Blue Dot. Have a Contender Carbine w/ 21" barrel and I'd love to try some reduced loads in this thing for squirrels, Groundhogs etc.
The data I found says to use 4-13 gr. of Blue Dot spitting a 40-55 gr bullet.
Velocity starting somewhere around 1,500 fps if I remember right.
Any experience/advice using Blue Dot for reduced loads? Reason I ask is I have some leftover Blue Dot that I'd like to finish up.
Thanks in advance
GW
 
I have never used blue dot for reduced loads, but there are some here who have, and you will hear from them.

I would just say; You don't want a reduced load for groundhogs. For their size, they take a lot of killing. To stop them from making it back to their hole, takes a full power load, well placed, with good bullet performance.
 
I have been loading some of my .223 Loads with Blue Dot for over a year now. Low recoil, low noise, lots of rounds per pound of powder, and very accurate ta boot.

I mainly use 40gr. Nosler Ballistic Tips with what I consider a MAXIMUM CHARGE of Blue Dot. In my 22" Ruger .223 this load produces 3079 FPS velocity, in a 14" .223 T/C Contender I had this load produced 2980 FPS velocity, and in a 10" .223 T/C Contender I had this load produced 2784 FPS velocity. (This was the absolute best shooting, most pleasant to shoot load I ever tested in the 10" .223 T/C Contender.) In each of these .223's accuracy ranged from 1/2" to 3/4" for 5 shots at 100 yards.

I also loaded some BULK Remington 50gr. Pointed Soft Points with Blue Dot. These chronographed 2550 FPS from a 22" Ruger, and the 5 shot groups at 100 yards were quite consistantly at 1".

I really like these loads for shooting Prairie Dogs. The lessened noise and recoil are very helpful when shooting the amount of rounds fired in a day when in a good Prairie Dog Town. Another plus is that they do not heat up the barrel nearly as quickly as other powders.

It should be noted that these are reduced velocity loads, and not reduced pressure loads. When working with Blue Dot in the .223 cartridge care must be taken to work up in small increments, as this powder builds pressure rather rapidly. Some shooters are even using softer Small Pistol Primers to ensure that they are seeing the pressure increases more readily.

I have a friend that is so intrigued with the Blue Dot Loads in the .223, that that is about all he loads now. With the lighter weight bullets, bullet performance is still quite impressive with these loads. I am planning on trying some 33gr. Callhoun Double Hollow Points, and maybe some 35gr. Hornady V-Max with Blue Dot also this spring.

Good luck. Yes there are a couple of articles on the net pertaining to the use of Blue Dot in the .223 Cartridge. If you need further info, e-mail me at [url=mailto:lgsand@sbtc.net
 
Larry, what would you suggest for some starting loads using Blue Dot and 40 gr Ballistic Tips?.....4-13 gr. of Blue Dot is what I've mostly been reading about. Sound reasonable to you? What would you suggest for Min./Max. using Blue Dot?

Thanks Larry, I appreciate it
Greg


Originally posted by SD Handgunner:
I have been loading some of my .223 Loads with Blue Dot for over a year now. Low recoil, low noise, lots of rounds per pound of powder, and very accurate ta boot.

I mainly use 40gr. Nosler Ballistic Tips with what I consider a MAXIMUM CHARGE of Blue Dot. In my 22" Ruger .223 this load produces 3079 FPS velocity, in a 14" .223 T/C Contender I had this load produced 2980 FPS velocity, and in a 10" .223 T/C Contender I had this load produced 2784 FPS velocity. (This was the absolute best shooting, most pleasant to shoot load I ever tested in the 10" .223 T/C Contender.) In each of these .223's accuracy ranged from 1/2" to 3/4" for 5 shots at 100 yards.

I also loaded some BULK Remington 50gr. Pointed Soft Points with Blue Dot. These chronographed 2550 FPS from a 22" Ruger, and the 5 shot groups at 100 yards were quite consistantly at 1".

I really like these loads for shooting Prairie Dogs. The lessened noise and recoil are very helpful when shooting the amount of rounds fired in a day when in a good Prairie Dog Town. Another plus is that they do not heat up the barrel nearly as quickly as other powders.

It should be noted that these are reduced velocity loads, and not reduced pressure loads. When working with Blue Dot in the .223 cartridge care must be taken to work up in small increments, as this powder builds pressure rather rapidly. Some shooters are even using softer Small Pistol Primers to ensure that they are seeing the pressure increases more readily.

I have a friend that is so intrigued with the Blue Dot Loads in the .223, that that is about all he loads now. With the lighter weight bullets, bullet performance is still quite impressive with these loads. I am planning on trying some 33gr. Callhoun Double Hollow Points, and maybe some 35gr. Hornady V-Max with Blue Dot also this spring.

Good luck. Yes there are a couple of articles on the net pertaining to the use of Blue Dot in the .223 Cartridge. If you need further info, e-mail me at [url=mailto:lgsand@sbtc.net
 
I have been using nothing but blue dot loads in my 14" contender ever since I tried them. I settled on 14 gr of blue dot behind a 50gr sp bullet. These are just fine in my contender but some have mentioned they are maximum, I've loaded up to 14.5 with the same bullet without problems. I get vellosities of 2650fps and they are very consistant in both velosity and accuracy. I get sub inch groups at 50 yards and 1"-1.25" groups at 100 yards. I have used these to take coyote and found almost no pelt damage. They are also very pleasant to shoot they actually have less muzzle blast and recoil than my 10" 22 hornet barrel shooting 40gr V-max at 2600fps with 4227 powder. They are about as loud as a .22WMR.
 
When I originally worked up the Blue Dot load with the 40gr. Nosler Ballistic Tip I think I started at 11.5grs. or 12.0grs. and worked my way up. I started at .5gr. increments, and then went to .2gr. increments when I got to 12.5grs.. I ended up at 13.5grs., and that is what I am still loading with the 40gr. Nosler Ballistic Tips. I am using Winchester Small Rifle Primers with Military LC Brass, and seating .005" off of the lands.

Yes these are super fun loads to shoot, plus a pound of powder goes a long way, 500 rounds per pound of powder or so.

Larry
 
My little Model Seven can only handle 12.5 gr. with the 35 Vmax before primer pockets start getting ruined.

FWIW...

- DAA
 
this reduced load sounds great for turkey hunting with the 45g hornady .224 hornet bullet or the hornady 50 g sire point. i think i will work up a couple loads. is this a clean burning powder? thanks for all of your help. stump jumper
 
These loads are very clean burning. I a rifle unless I had a very specific reason to shoot them I wouldn't. Only use them when worried about noise, but they are the way to go with single shot pistols.
 
I tried some and they for sure are not as quiet as a 22LR, maybe a 22 Hornet and the ones I loaded would not cycle an AR-15.

Clayman
 
I have read so much about Blue Dot with the 223, I thought that I would give it a whirl.

My gun is a Rem 700 with a Hart 26" barrel; Minimimum spec chamber with zero freebore.

I started off at 12.0g; IMI brass, 7 1/2 primer, and 40g Nosler BT. My absolute Max load is 14.6g which is very high pressure resulting in very loose primer pockets. My working safe load in cool weather is 14.3g of Blue dot with the 7 1/2, in the IMI case with the 40g Nosler at 3300 fps. This is also a very high pressure load, but no full length sizing required after firing...IMI is really tough brass.

Couple of notes on Blue Dot:

*Blue dot varies from lot# to lot# considerably. Approach any load you read on the net with extreme caution.
* Blue Dot loads are not low pressure loads
*powder measures will not throw Blue Dot within .3g-.5g Accurately due to powder bridging of flake powder....USER BEWARE!!!
*You may have little bombs on your hand if you work up loads
for 70* weather and let the rounds sit out in the sun at 95* temps!
*When pressures got high, Primer pockets opened up suddenly indicating quick pressure spikes

On a more positive note, the loads were very accurate from 12.0g-14.6g, with the exception of the primers falling out of the cases at 14.6g. At 12.0g, I was getting 3000 fps out of the 40's shooting 1/2" groups at 100 yds, with the 14.3g of Blue Dot, I was shooting 1 1/2" groups at 200 yards, and the load fell apart somewhere between 200 & 300 yards. 12.0 at 3000 fps fell apart somewhere between 100 & 200 yards.

If you are going to throw Blue Dot in your powder measure, I suggest that you throw 100 charges and record the weight of each charge thrown, to determine the spead that your powder measure throws. As for me, I will weigh every charge that I shoot with blue dot, which is what I consider the only SAFE thing to do.

The result of powder bridging with Blue Dot will be high pressure loads that may sieze up the bolt in your rifle or break an extractor.

I worked with Blue Dot for about a year off and on to see the results in all kinds of weather and wind conditions. It is a much quiter, has less recoil, and less barrel heat than regular loads.

I do feel as if working with blue dot is the freekiest thing that I have done in 40+ years of reloading, and certainly has a
VERY high potential of creating a DISASTER to an inexperienced reloader, especally if he uses mixed brands of brass.

While these loads are safe in my gun, they may not be safe in your gun.
 
Ackleyman....
Wow...Thanks for the detailed and informing post on the Blue Dot ..... the powder measure info ...and the pressure spike info....made me really think....


I have been shooting 23 gr Blue Dot in an 8mm mauser with 150 gr bullets... makes the old mauser fun to shoot.... as or more! accurate than anything else I have shot in this old gun.... not much recoil.... chronoed some and real consistent fps shot to shot...made it into a fun plinker.... shooting clay targets at 100 yards with scout scope.

R
 
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