Reloading .38spl with Blue Dot. Question!

[Rube Burrows]

Im just curious what people load their .38s to with Blue Dot?

I have been using 158 grain RNFP bullets for my son and loading them to 5.9 grains which is the sugg. starting grains in the Lyman book I have.

I was told this weekend that I should lighten the load for him to help him with recoil. He shoots the guns fine but I obviously want to help him any way I can.

Eventually I will prob. change the powder to Trail Boss since that is what I use in my 45s but I would like to use the rest of this Blue Dot I have.

feel free to PM me if you dont want to publish your potion.

I just dont want to risk Squibs.

[Crow Choker]

I've used Blue Dot alot for 357 Mag loads and 125-145 grain jacketed bullets. Nice powder for that application. Sorry, never have loaded 38 Spec with it. I have read that Blue Dot is erratic in cold weather. Read this back in the 80's in Shooting Times magazine. Check Alliants powder recomendations or Lyman's Cast Bullet Manual, should get your needed info there.

[August]

Blue Dot is one of the very slowest pistol powders.  Not very good for reduced loads.  I, personally, would caution you not to go below laboratory minimums.  Slow burning powders can do some whacky things when pressure gets low.  This is especially the case during Winter months, when ammo is required to work in harsh conditions.

I have used several different powders over the years in the .38 special and now use Titegroup exclusively.  It is very consistent on hot and cold days and meters very consistently too.  It is NOT for heavy loads.   It only works for target intensity loads. 

Hodgdon has convinced me that their "extreme" powders make a significant, real-world difference in reloads.

[Lumpy Grits]

Blue Dot and .38 Special do NOT go well.
Now in 9MM & .40 S&W is where BD is great
Cheers,
LG

[Crow Choker]

August and Grits are right. For the reduced lighter loads in 38 Spec you want for your son, there are a whole variety of powders available that would have 'much' better results. As indicated by August, blue dot is a slower burner than what you need. Of the 118 powders available listed in most reloading manuels, blue dot is listed as number 41. Another one of Alliant's powders, 2400 is num 45, Winchester's 296 is number 51. Both of these powders are used for higher velocity/magnum loads. So you can see that Blue Dot isn't that far from being considered a powder to be used for magnum load considerations. I've always used Blue for jacketed 1000fps plus loads in 357 loads. In some of my reloading info source's, many don't even list using Blue Dot for 158 g lead bullets. I've never used Trail Boss in 38 loads, using it in 45 Colt, but it should work well. Titegroup, Winchester 231, Hodgon HP38 are all  good powders that I've used in 38 Spec with cast 150 grain SWC in various loadings and all worked very well.

[Delmonico]

Blue Dot and cold weather is a problem, I used to load some fantastic 12 gauge loads with 1 3/8th oz of copper plated #5's for pheasants and the ducks we'd find on ponds hunting pheasants.  Were great loads till the mercury dropped below 0, they really lost a lot after that, switched to HS7 after that.

[Papa Irish]

Blue dot does not do well in colder weather.  I use it in .38 super for my USPSA open gun and went minor at the 2009 Area 1. It was 47 degrees at 7:30 AM when we hit the Chrono and the load which was 167 PF at 70 deg was 161 PF at 47 Degrees, same gun.  I like and use American Select for .38 spl. 3.9 gr behind a lazer cast (Oregon Trail Bullets) 125 grain FP.  very accurate and feeds well in my Marlin 1894.