Powder for 357 Magnum

[Marco Califo]

Blue Dot is a Shotgun Powder, and a slow one, for heavy shot loads.
"Principal Purpose: Magnum shotshell loads, 10, 12, 16, 20 and 28 ga.
Secondary Uses: Magnum handgun loads"
Yes, you can use it in pistol calibers, safely, if you understand its quirks. It can deliver some of the highest velocities. But, can is not the same as should.
I am neither for, nor against, Bluedot. I own some. I have used it in 12 g. shotgun loads as hot as they go. I have bruised my shooting shoulder.
The reasons I do not use it in pistol calibers are:
1. It is big flakes, and does not meter well for pistol calibers. I found it meters just fine for 12 g., and in that application, 38.0 grains meters OK through the correct MEC bushing. But if you want 9 or 10 grains, accurate to a 10th of a grain (for 357) . . . Good Luck with that!
2. There are much better suited pistol powders. Alliant also makes Bullseye, Power Pistol, BE86. All of which were designed for handgun loads and meter smaller charges accurately.
3. Blue Dot can leave a lot of residue. Particularly at lower pressures. That is more of an issue for pistols.
http://www.alliantpowder.com/products/handgun.aspx

[TimSr]

I also have to point out that I find it funny that every time a few folks try to steer someone away from Blue Dot, some long time Blue Dot user gets mildly offended. Cute reference to "stuff I heard on the internet yet never experienced..." almost as if the whole stupid internet has an active conspiracy against crappy Blue Dot.

That's almost as funny as the people who have sworn off Blue Dot and get mildly offended because they couldn't get it to work and someone else has posted that they've used it successfully.

I don't know if you've ever noticed it while on the internet, but a lot of people repeat things they've read with complete conviction, as though it's based on personal knowledge.

If you have some, give it a try, and see if you like it. It's not what I would suggest to go out and buy just for .357, but if you have it, it works pretty good.

I can't imagine being offended at the suggestion that people should form their own opinions rather than accept forum posters' opinions without question.

[TimSr]

Blue Dot is a Shotgun Powder, and a slow one, for heavy shot loads.

So is Red Dot and Unique.

http://alliantpowder.com/products/shotshell.aspx

Blue Dot
Blue Dot®

Smokeless magnum shotshell & handgun
•Powder of choice for magnum loads
•Consistent
•Accurate

I never had much luck with it in shotgun loads. Couldn't get it to burn clean.


H110 is a 30 carbine powder, and a .410 shotgun powder.

[buck460XVR]

I also have to point out that I find it funny that every time a few folks try to steer someone away from Blue Dot, some long time Blue Dot user gets mildly offended. Cute reference to "stuff I heard on the internet yet never experienced..." almost as if the whole stupid internet has an active conspiracy against crappy Blue Dot.

I think folks get confused over the warning by Alliant not to use BD with 125 grainers in .357 and to not use it at all in .41mag. They figure if it's no good for those , it can't be good for anything else handgun related. Then the next guy will post he's been loading 125 grainers for 40 years with BD and it's his go to load and he thinks Alliant is full of poo. There are still recent published loads out there for BD and 125 grainers. One wonders what the issue really is. All Alliant will say is "Use of Blue Dot® in the above cases may cause a high pressure situation that could cause property damage and serious personal injury." That said, they claim it is still safe to use with heavier bullet weights.

Blue Dot is a Shotgun Powder, and a slow one, for heavy shot loads.

...and many other powders like H110/W296, Hi-Skor 700-X, LIL'GUN, LONGSHOT, HS-6, etc, etc, work well for both shotshell and handgun ammo with plenty of tested published load data to prove it.

As I said before, any of the powders the OP has will work for his application, the question is, will they provide the best performance/accuracy when used with his specific components outta his guns. Only he can give us that answer by testing.......regardless of what works best for us and what published manuals say give the best performance. Kinda why reloading is so much fun and why there are so many arguments on internet gun forums over which powder is the best.

[briandg]

Sometimes it's interesting to read the various "facts" and "opinions" about every possible aspect of putting a bullet downrange.

Once I listened to a guy rave about how great a particular powder was for the .30-06.. he owned one rifle. He had tried maybe a half dozen powders. He was shooting a second-hand Remington 788 or something, and not doing so well.

The ironic thing is that this guy wasn't very bright, not at all. The sort of guy you don't want to change your oil Every time I bumped into him at the range, I moved at least five spaces way, it was a big range with a lot of benches. I'd go farther down to pistol stations if I had to. He loved telling about destroying a 1911.

Yep, he'd probably be seventy, or he might be on here still talking about that powder. But, he didn't read that well anyway.

There aren't any completely crazy people here,it's easy to tell.

[briandg]

I guess the point to that is that there will always be healthy debate and you can draw on that, but if only 1 in10 support an idea, you may have found the local wing nut.

It's a really bad idea to come in with an idea that you like, and only count the opinions that follow your own ideas.

[b92fs]

2400 is the ONLY mag powder for 357mag! The cartridge was designed with it!

[849ACSO]

2400 is the ONLY mag powder for 357mag! The cartridge was designed with it!

The airplane was designed with wood and canvass, but better things came along.................

There are plenty of good powders to run .357 MAG. I personally prefer H110 and Blue Dot, but, my experience with them has been nothing but good. Others swear by 2400, AA powders, LilGun, etc., and they're experiences with those have been good. You need to come up with a load for YOU and YOUR GUN.

[Sevens]

Many terrific powders for .357 Magnum.

One that hasn't yet been mentioned (unless I missed it) is Hodgdon Longshot. It's a nice middle of the road propellent, especially if you are one of those folks that constantly crunches numbers and you feel like you don't want to use LARGE powder dumps as H110, 2400, AA#9 and Alliant 300-MP do.

Take a look at Longshot and see if it works for you.

Meanwhile, I'm going to go dig some more on the internet to find places to cry about what people say on the internet and worry about things I read on the internet and trash the utter uselessness of the internet and the chaotic mayhem conducted actoss the planet due to things people are allowed to write on the internet.

Save the children.

[buck460XVR]

You need to come up with a load for YOU and YOUR GUN.

^^^ this is what I was alluding to in my previous posts. Regardless of works well for others, there is never a guarantee it will work well for everyone. Folks need to realize, that even when a powder and/or components are their Holy Grail, it is normal for other folks to have poor performance using the exact same components in a different gun. They need understand this, without taking it as a putdown. Folks need to realize that just cause Skeeter or Elmer used it in their guns, don't mean it's the best for them in their guns. Same with the 2400. It may very well have been the original .357 powder, and it's still the only powder than many use, but some folks have a different "go to" .357 powder. Kinda what makes life(and reloading) so interesting.

[cdoc42]

Has anyone used CFE-Pistol powder yet? I just loaded 6 each tonight for my Ruger GP100 in .38 Special and .357 Mag using 125gr JHP bullets.

For the longest time (I've reloaded for 39 years) I've used 17.5gr of 2400 for the .357 and 6.5 gr of Unique or 5.0 gr of HP-38 for the .38 special and I just felt like experimenting even though I've had absolutely no problems with the aforementioned loads. It seems to available data shows I can get a boost in velocity in both calibers over what I'm using altho I recognize there may be no advantage to that.

The Unique charge is high by all current available data with a recent check on the Alliant website revealing 5.7gr is their maxload recommendation. I have no idea where I originally got the recipe for 6.5gr since it's been so long ago but it's been working without any problems whatsoever for at least 25 years. I can't compare pressures as the CFE-Pistol data is in PSI and Unique, 2400 and HP-38 are in CUP. But I'm not exceeding the recommended loads in any event.

[MJFlores]

These days all I use is HP-38 in ALL handgun cartridges. It's a wonderful powder that can be either mild or hot depending on your load, burns clean, and is accurate in everything I run it in. You cant go wrong with HP-38 / W231.

[ka9fax]

You cant go wrong with HP-38 / W231

True. Thats way i'm sitting on 18 pounds.

[crazyjake]

Thanks for all the info. Some powders that were brought up i hadn't thought of. Will have to just get time to load some up and get back with the results. I do have some HP-38 and some CFE pistol. Tried the CFE with 200gr 45acp in XDs. Didn't care for the amount of muzzle flip. May be a good choice for Chiappa Rhino.

[MJFlores]

6 grains of HP-38 under a Berry's 158 grain plated round nose in .357 Magnum cases is my favorite range load. It's no slouch either running just under 1100 fps chrono'd out of a 4" barrel. Very accurate load and really clean burning too as you can see from the fired cases.

[Tinbucket]

there are several new powders out there.
Over the years H110 and 2400 have been in 99% of my loads.
I don't load many wad cutters or lead loads.

[kraigwy]

When I started in LE, our department issued RNL 158 gr. 38s, cast and loaded by jail trusties. I was issued a brand new 4" Model 28 S&W.

Not that I didn't trust the "trustees" but:

I started loading my 357s using Lyman's 158 grn SWC (358477) and 2400. Today I load Lyman's 358477 and 2400, in the same gun because the dept. gave it to me when I retired.

Tried several different powders over the years, always came back to 2400, see no reason to change.

How ever I have backed off on the amount of powder when I shoot bowling pins. 15 grs. is hard on the pins.

[Tsquared]

Many years ago when I had 357 one of my favorite powders was Blue Dot. It worked well in the 357 mag and 44 mag. I have used it in a pinch for 9mm and 45 but there are a lot of better powders out there for those calibers. I am currently loading CFE Pistol in 9mm with very good results. I have 2 other powders for my 45.

Blue Dot is good in shotguns and magnum loaded pistols but there are other powders that have better characteristics.

[rclark]

As far as powders go, I've used 2400 and Blue Dot under 158g SWC. I haven't used any AA#7.

Found good loads in each. Found both of these loads good in 'my' revolvers.

8.5g of Blue Dot gets you 1162fps out of 6 1/2" barrel
13.5g of 2400 gets you 1270fps out of 6 1/2" barrel

Should be obvious, but these loads work for 'me'. Best to work up your own loads to see what you like.

My current goto load is 5.5g Green Dot for 1071fps as I have no need for barn-burner loads. I don't need noise, blast, and recoil for general purpose loads.... Beauty of reloading.

Oh,

MJFlores, was that target shot at 25Y, 50Y? Just curious.