[leverite]

What do you think of this load? Too light?

130 gr LFN bullet over 5.1 grains of Blue Dot.

I have 150 rounds loaded by an old friend who passed away. He was meticulous in his loading technique, but the load seems too light. I pulled a few and checked that the charge was as listed on the label.

I can't find any load data for Blue Dot in this light a bullet.

Guess I could try to shoot one and see if the bullet comes out the barrel.

 

[[email protected]]

Ijust got the new (2004) Alliant book. I don't see anything close. They don't have a listing for Blue Dot in 38 Special at all!

 

[gschwertley]

Blue Dot is considered too slow for ordinary .38 Special loads; it's more of a propellant for heavier loads or magnums. The most recent Alliant recipe book has a +P .38 Special load that uses Blue Dot with a 146 bullet, but like I said, it isn't ordinarily used for .38 Spec.

 

[mattsbox99]

I agree, its for heavier loads. It'll probably work, but its not ideal. Somebody's homebrew without a manual.

 

[gat64]

.38 & blue dot

single caliber data for handloaders .38 spl. page #28 140gr. bullet jhc col: 1.450 using blue dot. starts at 7.4grs at 850ft. p s the load you have is amight light from my end.

 

[Rocky Raab]

Pulling them might be best, but would be tedious in the extreme. Shoot them and put up with the soot left behind. Tumble the brass, clean the gun and move on.

 

[gat64]

rocky

amen to that rocky.

 

[Tom W.]

The Lyman 47th gives a load with a 125 gr JHP and a load with a 140 gr JHP, and they both start in the 7. something...

 

[leverite]

Thanks all!

I'll go with the shoot and clean method...after a few shots to make sure the bullets are making it out the barrel.

This will be my 38 -P load.

 

[TMan]

single caliber data for handloaders .38 spl. page #28 140gr. bullet jhc col: 1.450 using blue dot. starts at 7.4grs at 850ft. p s the load you have is amight light from my end.

The only time I ever had a bullet stick in the barrel was using a load in this range, in a .38Spcl.

Be careful.

 

[unclenick]

QuickLOAD shows this making less than 5,000 psi, so watch for the powder extinguishing when pressure vents from the barrel/cylinder gap, leaving the bullet stuck. Even if the bullet exits, QL shows 582 fps from a 5" barrel and only 44% of the powder burning in there. Most will be expelled. It shows 9.1% ballistic efficiency, where even light revolver target loads are usually over 20%.

Check for the stuck bullet after every round or when you don't clearly see a hole in the paper or dust kicked up or whatever. Shoot into something soft and you may be able to bump the bullets up in a sizer and reuse them? Not for high accuracy, but for plinkers.

Some of the older small revolver rounds would run without much more pressure than that, but the powder would have been a much smaller charge of something faster, like black powder. I usually try not to fall below 10,000 psi with modern powders and that would take about 8 grains of Blue Dot with that bullet weight.

 

[leverite]

Pulling all those bullets would be very time consuming, but I could easily push them down into the case to jack up the initial pressure. That would give a hotter push to the bullet before it clears the cylinder.

What do you think of that?

 

[Rocky Raab]

I wouldn't do that, because if they're crimped, you'd just crumple the case or ruin the bullets - and then have to pull them all anyway.

Just shoot them. Watch for each and every bullet to hit dirt or check the bore between shots. Gun and empty cases will be a mess, but will clean up.

 

[leverite]

THought you might be interested...got out this weekend and shot some of these in a light weight J frame SW.

Sweet little plinkers! They all came out the short barrel.

I think my buddy must have loaded them for his girlfriend to practice w/ her airweight.

They may be a little dirty. Hard to tell as my gun (actually my wife's) is black to start with. I'll run these over a chrono sometime.

But...I like 'em!

 

[Ole1830]

THought you might be interested...got out this weekend and shot some of these in a light weight J frame SW.

Sweet little plinkers! They all came out the short barrel.

I think my buddy must have loaded them for his girlfriend to practice w/ her airweight.

They may be a little dirty. Hard to tell as my gun (actually my wife's) is black to start with. I'll run these over a chrono sometime.

But...I like 'em!

I like shooting really light loads in .38 too (158gr lead SWC @ 700fps). I normally use Bullseye or WW231 for that purpose though.

 

[gunpa]

I've got some blue dot loads for my 38 snubbie with 8.7 grs. and a sierra 125 jacketed h.p. from Lyman's 47th edition manual. My new lyman manual drops it to 8.5. These aren't +p loads but are pleasant to shoot and pretty clean burning. Blue dot is an oldie but still works