[280 Remington]

I just got a great deal on a box of 170 grain lead cast bullets, but I can't find any data for them. I will be loading for a 40 S&W for target practice. I have Blue Dot powder on hand, but I will get something else if needed. Thanks.

 

[unclenick]

You didn't say what style of bullet or what its seating depth would be? For a light target load, though, about 3.5 to 4.0 grains of Bullseye or 231 or Hodgdon Universal Clays should be good for targets and plinking. Blue Dot does magnum revolver loads well, but is too slow for this application. It's designed to run at higher pressures than target loads and will tend not to burn well in this combination.

 

[FredT]

Your Blue Dot will work just fine. In my testing with 4 dif powders it gave me the best groups. The Speer Man shows 8.0 to 8.9 for a 180 jacketed. I use 8.0 for my Lyman 175 grain cast. My Beretta 96 likes it, functions, accurate, no leading.

 

[Motor31]

Go to the alliant web page and look up the .40 S&W loads. They list 3 bullet weights, 155, 165 and 180, all jackets rounds. There are 2 loads listing Blue Dot powder that you can look over. I'd reduce the load a bit rather than use the listed jacketed 180 gr data.