Blue Dot in .38 Special loads

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04 May 2007, 19:27

Robert Duncan

Blue Dot in .38 Special loads

I have been loading .38 Special with 125 Gr. Winchester HP bullets and 7.3 gr. Blue Dot. The loads are very mild and pleasant to shoot but leave flakes of unburned powder after each shot. This is the max. load listed by Lee for this powder/bullet. Looks like I am not getting enough pressure for a clean burn. Any suggestions?

04 May 2007, 20:20

fredj338

I think BD is too slow for light bullets @ moderate pressures of the 38sp. You can try a magnum primer but I would drop down to a mid range burner like Unique, Universal or AA#5.

06 May 2007, 22:11

hatsfield

quote:
Originally posted by Robert Duncan:
I have been loading .38 Special with 125 Gr. Winchester HP bullets and 7.3 gr. Blue Dot. The loads are very mild and pleasant to shoot but leave flakes of unburned powder after each shot. This is the max. load listed by Lee for this powder/bullet. Looks like I am not getting enough pressure for a clean burn. Any suggestions?

Hey Robert what kind of primers are you using, I agree with fredj338 Unique is a good burning powder and so is Universal, but in Lee manual it shows universal in 125 gr. lead bullets I enjoy those two powders because I can load my 38 special 45 ACP, and 357 so to me its my all around powder, and I only use cci primers, hope this helped you out some later

06 May 2007, 22:41

tnekkcc

38 Specials have lots of safety margin, but not unlimited.

I was working up with 110 gr Blue Dot, with a published max load of 7.8 gr. I kept working up to see what would happen. 18.4 gr was ok, but 18.5 bent the Aluminum frame on the Colt Agent.
It still shoots, but that gun is toast unless I figure out how to bend the frame back.
The cylinder now rubs on the frame, and the steel cylinder is going to rub off the finish on the Aluminum frame.

09 May 2007, 10:23

rg1

Blue Dot is much too slow for .38 loads. A friend tried Blue Dot and even got a squib load and a bullet stuck in the barrel from lack of proper bullet tension in the brass and a poor crimp. I'd recommend a faster powder. I've had good results with AA2 powder.

09 May 2007, 20:10

fredj338

quote:
Originally posted by tnekkcc:
38 Specials have lots of safety margin, but not unlimited.
I was working up with 110 gr Blue Dot, with a published max load of 7.8 gr. I kept working up to see what would happen. 18.4 gr was ok, but 18.5 bent the Aluminum frame on the Colt Agent.
It still shoots, but that gun is toast unless I figure out how to bend the frame back.
The cylinder now rubs on the frame, and the steel cylinder is going to rub off the finish on the Aluminum frame.

I've often thought about running my car into a wall w/o my seat belt just to see what would happen, but fortunetly, common sense always prevails.

10 May 2007, 22:02

unique

fredj338,

That's good, real good. I laughed so hard I had tears in my eyes...

10 May 2007, 23:13

Arminius

A clear case of murder.

A beautiful and useful Colt, rare, not any more manufactured, adored by many, intentinally, brutally slaughtered.

And to try that in an ALUMINIUM framed gun!

There should be a charge for that!

H

11 May 2007, 04:13

tnekkcc

quote:
Originally posted by Arminius:

There should be a charge for that!

H

If I could invoice for insolent reaction to free data, I would.

11 May 2007, 05:50

fredj338

quote:
Originally posted by tnekkcc:
quote:
Originally posted by Arminius:
There should be a charge for that!
H

If I could invoice for insolent reaction to free data, I would.

My pop used to tell me "nothing good in life is free". The data you put out is usefull exactly how? I'm sorry Mr.T, but float stuff like that out & someone is going to respond, & probably not in the positive, but then again you knew that.