I had a conversation with the Ramshot/Accurate ballistician yesterday about Ramshot True Blue. I knew that in Europe it is sold as a competition grade powder and Ramshot pitches it as a powder that can be loaded in every handgun round .380 and up, with very good success. I can't get it locally, so when I decided that it would be worth the Haz-Mat fee to try it, I ordered 4 lbs. I haven't been disappointed.

When I mentioned the European equivelant, I could hear him getting ready to tell me the powders name, so I was all ears. When he told me it was VECTAN SP-2, I was really glad I bought 4 lbs.

There has been a slight bit of confusion since True Blue was first introduced. VECTAN altered the powder slightly from the original SP-2. When True Bue was introduced it was placed just ahead of VV N-350 on the burn rate chart and high performance loads were a little warmer than what is currently shown. The Ballistician told me that True Blue is now actually similar in burn rate to AA#5.

I have tried it in several different calibers. It burns clean with very low flash. It is a very dense, fine grained ball powder at 935 grams/liter. The load data shows some very good .45 ACP loads that belied it's placement on the burn rate chart, so I gave it a shot with hard cast SWCs and JHPs. I eventually worked up a +P load with the 185 gr. Remington JHP and Golden Sabers. Accuracy with any style of bullet has been outstanding. Many reloaders might not consider it for .45 ACP because of the former burn rate rating, but hopefully the picture is a little clearer now.

My first handloads in 9mm were fired at 50' and 5 shot groups averaged around 1" from a SIG P-226. The other cartridge I load it in is a pet cartridge where I trim .357 Magnum cases to .38 Special cartridge length for 5, 7 and 8 shooters as well as Smith snubbies with short ejector rods. This load is intended only for .357 marked revolvers, where I have found that many shooters were having extraction problems with full length factory ammo rounds and handloads. It is higher velocity than .38 +P+, muzzle blast and flash are reduced also. Loading True Blue in this load got me the best accuracy I have seen so far from a 3" Ruger SP-101.

Ramshot shows load data that includes cartridges from 9mm up to the .44 magnum and .454 Casull and with each caliber there are a number of loads with standard deviations listed in single digits. This powder is very consistent and is already seeing a great deal of use in competition. BTW, price is about the same as Accurate handgun powders. Just thought some of you would like to know!

During my load work-ups I found the following:

Faster
*61 AA-5
62 WSF
63 Herco
64 SP-8
*65 True Blue
66 N-340
67 Pearl Scot
68 800-X
69 AP-90N
70 HS-6
71 W-540
72 3N-37
*73 SP-2
74 WAP
75 SR-4756
76 Solo 1500
77 AP-100N
78 HS-5
*79 N-350
80 S-221
Slower

Thanks Steve! Did you find HS-5 slower than HS-6, or should #78 actually be HS-7, or Longshot. BTW, for those who don't know, WAP is still being sold, but as Ramshot Silhouette.

70 HS-6
78 HS-5
82 HS-7

Thanks again Steve. That is surprising.