Primarily a Red Dot Question

T. O'heir - I have no idea how old, but its in a cardboard canister that the lid fits tightly. As for smell, there is no strong odor. As far as I know it was kept in the back of his shop.
 
Stainless44,

I wouldn't worry about it. If it doesn't smell funny and there is no fine red powder mixed in with the flakes, then it is no doubt good. My 15 pound cannister of Red Dot was made 50 years ago in 1970, and it is just fine.

Don
 
I'm looking for a "download" for my 44 { Magnum }.
Click to expand...
Well, from my .44 Magnum notes concerning Red Dot, I liked 6.5g (947fps) under 240g SWC with CCI-300 primers. I actually tested up to 8.0g (1080fps) and liked that load too. i'd stick with 6.5g and see how it shoots in your gun. Do your research though as there isn't a lot of info on Red Dot in reloading manuals.

A reference I found for Red Dot in .44Mag :

From cast Boolits thread 8.8g Red Dot under 240g SWC is 34900psi for 1175fps (out of a 1996 Alliant load manual) . BTW, I would not push Red Dot this far. There are a lot better powders for lower pressure. Better to use medium burn powders in this power range (1100fps) . Like Unique, Power Pistol, etc. Above that you get into slow burning powders (2400, 4227, W296) for 'magnum' loads.
 
Last edited:
Red Dot is great for low pressure loading and most people feel most comfortable sticking with the lighter loads.

Yes I use it for light loads, but I have also been pleased with the results when I went warmer. I have gone through a large volume of very warm 357 magnum loads with this powder.

If I had a 44 mag, had your quantity of Red Dot and wanted "mid range" loads, I would go ahead and slowly work up to close to the max from the 1996 to 2000 range of Alliant books (link to the 2000 book previously provided).

If your bullet is a good match, I would probably stop at about 10% short. If using a different bullet, 15% to 20% gr short would probably be a good idea.

The basis for the above can be seen from the following two loads. The 2000 data shows 8.8 gr and 1175 fps for a 240 cast lead bullet. It shows 7.7 gr and 1180 fps for a 240 JSP.

FYI, As a sanity check I looked up the Hodgdon load data for 700x (very close to Red Dot). Hodgdon still shows a 240 gr cast lead bullet loaded to 1185 fps using 9.5 gr of 700x.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top