what did I hear from Hodgdon about IMR Blue

March 26, 2018, 03:09 PM

Well I can verify that their customer service is willing to argue with you about what an article in their 2018 reloading manual said regarding the new IMR powders that are supposed to be both shotgun and pistol powder “equivalents” to RED dot, blue dot and Green dot. So the short answer is that Blue is for shotgun use only. Wait how is that supposed to work I though was supposed to be cleaner more environmentally friendly replacement for Blue Dot says so in the article. Well no pilgrim. you obviously misread as I did.

March 26, 2018, 04:28 PM

Bisleyblackhawk

It's not just Hodgdon...Alliant advertised Clay Dot as a replacement for Hodgdon Clays...but Alliant will not release any data on metallic cartridges, simply saying it is for shotgun only.

That being said...I, as well as more than a few Cowboy Action shooters, just loaded with it grain for grain using Hodgdon Clays data when Clays was pretty much non-available...nobody blew up a gun, nobody was killed or maimed...of course we generally load toward the bottom to the middle of published data...

Should you do that with Blue? That I can't answer, with Blue Dot being a "magnum" pistol powder as a secondary use over shotgun. But I will say that until Hodgdon or Alliant test load those powders in metallic cartridges...they will never sign off officially saying that it's OK...

As with all things YMMV

********************************************************

"we've gotta roll with the punches, learn to play all of our hunches
Making the best of what ever comes our way
Forget that blind ambition and learn to trust your intuition
Plowing straight ahead come what may
And theres a cowboy in the jungle"
Jimmy Buffet

March 26, 2018, 07:30 PM

markstempski

quote:
Originally posted by Bisleyblackhawk:
It's not just Hodgdon...Alliant advertised Clay Dot as a replacement for Hodgdon Clays...but Alliant will not release any data on metallic cartridges, simply saying it is for shotgun only.

That being said...I, as well as more than a few Cowboy Action shooters, just loaded with it grain for grain using Hodgdon Clays data when Clays was pretty much non-available...nobody blew up a gun, nobody was killed or maimed...of course we generally load toward the bottom to the middle of published data...

Should you do that with Blue? That I can't answer, with Blue Dot being a "magnum" pistol powder as a secondary use over shotgun. But I will say that until Hodgdon or Alliant test load those powders in metallic cartridges...they will never sign off officially saying that it's OK...

As with all things YMMV

If they had said in the article in their reloading manual that Blue was for shotgun only I would not have bought it. But they said Blue and red and green were to be alternatives to Blue Dot, Red dot and Green Dot. but they didn’t. I emailed the store where I got it to inform them what I heard from Hodgdon. As with all things reloading my mileage varies

March 29, 2018, 02:14 PM

fredj338

Just because there is no data doesn't mean it can not be used. Just work up using the next fastest powder data you can find as a start point.
BTW, IMR Red is slightly slower in my testing than Alliant RedDot.

July 29, 2018, 03:13 PM

markstempski

quote:
Originally posted by fredj338:
Just because there is no data doesn't mean it can not be used. Just work up using the next fastest powder data you can find as a start point.
BTW, IMR Red is slightly slower in my testing than Alliant RedDot.

And that is what I will do eventually. Summer is here and Garage is too warm to sit in to reload. May move into back bedroom but I like NOT having to worry about stray loose primers and tha vacuum