Choice of powders for dual porpose?

[benny]

I reload for shot shells all the time, using Red and Green dot. I have thought about 700X as well but never bought any yet.
My question is , now that I have the equipment to reload metallic (rifle , pistol) I would like to see which of those powders can be used for my metallic reloading. Or at least which one or two is more popular to use for metallic reloading?

Benny

[Seismic Sam]

Never seen a recipe for Green Dot in any of the reloading manuals I have, which is nearly all of them. That means JJ or crbutler will find one, but I claim to be old and feeble with a bad memory.

There are definitely loads using 700X and Red Dot, but these are going to be for stuff like 9mm and 45 ACP with economical loads (meaning a small amount of powder) to get the bullet up to speed.

Red Dot and 700X have burning speeds more like Titegroup, while Green Dot is pretty close to 231. Considering the popularity of 231, that probably why there are no Green Dot loadings.

[benny]

I have not looked in my manuals yet, I have a source for shot shell reloading supplies where I can get shot, primers, and some powders at reasonable prices. I am placing my order soon so I wanted to see what powders of the three I should buy to cover both of my reloading needs.

On a side note I can get limited supply of 1 lbs bottles of Varget for $26.00 if any one needs some.

Benny

[JJ]

http://www.alliantpowder.com/reloaders/ ... powderid=5
http://www.alliantpowder.com/reloaders/ ... powderid=4

[crbutler]

JJ beat me.

I found some loads in Speer #14

Green Dot for lead 230 gr LRN, .44 mag 240 gr lswc, etc.

All of the large flake style powders for shotgun don't meter all that well. I did a bunch of .45 ACP with 700X. The odor is a bit offputting, and the chrono consistency wasn't great, but they were certainly more accurate than I was when I used them.

However, if you really are interested in single powder supply, it can work. Personally, I think blue dot is probably more versatile, but that is magnum shotshell powder.

[benny]

I guess the only reason I wanted to try to use one of those three powders is that I have to buy an 8 pound keg to get them. I don't need that much powder for shot shell with in the next two years any way.

Benny

[farmerj]

I use hodgdon clays for pistol and shotgun. Nice low recoil loads too. Easy day of shooting without beating yourself up.

[Rip Van Winkle]

700X & 800X burn cleaner than the Aliant colored dot powders. And I agree with farmerj Clays works well, burns clean and meters better than the IMR flake powders.

[smurfman]

I used a fair bit of the various Alliant shotshell powders for handgun use, it works well enough for my abilities. I used them in 45 ACP, 38 Spl, 40 S&W, and some others that I don't recall off hand. Red Dot was most often used as I always had it on hand for 12 ga but American Select was often used more later.

700X was used some many years ago and it worked well as I recall. I am not a competitive Bullseye shooter by any stretch of the imagination so my needs are not very demanding. For plinking type duties any of the choices should work well but serious competition may require something else.

For rifle I don't see much use for these powders. There may be some applications for cast lead bullets with the mentioned powders but I am not really into that so am not much help there. One will need a different powder if doing rifle. Varget is a pretty versatile powder for rifles and is one I like a lot. H4895, IMR 4895, and Reloader 15 are other versatile powders as is IMR 4064 for many of the non-magnum class cartridges. There are others which are also pretty versatile but these are those which I have some familiarity.

[noylj]

Green dot is an excellent powder for all non-magnum handguns, sort of like 231/HP38. If you want some Green Dot data, let me know.
Red Dot is excellent for low pressure cartridges like .38 Spl., .45 Auto, and .32 S&W Long. It can be used for others, particularly for low-recoil loads. It is really great in .45 Auto.
Other excellent powders would be Bullseye, AA2, AA5, 231/HP38. For near max loads in 9x19 and .40 S&W, you can look at Silhouette, HS6, True Blue, and Power Pistol. Those are not in any recommended order.
Alliant generally only prints load data for pistols for what they label pistol powders, with their shotgun powders only showing loads for shotguns. However, any shotgun powder can be used in appropriate handguns.
Rifle powders start just beyond the magnum pistol powders and beyond the shotgun powders.

[farmerj]

I started developing with green and red dot. They were both very dirty with lots of residue.


Hodgdon clays was a lot cleaner with no residue. But be warned. Charge ranges are narrow compared to others. Especially in 9mm.

[benny]

I was just on the Alliant web sight and seen Clay Dot and E3 shot shell powders, any one using these for shot shells?

Benny

[smurfman]

I've used E3 for shotshells, it works fine. Given a choice between it and the old "dot" powders I might choose it if prices were the same but prefer Promo due to cost. I haven't used Clay Dot but wll guess it much the same.

[Rmfcasey]

I use hodgdon clays for pistol and shotgun. Nice low recoil loads too. Easy day of shooting without beating yourself up.

+1 on Clays. I like it for buckshot and Lee slugs and makes a good 45acp load. However it is currently impossible to find.
Rmfcasey

[DanM]

Benny, I sent you a PM about Varget. Please advise. Thanks.