red dot powder

[charlie cleveland]

stop by a little gun shop this evening and the man had a coupla cans of red dot powder...since my main loadings are usally 8 ga and 10 ga i could not remember if red dot was used to load either of these gauge s...i only bought 1 pound can since i could not remember a load for these ga guns...for sure i knew i did not have loadings in the 8 ga for red dot..the 10 ga i did not know but i knew i could load 12 ga for sure...anyway got home and with the help of pete lesters charts on the 10 ga i found 10 loadings for red dot powder in the 10 ga...surpriseingly 9 loads were for 1 1/4 ounce loads and one was for a 1 1/8 ounce load...so know will have to make a trip back and get the other can... the 1 1/4 ounce loads are pretty fast at 1360 fps on one of the loads the pressure is not given with any of the loads...any body ever reload red dot in 10 ga if so how did they shoot... charlie

[Pete Lester]

Funny you bring this up as I just started playing with some Red Dot 10ga loads recently. After seeing Hercules had used up to 29 grains with 1 1/4 ounce I felt pretty safe with trying 25 grains pushing 1 1/8 ounce. I was feeling more recoil in 10+ pound gun than I think is needed but they broke the trap targets nicely. I am loading another box with 22 grains of Red Dot with 1 1/8 ounce to try this week. I would expect Red Dot to be a very good performer in sub freezing temps.

[charlie cleveland]

pete i figured the 28 29 and 31 grain and 1 1/4 ounce would kick some...the 22 grain loading sounded like it would be a mild load for sure..let us knoy how they shoot for sure... i think i ll go load up a few rounds myself and see what they do... charlie

[charlie cleveland]

loaded up 5 shells with the red dot load using 22grains and 1 1/8 ounce of no 6 lead shot..recoil not bad...patterns very good..now this is the short 10 ga loading...i shot at 50 steps at a foam dinner plate roughly 9 inch in diameter...put9 shot in the plate.. next shot at 45 steps put 21 shot in plate..next shot at 40 steps put 30 shot in plate.next to shots were at 35 yards put46 shot in plate..last shot at 35 steps put the plate full did not count them...this will be a very good load for the hunter or thetrap or skeet shooter...i think if a fellow dropped the load to 19 grains of red dot it would be really soft on shoulder and break clays out to 50 yards with ease...very clean burning... i did use the crimp that JACK told about i can not think of the name at the moment but its the one were you use the first crimping stage and then follow up on the 2 nd stage crimp but put very little pressure on this stage only close crimp about a third of the way..its not a pretty crimp but its very good on those old tough remington green plastic hulls...i shot all these loads through the old parker ph 10 ga with twist steel barrels... try this red dot its a good load.... charlie

[Bill Murphy]

Whoa, you guys are not very scientific about choosing powders and charges. Of course, I would be the first to admit that it is hard to blow up a good ten or eight with normal loads. Yup, Red Dot is fine with tens and eights and light shot charges, like 1 1/4 in the ten and maybe a little heavier in the eight. With normal plastic wads or fiber wads the ten should be more than safe with 25 grains of Red Dot and the eight should be safe with 27 or 28 grains of Red Dot and give a nice slow velocity with the mentioned shot loads, probably under 1200, but plenty to break clay targets. Red Dot is a fast powder and should not be used with heavy shot loads or loads that attempt high velocity. I prefer Red Dot in big bore guns with light loads because it is not likely to produce bloopers because of its fast burning rate. However high pressures result from heavier shot loads.

[Pete Lester]

Not scientific but using common sense. The old Hercules manuals gave some 10ga 2 7/8" 1 1/4 oz loads that called for 29 gr of Red Dot with a plastic shot cup, no specified primer. Seeing the velocity was 1360 I knew it was a hot load. I considered those facts and realized I was shooting 10% lighter shot load with 1 1/8 oz and 14% less powder at 25 grains. Shooting the gun at trap targets the loads worked great but I felt a little more recoil than I do from other known loads, nothing bad, just a little more. That caused me to lower the charge weight to 22 grains and see how they work.

Bill how many grains of Red Dot are you using and with what shot weights?

As you know we have not a great deal of "data" for the short ten and powder companies and the like don't want to give us much help when we ask.

[Bill Murphy]

Reread my post. I said what I thought was safe with what shot weight. "What I use" would depend on the gun and what I wanted to use it for. It wouldn't neccesarily be what I would recommend to others. Red Dot is usually pretty benign in big holes, less so in small ones.

[Dean Romig]

This is from an antique shop in Maine yesterday.




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[E Robert Fabian]

Is that the stuff you bought or is for sale?

[Dean Romig]

It's still at the shop.

[Eric Grims]

Hardy reel in the lower left corner?

[Dean Romig]

No, as I recall it was a Perrine or some other cheap knock-off.

[Rick Losey]

Dean

I like your Maine antique shops-

:cheers:

[Dean Romig]

I bought a very nice 4-piece (47") B.G.I. Co hickory(?) cleaning rod with the 3-row steel wire brass brush stamped 12 on the end of the brush. The whole setup is really nice with 'patina' being the only 'issue' (and that's not a bad thing).



.

[Pete Lester]

loaded up 5 shells with the red dot load using 22grains and 1 1/8 ounce of no 6 lead shot..recoil not bad...patterns very good..now this is the short 10 ga loading...i shot at 50 steps at a foam dinner plate roughly 9 inch in diameter...put9 shot in the plate.. next shot at 45 steps put 21 shot in plate..next shot at 40 steps put 30 shot in plate.next to shots were at 35 yards put46 shot in plate..last shot at 35 steps put the plate full did not count them...this will be a very good load for the hunter or thetrap or skeet shooter...i think if a fellow dropped the load to 19 grains of red dot it would be really soft on shoulder and break clays out to 50 yards with ease...very clean burning... i did use the crimp that JACK told about i can not think of the name at the moment but its the one were you use the first crimping stage and then follow up on the 2 nd stage crimp but put very little pressure on this stage only close crimp about a third of the way..its not a pretty crimp but its very good on those old tough remington green plastic hulls...i shot all these loads through the old parker ph 10 ga with twist steel barrels... try this red dot its a good load.... charlie

I shot a round of trap using 22 gr of Red Dot and 1 1/8 tonight. They worked great but there was a still a little bit more recoil than I think is needed for a trap load. Going to load a box with 19 gr and 1 1/8 to shoot next week. I already loaded a couple, I was hoping they would take an even 1/2" filler wad from Circle Fly and make it easy but I still need to tear off a small sliver maybe 1/16" to get the crimp right in a Federal hull. Clean burning for a "Dot" powder too.

[charlie cleveland]

i believe the 19 grains will be about right pete..as you said it is a very clean burn..

[Richard Flanders]

Dean: all that shotgun ammo and powder would have followed me home from that store unless it was ridiculously expensive. I have several 3# kegs of powder like that red dot, including green dot and unique, that I inherited last year. It had all been in storage since 1982 when the previous 'owner' died. I have a can of the same 4350 shown there also. Nice stash of stuff that guy has. That BGI cleaning rod you got looks in great shape. The metal fittings aren't flared and loose like they tend to get.

[charlie cleveland]

hey pete ypu been reloading anymore of that red dot...i aint reloaded any in the last few days been busy with yard and garden work..but i believe that the 19 grains and a 1 1/8 ounce of lead is gonna be a sure enough good load for the 10 ga.. charlie

[Pete Lester]

hey pete ypu been reloading anymore of that red dot...i aint reloaded any in the last few days been busy with yard and garden work..but i believe that the 19 grains and a 1 1/8 ounce of lead is gonna be a sure enough good load for the 10 ga.. charlie

I have not yet shot the 19gr 10ga loads yet but suspect they will be just fine. This week I loaded up some 12ga 7/8 ounce loads using 16 gr of Alliant Promo and some homemade #8 shot I bought off a guy in Florida. Using my straight grip Titanic DHE I went 25 straight with the first box so I guess it's an OK load :)

[charlie cleveland]

never used any prmo powder..but i do like this red dot powder load...as you said pete it should be a great cold weather load...speaking about lead ive got to order me some soon im about out...

[Pete Lester]

never used any prmo powder..but i do like this red dot powder load...as you said pete it should be a great cold weather load...speaking about lead ive got to order me some soon im about out...

Promo is made by the same company that makes Red Dot. It is only sold in 8lb jugs and can usually be found for under $100. They claim it has the same burn rate as Red Dot but warn it is more dense and a smaller bushing may be needed to throw the same weight as Red Dot. The also warn it can vary from lot to lot so you need to weigh what the bushing your using each time you get a new jug.

That said I found my jug of Promo threw 16.5 grains with the same bushing that threw 16.5 grains of Red Dot. I loaded two boxes and shot some skeet. The loads felt hotter than Red Dot so I went down one bushing size which threw 16 grains. That worked much better in a AA hull, Win Pink Wad and 7/8 ounce of shot. I am now thinking I may stick with Promo over Red Dot since the savings can be as much as $20 per 8 pounds.

[charlie cleveland]

went out to the shed and loaded up all the loose 10 ga hulls i could find...only found 14 hulls...i got the scales set at 19 grains then i hand loaded the 14 hulls..went by the book except i chose to use steel shot instead of lead im getting short on lead supplys...i used steel bbs...they weighed 1 ounce even i used a open bore 10 ga clayborughs and brothers gun a hammer gun weighs in at 8 1/2 lbs..did not pattern them just shot up in the trees...this is really a soft on the shoulder load and good on the gun...the report of sound was really good...i believe this to be the best light load ive ever fired in a 10 ga and it really has a clean burn...pete you gonna really like the 19 grain load...i will pattern them tommorrow its raining here at the momment...this is the way to get a lot more loads out of a pound of powder..if your on a budget like me this is the way to go... charlie

[charlie cleveland]

shot some of the red dot loads they pattern very well..the red dot powder works very well with 19 grains...i too shot the 22 grain load it would be fine with the 1 1/4 ounce load i think it would be deadly on early squirls where you have to shoot through dense foilage early in season...but the 22 grain is more than most people would want if shooting a lot of targets in a day... charlie