Red dot or green dot

[John Reed]

For loading low pressure 1 oz loads, what is the preferred powder? I have access to both. Will be using AA hulls and federal papers. I've loaded for years for standard 1250- 1300 sporting loads, but I'm new to the low pressure game and wanted to know what the "go to" powder of choice was for a damascus parker (1150-1200fps). For what it's worth, the gun has been checked out by a reputable gunsmith and given a clean bill of health.

[Mike Koneski]

For loading low pressure 1 oz loads, what is the preferred powder? I have access to both. Will be using AA hulls and federal papers. I've loaded for years for standard 1250- 1300 sporting loads, but I'm new to the low pressure game and wanted to know what the "go to" powder of choice was for a damascus parker (1150-1200fps). For what it's worth, the gun has been checked out by a reputable gunsmith and given a clean bill of health.

For starters, I've never loaded shells 1250-1300 for sporting. I keep my 12g at or under 1200 fps. No need for faster. Never used Red Dot so can't help you there. I have used Green Dot for some sub-gauge loads. Try Clay Dot for 12g, it's almost like Hodgdon Clays which is an excellent 12g powder. I'm around 16g for 7/8 oz practice loads.

[CraigThompson]

Never used Red Dot in the 12 but have used it a bit for 1 1/8 in the 10 gauge . And 18.6 of Red Dot in a 12 using AA hull and CB AA wad was a light target load even at 1 1/8 ounce of shot . I have a good supply of Green Dot 1 1/8 ounce 12 gauge loads stacked up and have been fiddling with ounce and ounce and an eighth 10 gauge loads going with the powder charges in the book for 12 gauge loads . In the Alliant book all these loads are under 9000 in a 12 so stands to reason in a 10 gauge there should be slightly less pressure .

[Bill Murphy]

Use modest charges of Red Dot. Green Dot is a tad slow burning for a low velocity 1 ounce or 7/8 ounce 12 gauge load. Look in the book.

[John Reed]

I looked at red dot in the books and it looked as though it offered several lower pressure loads. I just thought I would check and see if anyone else used it for damascus loads that would recommend it or something else before I bought a jug of it.

[Aaron Beck]

I believe there were some very good looking tested green dot loads for 12 ga 1 oz in recent memory. I think from Andy but I am not sure. Also as its been said, the new green lid gd may not be the same as the old recipe would have you believe.

[Tom Pellegrini]

John,
I have never used Green Dot. For a number of years I loaded 17grains of Clay Dot. Great low pressure low recoil load. When it was hard to find powder a while back, I came across an 8lb. jug of Red Dot. I loaded the same 17grains and did not notice much of a difference in the recoil. Never had that load measured for pressure, I just went by the reloading charts on line. According to those charts, the pressure with the Red Dot was a bit higher, but not that much to worry about. One thing for sure, Clay Dot is definitely a lot cleaner than Red Dot.

[Pete Lester]

I have found this to be a great loading with Red Dot (or Promo). Low pressure, low recoil, good patterns and effective for most situations on clay birds. Stretches a bag of shot compared to a 1 ounce load.

[William Davis]

I use JB’s Red Dot load exactly as above. From the empty 8 pound jugs I use as door stops have loaded 32 pounds of it and working on a fresh 8 pounder now. My Green Dot jug sits almost unused.

William

[Bill Murphy]

I load light charges of Red Dot for all of my Damascus 12 gauge guns. I load 1 ounce or 7/8 ounce in 2 3/4" shells and 7/8 ounce in 2 1/2" shells.

[Pete Lester]

I believe there were some very good looking tested green dot loads for 12 ga 1 oz in recent memory. I think from Andy but I am not sure. Also as its been said, the new green lid gd may not be the same as the old recipe would have you believe.

If you have access to Hercules data for Red Dot and Green Dot from the 1980's many of the same loads that Alliant has currently published online today show the very same pressure and velocity with Green Dot and Red Dot when the same components were used.

[John Reed]

I have a couple of pounds of Red dot on the way I'm going to try.

[Bill Murphy]

When I got a bug to clean out my loading room, I trashed probably 20 eight pound Red Dot kegs that I had been throwing spent primers into for about forty or fifty years. I didn't trash the metal 12 pound kegs that are kind of nice to make bookshelves for the overflow room. I'm still using Red Dot since about 1957 when I first started reloading. I never saw any reason to switch to the modern powders which are more expensive and don't work any better.

[Pete Lester]

When I got a bug to clean out my loading room, I trashed probably 20 eight pound Red Dot kegs that I had been throwing spent primers into for about forty or fifty years. I didn't trash the metal 12 pound kegs that are kind of nice to make bookshelves for the overflow room. I'm still using Red Dot since about 1957 when I first started reloading. I never saw any reason to switch to the modern powders which are more expensive and don't work any better.

Fast forward to 2023, Red Dot and the rest of Alliant powders are now the most expensive powders for shotguns when compared to several offerings from Hodgdon.

[Jay.R.Seamans]

With Alliant powders being scare and expensive,what substitutes are being used?

[Jeff Elder]

For loading low pressure 1 oz loads, what is the preferred powder? I have access to both. Will be using AA hulls and federal papers. I've loaded for years for standard 1250- 1300 sporting loads, but I'm new to the low pressure game and wanted to know what the "go to" powder of choice was for a damascus parker (1150-1200fps). For what it's worth, the gun has been checked out by a reputable gunsmith and given a clean bill of health.


How many ounces of shot are you using? I have my dads manual from when I was a kid back in the early 80’s. I would be glad to look some up for you.

[Brett Farley]

For loading low pressure 1 oz loads, what is the preferred powder? I have access to both. Will be using AA hulls and federal papers. I've loaded for years for standard 1250- 1300 sporting loads, but I'm new to the low pressure game and wanted to know what the "go to" powder of choice was for a damascus parker (1150-1200fps). For what it's worth, the gun has been checked out by a reputable gunsmith and given a clean bill of health.

Curious, are you going to load 2 3/4” or 2 1/2”?

[Randy Zimmer]

off Alliant's web site back in 3/2000.
There are 3 wad combinations with the other components being the same:
Federal Paper Target hull, 7/8 oz. shot, Fed. 209 primer, 17.5 gr. RedDot, 1,200 FPS...
1. Win. WAA12F1 wad @ 4,800 PS| **(l use the Claybuster 1100-12 wad)
2. Rem. PT12 wad @ 5,000 PSI
3. Fed. 12SO wad @ 5,700 PSI

I cut the crimp off to 2 1/2”, use an overshot card and roll crimp to finish