When You cant get your favorite powder, Time to think!

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exbrit49

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Have used Red Dot since 1972. Cant get any around here any where! (First time in 40 yrs I couldn't get Red Dot) Tough because I use Red Dot in my 9mm, .38 Spl and 45ACP loads. I have a Little Dandy powder dispenser that I use for standard pistol rounds and had the right inserts to throw the powder weight I use for each caliber.
Looked at my powder supplies and found I had over 4 lbs. of Unique that I use for my 45 Colt. and several other loads. Tried the other Little Dandy inserts I have and none came close to the charge I needed for the .45.
Fired up a friends lathe and made some new little Dandy Insert blanks. Then started drilling the powder cavity in one of the new parts I had made. I drilled close to where I figured I needed to be, inserted it in the Little Dandy and the charge was too light. Put it back in the drill press and drilled a little deeper. Had to repeat this several times and finally got it to dispense the load I needed with virtually no variation! I was actually surprised as my scale showed such minor variations, I re-checked the scale twice! I could have used my regular Lyman 55 powder dispenser and scale but its so much slower than the Little Dandy for standard pistol rounds.
Well it may not be Red Dot, but the Chrono showed the Unique load was within 30 FPS of my Red Dot loadings. Accuracy seems about the same. Wow I am a happy camper now as I usually shoot around 1000 rounds of 45 ACP a month. Didn't know what I was going to do? Hallelujah The idea I had come up with worked!!
It was well worth the work and now I can carry on shooting 45ACP as much as I want.
I would have gladly traded Unique for some Red Dot but no one I knew, had any. Now I have enough Red Dot left for my 9mm and .38 Spl loads to last me another 3 months.
Any one around the Fort Wayne, IN. area want to trade some Red Dot for Unique? (chuckle)
Sure Hope Alliant gets their product back on the shelves soon and the hoarders dont keep clearing
it out!
 
If nothing else these last two ammo speed bumps have caused some (many) reloaders to think outside the box and creatively solve issues.

FYI Promo uses the same data as RedDot by weight. It is only sold in 8 LB kegs. It is more often in stock than RD at places like Powder Valley and Natchez Shooters Supplies. If you get some, making a custom rotor for that would work well.
 
If nothing else these last two ammo speed bumps have caused some (many) reloaders to think outside the box and creatively solve issues.

.

thats exactly where i ended up and im glad i did. I got to try a whole lot of new powders and i have had excellent results with a few. They have become my go to powders.
 
What other handgun powders are on you shelf?
Accurate #5 and Winchester WST, Unique and the remaining Red Dot. loading for multiple calibers over the years has bought me down to this selection that has proved fantastic for the handguns I load for. Have lots of rifle powder but thats another matter. I am OK on all of those.
 
I like to have loads worked up for alternate powders in my most common use cartridges. This is how I discovered True Blue during the Obama era shortages.

There used to be a guy that made adjustable rotors for the Little Dandy powder measure. I'm not sure he is still doing this but if you have access to a lathe, it might be a good project to add to your flexibility. I also have a Little Dandy but the spirit has not moved me to work on an adjustable rotor.
 
If your ever in Dayton Ohio area, Gander Mountain Outdoors on I-70 had a bunch of Red Dot a couple of weeks ago. If I’m out that way today I’ll check and see if it’s still there.
 
Unique works quite well in 9mm and 38spl also. I have been using Unique in these two
since the early eighties.
 
Well it may not be Red Dot, but the Chrono showed the Unique load was within 30 FPS of my Red Dot loadings. Accuracy seems about the same. Wow I am a happy camper now as I usually shoot around 1000 rounds of 45 ACP a month. Didn't know what I was going to do? Hallelujah The idea I had come up with worked!!
It was well worth the work and now I can carry on shooting 45ACP as much as I want.
I would have gladly traded Unique for some Red Dot but no one I knew, had any. Now I have enough Red Dot left for my 9mm and .38 Spl loads to last me another 3 months.
That is why they call it Unique.;)
 
Red Dot also makes an excellent reduced load in military surplus rifles. If you aren't familiar, and are interested in a low recoil/economical alternative, search for CE Harris' "the load."
 
That is something I need to keep in mind for the future.

You know, RedDot is a pretty decent powder. I wound up loading .45ACP and .45 Colt with it, but I could see where it would work with a lot of cartridges, even mid-range .41 loads, etc, etc. It's a fast powder... as fast as WST and TiteGroup, but it doesn't act like it. Odd... but in a good way.
 
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