Red Dot in .38 Spl

[Random 8]

Decided to do some backyard plinking today with the Henry single. Didn't want to use up any of my "good" pistol ammo in a gun that usually eats full house .357 or random stuff, and felt like doing some 'sperimenting, so I grabbed a partial can of Red Dot that was hiding by my shotgun stuff.

158 gr MBC RN with Alliants +p load. Was very pleasantly surprised with the results. Very mild report, VERY clean at this pressure. Didn't test the accuracy on paper, but I was able to consistently hit 2-3" wide pieces of split wood more or less centered top to bottom on the sticks to 70 yards, so good enough for the purpose of getting some offhand practice in. If I were shooting this in a lesser firearm I would have done some load work up, but considering the Henry can probably handle North of 55K PSI, skipped that part.

Don't overlook some of those old shotgun powders in the good old .38!

 

[1KPerDay]

Red dot is a great powder for a lot of uses.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

Red Dot and Promo have Ben used in the .38 Special and many other cartridges for Decades with good results. If you have some Green Dot you might like that too. It has a very similar performance as W231/HP-38.

 

[AJC1]

Lyman list standard and +p 38 data with red dot. I tested the entire range and normal max of 3.4 grains with my cast boollit was supper accurate. The wheels came off as I went up. Just fine by me loading max standard pressure. 156 grain cast for all.

 

[Random 8]

Played with it on paper today. 2" +/- at 73 yards, all within the 10 ring on an SR-1, I'll take it! They're just barely supersonic out of the rifle, and it seems to like them this way. I keep the rifle loads a little warmer than my handgun loads, as it normally serves hunting duty with full on .357s, and warm cast loads get close to same POI. It's heavy enough, recoil is negligible even with H110 lightning bolts, even a heavy cast load is child's play.

 

[lordpaxman]

Red dot and some WCs in .38 was my first reloading pistol experience. It was a round cardboard jug if I remember correctly. There are a lot of powders that do well in .38 and red dot is one of them.

 

[teerex.otw]

Decided to do some backyard plinking today with the Henry single. Didn't want to use up any of my "good" pistol ammo in a gun that usually eats full house .357 or random stuff, and felt like doing some 'sperimenting, so I grabbed a partial can of Red Dot that was hiding by my shotgun stuff.

158 gr MBC RN with Alliants +p load. Was very pleasantly surprised with the results. Very mild report, VERY clean at this pressure. Didn't test the accuracy on paper, but I was able to consistently hit 2-3" wide pieces of split wood more or less centered top to bottom on the sticks to 70 yards, so good enough for the purpose of getting some offhand practice in. If I were shooting this in a lesser firearm I would have done some load work up, but considering the Henry can probably handle North of 55K PSI, skipped that part.

Don't overlook some of those old shotgun powders in the good old .38!

Red Dot has been one of my favorite powders for…well, forever.
Like Unique, it has a lot of applications, always had good results with it, and there’s lots of load data available.

 

[FROGO207]

I started out with RD when loading my 38's and after a bit found out about Promo. Since then I have never looked back. Lots of uses for Promo within handgun loads. Even works well with cast rifle ammo.

 

[AJC1]

I started out with RD when loading my 38's and after a bit found out about Promo. Since then I have never looked back. Lots of uses for Promo within handgun loads. Even works well with cast rifle ammo.

It used to be a much better deal, is it still more cost effective. Haven't seen any to know.

 

[FROGO207]

It is still about 20% less last time I purchased any. The best part to me is that it is easier to meter than RD as it is smaller grain. That is why you are supposed to work up loads by weight not use the same volume as RD.

 

[Random 8]

It is still about 20% less last time I purchased any. The best part to me is that it is easier to meter than RD as it is smaller grain. That is why you are supposed to work up loads by weight not use the same volume as RD.

Yes, I have both. The RD was a partial 1lb can that was forgotten for awhile. I'm actively loading Promo for 12Ga, and it most certainly is denser than RD. Also seems cleaner in shotgun applications.

 

[FROGO207]

Last chance I found Promo I jumped on two kegs of it and 2 LB of green dot. That at least spread out the HazMat cost.
Agree with you that it burns cleaner than RD. I have been experimenting with C E Harris's "the load" using RD data in lead rifle loads and it seems to work well if other options are not available so far in 30-30 and 308. More fun when LR primers return in quantity.

 

[deadeye dick]

I like Green Dot for a lot of pistol rounds also.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

I like Green Dot for a lot of pistol rounds also.

I used Green Dot cor several cartridges including the .38 Special. I have found Green Dot has a very narrow sweet spot but when yoh find it, it runs great.