light rifle load question

[tree rat]

Is Red dot powder position sensitive? I have used unique before with no problems. but want to try red dot = more loads per pound and lower velocity.

[woodchukhntr]

Not in my experience.  I mostly use 13.0 gr. with cast and fmj bullets in .308, .30-30, .303 British, and have experienced some very good groups (less than 1" @ 100 yd. in my .30-06) without taking any care in positioning.

[tree rat]

I did not know it could be used with jacketed bullets! I thought these kind of loads were for cast only. thanks for the info

[woodchukhntr]

It works very well with jacketed, except don't expect them to expand on game.  A few years ago I was in a summer 100 meter prone league.  I was shooting a Springfield '03 with 147 gr. FMJ's.  I use that load with my .308 and .30-06 rifles when I mount scopes to get them on paper and for plinking.  It's far less work than casting and sizing bullets.

[ND Sharpshooter]

I've gone as low as 10 grains of Red Dot in 308 with cast bullets from 160 to 204 grains with good accuracy for off hand practice.  The relativly long barrel time makes you really concentrate on follow through and it's fairly inexpensive practice.

[Darrell Davis]

Morn'in shooters

The reddot works great in my wife's 270 w/ light jacketed bullets.

We use them for her "reduced load" practice ammo.

The only problem I have is making sure I take enough ammo along during our shooting sessions.

Shooting the reduced loads at SMALL close in targets give the same relationship in the sight picture as a deer sized target at normal deer ranges and with our present load, we don't even need to change scope settings.

Keep em coming!

CDOC

[tree rat]

So would I be right that I could use red dot in my .22 hornet with jacket bullets also. I have used unique, but want slower velocity, looking for subsonic load. how does a start load of 2 grain red dot and 30 grain sierra hp .224 in hornet sound. will it be safe to try?

[Darrell Davis]

My OLD Lyman Cast bullet handbook indicates a starting load of 2grains of Red Dot with a CAST 37gr, 41gr, and 45gr cast bullet in the 22 Hornet.

They list a max load of 4gr for the 37gr, 3.8gr for the 41gr and 3.7gr with the 45 grain bullet.

Over the years, I have understood that jacketed bullets do create a bit more pressure then the lead bullets, but I don't know just how much could be expected in this case.

Considering this is a very small centerfire case, and the fact that Lyman Is increasing the load, in the case of the 45gr bullet, by 92.5% to reach the 3.7grain level of Red Dot, it indicates that a little goes a long ways with this powder/case combination.

Personaly, and IN MY HUMBLE OPINION and I could be wrong - again, I think this is a safe load.  However, I think I would want to do a bit more checking to make sure.

By the way, the velocities for the three Lyman bullets w/ the 2grain charge of Red Dot are, 37gr - 1210fps, 41gr - 1095fps and 45gr - 1060fps. All fired from a Winchester model 54 w/ 24" barrel - 1-16" twist and .223 groove diameter.

I am using 12gr of RD with jacketed bullets in the 100 - 110 grain range in the wife's 270 and Lyman lists a 12 gr starting load with a 122gr cast bullet.  This is a very good reduced load in this situation, easy on the shooter, shoulder, barrel and budget.

Lyman lists a 14gr load as max in the above situation which is just less then a 9.8% increase in this much larger case.

Keep us posted on what you find.

Keep em coming!

CDOC

[Antietamgw]

Red Dot appears to not be position sensitive in .45-70. 10.5gr. with a 470 gr. FN has been my accuracy load in a Rolling Block for years. 10gr. Unique is a different story - tilt the muzzle or roll the forearm in the bags or expect verticle stringing...at least in my experience.