A friend gave me 5 unopened containers of Blue Dot powder. I have no idea how old it is but they are one pound containers and have $10 price tags on them.
I know there are multiple pistol loads with this powder but I am looking for 3/4 ounce 20 gauge load ideas. I can find 1 ounce no problem.
Anyone use this stuff recently ?

For 3/4 as much shot just use 3/4 as much powder as the 1 ounce loads. Easy math. Kidding of course, I know nothing about reloading. lol

I've used it for my 10 gauge with #4 buck but that's the extent of my knowledge.

If I remember right, its a slow burning powder.

I figured it must be fairly slow considering the pistol loads I looked at

Blue dot is used in heavy loads.
It is used mostly in heavy hunting loads in the 12 ga. 1 oz loads in the 20. Lighter loads it is too slow burning.

If I remember correctly, we used red dot for skeet loads

Check the Alliant website for load data. Don't load for any but 12 gauge, but do know that as you go down the ladder, the powders change......slower burning powders like Blue Dot and Herco used more in 20, 28 and 410 than in 12 gauge.

Blue Dot is also a big winner in 9mm, 45's and other pistol loads. Would be highly sought after by some.

Was in Ba$$ Pro in Springfield last week looking for some Unique. IMR 4350 was $75 a pound.
Anything Alliant was $50 a pound.

The Alliant site lists 1 oz loads for the 20 ga. Not a 28 or 410 load is listed. 12 ga lists 1 1/8oz 1 1/4oz 1 3/8s and 1 1/2 oz loads.

I had a 1 1/8'' 20ga. load using blue dot- but I can't remember what it was. That's a heavy load powder. Don't get rid of it. I think your best bet would be to look for old load magazines or manuals on E-Bay. It's a good powder to have for some pistols loads too.

https://www.shotgunworld.com/threads/blue-dot-20-gauge-loads.418500/

Maybe that's of some help.

Blue Dot in a 20ga is going to be extremely dirty. It's awfully slow and you'd need quite a bit of it to get anywhere. It's a fine powder in its lane but trying to make it work for something else isn't going to yield very satisfactory results unfortunately. Getting "cheap" powder is always nice but trying to cross utilize it isn't worth the hassle in my opinion.

Do you have any primers....

Not likely you will find anything listed for less than a 7/8 oz using BD. If you do, it will likely be a very dirty load, with unburned powder left in your barrel. BD does it’s best in heavy for gauge loads and likes some wad pressure.

In the world of shotguns and pistols, there are powders considered shotgun, powders considered pistol and some that do both. I'm of the opinion Blue Dot is mostly pistol powder that can be used now and then in shotguns.

A review in 9mm.........

http://www.natoreloading.com/bluedot/

Go to Lyman and look at all the pistol calibers from 9mm and up that list Blue Dot. It is a gob and a bunch.

Blue Dot was my preferred powder for 1 3/8 oz crow loads back in the day.

Great powder but needs heavy payload to utilize the performance it was designed for.

That "dirty" stuff is the same result i had with Green Dot. I usually load International Clays in my 3/4oz loads. It's wonderful but almost impossible to find.




The same guy brought me some 209's and I traded him some CCI250's so that worked out well



Yeah I could use it in my 45ACP loads but I usually load 5 grains of Bullseye in those. Blue Dot requires 10.5gns. BUT.........the price was right !!

Good you found some primers Ken.

There ought to be ways
For you to load shotgun shells without Clays,
But it, it is not,
When Blue Dot is all you've got.

^^^He's a poet and don't know it.^^^