I made a trip to Recobs and saw the new "IMR Blue" powder. It seems that IMR is targeting Unique, Red Dot, Green Dot and Blue Dot powders with that series of new powders.
Blue Dot is a good 10mm powder, as well as magnum shot sell powder, but IMR Blue has a similar description except no mention of handguns.
I got a wild hair and bought a pound. I don't reload shot shells, and while I shoot fairly often training dogs, heavy loads aren't the normal loads I go with, so that end of the performance envelope doesn't excite me much.
Might it be a good powder for 10mm??? There is no load data so I'd be walking the plank.
Wild hairs can be dangerous...
Greg
Geeman send or post a picture if and when you can! Does the New "BLUE" show identifiers?
There is some load data on the Hodgdon Reloading Center. I took a quick look for 10mm using 180 grain bullets and found a load using IMR Unequal:
IMR Unequal .400" 1.260" 6.5 1,063 26,600 PSI 8.6 1,253 35,000 PSI
http://www.ammoland.com/2016/11/imr-legendary-powders-releases-new-imr-family-of-powders/#axzz4bB5dOeie
I just went to hodgdon reloading and Alliant powders websites and compared 12 gauge 3" federal plastic shotshells across shot weights and wads. Line for line IMR Blue and Blue Dot had the same max charges for the same spec'd pressures. Not similar. The data was exactly the same.
I would not hesitate to use Blue Dot data. Reduce 10% from max and work up.
Per IMR's site:
"Most shotshell data is similar, but IMR recommends always consulting www.IMRReloading.com for the most accurate, up-to-date data. For pistol usage, pistol data is materially different from competitor data with lower charge weights and higher velocities at maximum pressures"
I picked up a # last week. I'll start low, measuring expansion along the way.
Let us know how it goes. I like blue dot alot, but it can be dirty if not driven to full pressure. A powder that gave the same performance but was cleaner would be great news.
Quote from: The_Shadow on March 12 2017 09:12:00 PM MDT
Geeman send or post a picture if and when you can! Does the New "BLUE" show identifiers?
Sorry for the delay.
Larger flake powder. Not as big of flakes as 800x, but much larger than my other 100 powders by quite a bunch. Maybe a millimeter or so in size.
(https://photos.smugmug.com/Working-Spaniels/Post/i-6tMCd8z/0/X3/P3180199-X3.jpg)
(https://photos.smugmug.com/Working-Spaniels/Post/i-zCGrbdg/0/XL/P3180200-XL.jpg)
Greg
Wow, This is the New "BLUE" from IMR with identifiers like that of Blue Dot! :o
Thanks Geeman!
Recobs are major enablers :)
I need to buy a new camera!
Nice pics Geeman!
I am pretty interested in the IMR Blue powder for 10mm loading. IMR Unequal seems similar to Longshot or Powder Pistol performance so the Blue formula should be a really good one I would think for upper end 10mm loading.
No load data at the moment though. I wonder if the IMR powder will be less flashy vs Alliant's Blue Dot.
I would be interested to learn if BLUE is the same by weight a Blue Dot. The 12 gauge heavy shotshell data seems to indicate some equality. It is what I suspect with the others as well that there will be a correlation...RED, GREEN, UNEQUAL, TARGET ::)
I've got a pound, but haven't really put any thought into determining a start point.
Guess I start pretty low, and make sure I have a dowel in case of a squib ;D