For Red Dot lovers only

Elric

Elric

Well-Known Member
After a late Woodcock season jaunt, my buddy stopped at a trap range at Darien. He got his 28ga wads, but the former dairy barn used for storage had pallets of stuff...

One item on the price list behind the counter was an 8lb jug of Red Dot [not the newer "Red"] for $132 [before tax, must have tax]...

A Solution - A Solution Rediscovered

Lever Gun Performance Studies

Reloading Data for cast bullets, result of lever gun accuracy studies on cartridges: 357 Magnum, 41 Rem Mag, 44 S&W, 44 Russian, 44 Magnum, 444 Marlin, 45-70 Goverment, Pistol Powders, Large Capacity Rifle Cases
www.gmdr.com

Before the deluge of "Captain Obvious" begins, that link shows data used in exploring cowboy action loads, so if you clutch your RCBS Cast Bullet Manual #1 tightly while preaching, I already got religion...

I like Red Dot, pretty much position insensitive, used it at case densities of maybe 30% fill [285448, 7-30]. Unique turned in some good groups as well...
 
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RBHarter

RBHarter

West Central AR
I got a big old can of RD circa 1968 . I shot a bunch of it under that pesky 356-124 that nobody can get to shoot in a 9mm . Also a bunch of it in 38s and light 357s . I probably tried it in a 45 ACP at some point too . I used a little during my formative years in cast rifles when I discovered that there was something really obvious I couldn't figure out because it was so very carefully staring me in the face .
I haven't loaded any in several years . I think there are a couple of places I really need to try it .
 
B

Bill

Active Member
RB, what was staring you in the face? It's one of the best I ever shot with plain based 30-30s

Bill
 
RBHarter

RBHarter

West Central AR
Bill said:
RB, what was staring you in the face? It's one of the best I ever shot with plain based 30-30s

Bill
Click to expand...

It was very early on . I shot some 150 Slick sided commercial bullets that in hindsight should have been paper patched for a tight 8mm or loose Russian 7.62 and not as is in the 06' . They had a varnished hard coat of some sort and were on the fat side of .308 . Not a great thing when your throat is .310 with a .306 muzzle and a loose space in the middle .

I had bullets as much as .314 with deepened lube grooves and even knerling to fix it . It made no sense to have a clean barrel for 4" in front of the chamber and the last 4" clean ....... In desperation I fired about 10 laps , what would it hurt at this point . I threw out all of the trial and loaded some really light Red Dot behind the really fat 200gr spitzer monstrosity I had drilled out of a Lee 309-??? saving the grooves and and they shot . So I followed that on up to group failure then picked up with Unique . Probably 100 rounds minimum , no lead , and for me personally volumes of alloy , powder , pressure, grip length , jump etc finally made sense . All that learning for some choke under a dove tail and swell from probably 1000s of super heavy jacketed .
Last time I saw it it was a .3113 throat/lead more or less straight for about 16" and a gentle 3" choke down to .3075 at the muzzle . Barrel choke ......... not a good thing for a guy just getting started and help that reverts to "did you even read the stickies" . Whatever . The fix that made that 65' 110 LH a great cast bullet rifle also mucked up the jacketed THE LOAD .
For a few more cartridges I started with RD and worked through Unique to real rifle loads , where things didn't fall apart before I got there .
 
CZ93X62

CZ93X62

Official forum enigma
I can't count how many pounds of Red Dot I have run through 12 gauge shotguns and revolvers of all calibers (almost all with cast bullets). I cannot think of a time in my life since 1971 that Red Dot was not on a shelf somewhere in my garage or a closet. 48 years and counting.
 
Brad

Brad

Benevolent Overlord and site owner
Staff member
Don’t use RD in rifles at all but sure burn some in handguns. I really like the stuff.
 
fiver

fiver

Well-Known Member
I'd tell you how much red-dot I have on hand right now, but someone would probably try to call the fire dept. which goes through police dispatch here.
[I'd still feel better about the amount if I had about 8 more jugs of it]

at 134$ the jug would have left a dust trail behind it followed by the ''do you have any more? i'll take all of it'', question.
 
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