I see the old books list green dot for use in .357 loads gonna load soon and have a large amount of green dot and 231 and also unique. I have used blue dot and 231 and unique but never green dot... "Talk to me"got about 6 lbs of it.. gifted to me. (green dot )
.357 loads for green dot and 231 and unique
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Green Dot's forte is that it is the perfect light hunting load powder for 12ga. It makes consistently round patterns with 7/8oz to 1-1/8oz loads at or below 1250fps.
Conveniently, it burns quite well in pistols. W231 and Green Dot are not very dissimilar, other than one's a ball and one's a flake-shaped powder. Burning speeds are similar, which is to say fast.
I load 5.6grs of W231 in 357 as a mid-range (half-way between 38 and 357) load with 158gr lead SWCs. I bet somewhere around 5.0grs of Green Dot would be accurate and powerful without being too hot. Remember to start low and work up!
Conveniently, it burns quite well in pistols. W231 and Green Dot are not very dissimilar, other than one's a ball and one's a flake-shaped powder. Burning speeds are similar, which is to say fast.
I load 5.6grs of W231 in 357 as a mid-range (half-way between 38 and 357) load with 158gr lead SWCs. I bet somewhere around 5.0grs of Green Dot would be accurate and powerful without being too hot. Remember to start low and work up!
Paul5388
US Veteran
There used to be a lot of shot shell reloading that used a lot of Green Dot in the process. I've about worked my way through the last of what I bought in 1973, but I mainly used it for lighter loads. You can approach Unique velocities, but considering I think Green Dot meters better than Unique, I'd probably use it instead of Unique.
Speer #8 says you can use 6.5 gr of Green Dot (max load) with a 158 gr LSWC for about 1140 fps. That's a little heavier than .38/44 loads and should do anything you need it to do.
Speer #8 says you can use 6.5 gr of Green Dot (max load) with a 158 gr LSWC for about 1140 fps. That's a little heavier than .38/44 loads and should do anything you need it to do.
WaMike
Member
I love using either Green Dot or 231 in my .38 Spl. loads so much that I worked up a low-power load for my .357 (I don't like cleaning the crud out of the chamber, so try not to shoot 38 Spl. brass in my .357s). Either is cheap to shoot: how can you not like to get over 1500 loads in a pound of powder?!
I use mostly 158 gr. lead semi-wadcutters. The Lee manual says you can use 5.9 - 6.7 W231 or 5.4 - 6.0 gr. of Green Dot. But on the high end, the manual says velocity is 1200+ fps.
I was aiming for 38 Spl. velocities, and so boost 38 Spl. loads by .5 gr. to make up for the slightly less efficient (for low velocity) .357 brass. So that means 4.0 gr of Green Dot and 5 gr. W231. That gives me about 865 fps (Green Dot) and 870 fps (W231) in two different 4" barreled Smiths. Both loads are accurate, and very clean burning.
But if you have a lot of either powder, better start shooting....the powder might last longer than you!
I use mostly 158 gr. lead semi-wadcutters. The Lee manual says you can use 5.9 - 6.7 W231 or 5.4 - 6.0 gr. of Green Dot. But on the high end, the manual says velocity is 1200+ fps.
I was aiming for 38 Spl. velocities, and so boost 38 Spl. loads by .5 gr. to make up for the slightly less efficient (for low velocity) .357 brass. So that means 4.0 gr of Green Dot and 5 gr. W231. That gives me about 865 fps (Green Dot) and 870 fps (W231) in two different 4" barreled Smiths. Both loads are accurate, and very clean burning.
But if you have a lot of either powder, better start shooting....the powder might last longer than you!
ArchAngelCD
Moderator, SWCA Member, Absent Comrade
Green Dot and W231 are very similar powders in performance. You should be able to use Green Dot in any application you use W231. It will make good .38 Special ammo and light .375 Magnum ammo too.
Steve C
Member
Picture off of Alliants 2003 data for the .357 mag with both Unique and Green dot:
Go to http://data.hodgdon.com/main_menu.asp or most current reloading manuals for data using W231.
Go to http://data.hodgdon.com/main_menu.asp or most current reloading manuals for data using W231.
Paul5388
US Veteran
Yep, that's one that has Blue Dot with a 125 gr bullet. They no longer recommend Blue Dot with a 125 gr. When I used that published load, I got <1500 fps and sticky extraction. 13.0 gr was only 40 fps slower, which is a pretty good indication that 14.5 gr is an overload. I used a 4" Ruger Security Six for that data, I didn't want to take the chance of messing up a good gun. 
But check out the Bullseye data. I'm impressed it will produce those velocities.
Paul5388
US Veteran
I believe Alliant uses a 10" barrel for their velocities. It's real hard to duplicate what they get, if you use a normal revolver.
Steve C
Member
The loads listed on the Alliant chart are all maximum loads and need to be reduced 10% for a start load. Should have added this to my 1st post but if one load is listed in data, its always the maximum and reloaders are supposed to know that they need to reduce it by 10% to start and work up.
The velocity data comes from the barrel length listed in the 4th row, all 5.6" for the .357 mag. Likely a test barrel and may or may not be vented to simulate a revolver.
The velocity data comes from the barrel length listed in the 4th row, all 5.6" for the .357 mag. Likely a test barrel and may or may not be vented to simulate a revolver.
Paul5388
US Veteran
Regardless of barrel length used, it's still hard to match their velocities, unless you want to factor in 200 fps per inch in length difference.
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