.44 Special Loads For a Rainy Day

[Model 15-4ever]

I have to disagree with you there. A wooden dowel is about the worst thing you can use to remove a stuck bullet. When it shatters, it will jam in there tight enough you will need to almost drill it out. I much prefer a bore diameter steel rod. A couple of taps and the bullet is removed. No damage to the bore.

Kevin

Steel rod? No bueno.

Ideal is a brass rod. Barring that, I've use close-fitting wooden dowels, capped on the ends with brass cases of the appropriate size, screwed into place through the primer pocket/flash hole.

An 11/32 dowel rod, capped with .32 ACP case on either end makes a fine .38/9mm tap out rod. A 7/16 dowel rod with a .40 S&W case on either end does very well in .44/.45. Have never broken a dowel rod with any of these, and they are lighter in your range bag than full metal rods. Only weight is a small brass hammer, which is also useful for other range tasks.

 

[BLUEDOT37]

Back around 2013 my notes say I had odd pressure spike issues with Blue Dot in .44 Mag, and I recall there was a warning from Alliant published about that time regarding potential problems for some loads - wish I remembered more detail.

This wouldn't likely map over to .44 Special but seemed worth mentioning. It would not be my powder choice but then I have sufficient other types on hand.

It wouldn't "map over" to 44 Special because it never applied to 44 Magnum so this "heads-up" doesn't apply.

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I have experienced the same phenomenon with Blue Dot in a .357 Magnum. That was in the early 1980s, and I have not used Blue Dot since.

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This has been re-hashed many times, but here goes.
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Alliant Safety Notice:

During the latest review Alliant Powder discovered that Alliant Powder's Blue Dot® should not be used in the following applications:

- Blue Dot® should NOT be used in the 357 Magnum load using the 125 grain projectile (Blue Dot® recipes with heavier bullet weights as specified in Alliant Powders Reloading Guide are acceptable for use).

- Blue Dot® should NOT be used in the 41 Magnum cartridge (all bullet weights).

Use of Blue Dot® in the above cases may cause a high pressure situation that could cause property damage and serious personal injury.

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Isn't it odd that this important safety warning is nowhere to be found in their (121) page 2017 online (downloaded) Reloading Guide ?!?
(I couldn't find it in the older guides I searched either.)
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I don't know when this warning was first issued but in a 2006 Propellant Profile article in Handloader #243 it only had this notice on Blue Dot:

"...Blue Dot's only weakness: its susceptibility to extremes in temperature; notably, its slight weakening in very cold temperatures."
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Blue Dot was introduced in 1972. The 41 Magnum came out in 1964.

How could it be used in this cartridge for so many years (decades) before it was deemed unsafe in it, with any bullet?

It's okay to load it in any 10mm Auto cartridge (1.56cc/vol). It's okay in any 44 Special (2.33cc/vol) or 44 Magnum (2.47cc/vol) cartridge.

How is this powder so "smart" that it knows not to burn safely only in a 41 Magnum case (2.19cc/vol) ?
(Or with a 125gr 357 Magnum bullet, but not a 110gr or 140gr bullet?)

Why aren't any other pistol powders this "smart"?

I think they settled a lawsuit & this was part of the agreement.

I could be wrong but it's shot safely in everything I've loaded it in from 9mm to 500 S&W Magnum, including 41 Magnums, for years.

Follow your own judgement.

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My quote above is from a 2018 thread here on this forum about Blue Dot: Blue Dot in .41 Mag

As far as I'm concerned, and based on my use of it in every handgun cartridge I've ever load for (except 380 Auto & 38 Special), over the last 50 years, this is a non-issue.

It's not a perfect powder. I've had more problems with other powders (AA#9, Lil Gun) than I've had with Blue Dot, which were none.

That warning (their only Product Safety Notice listed) is still on Alliants website (below pic) but they don't even abide by it in the conglomerate's reloading manual. (Speer & Alliant are part of ATK)

Speer #14 (2010), the latest printed reloading manual I have on-hand from them (I don't have Speer #15), lists a Blue Dot recipe using their 210gr GDHP in 41 Magnum.

While that same manual does not list Blue Dot with a 125gr bullet in a .357 Magnum it does however list it with their 110, 140, 158 & 170gr bullet recipes.

So again, know the facts, not based on hearsay, & use your best judgement. You're free to choose.

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