I was looking around the Hodgdon loading data site and discovered that IMR has provided data for IMR BLUE in .40 S&W. I looked around to see if they offered data for more cartridges but could only find data for 38 Special and .38 Special +P.


Hodgdon Landing | Hodgdon (hodgdonreloading.com)

A few years ago I did a little project with my Sigma 40F shooting 155gr Remington JHPs and posted that over at the S&W website.

http://smith-wessonforum.com/reloading/302121-loading-40-s-w-155gr-jhp.html

I wanted to see where IMR BLUE fit in with this, so loaded up five rounds with the Rem bullet.
Looking closely at the 155gr data, IMR loaded this seemingly light. The pressure was lower than all the other loads. Having worked with BLUE DOT quite a bit and comparing with IMR BLUE, BLUE DOT is a tad faster than IMR BLUE, and IMR BLUE doesn?t produce the velocities that BLUE DOT does. So I bumped it up 0.3 tenths to 10.8grs. Could probably take it up a bit more.
While I was at it I included a max load of AutoComp that wasn?t included in the project. Probably because I didn?t have any at the time.



Well is was painfully obvious, pun intended, that this gun wanted nothing to do with AutoComp with a max load of 7.8grs. Recoil was significant and they were all over the place.

But, IMR BLUE wasn?t bad at all. This group is as good as any with 155gr bullets. The gun with its current sight configuration is right on the money with 180gr bullets. The faster 155?s shoot low.



Now, as for .38 Special..
When I first got a hold of some IMR BLUE I did some experimenting with  125gr JHP .38 Special +P?s and .357 Magnum.



I worked up to 9.9grs with IMR BLUE and got the same velocity I got with 5.6grs of IMR TARGET, even with the Winchester mag primer, which tends to boost velocities a bit. No where near the velocity IMR published. I wonder if IMR is using vented test barrels?

Well, that?s all the fun for today.  If anyone is interested in the .357 results let me know.

Thanks for the range reports!
I had noticed that IMR Blue while similar, didn't equal the Hercules or Alliant Blue Dot performance.

Accuracy of the IMR Blue is good though!

I'm a bit surprised at the groups with the Sigma. The scattered group is what it is, the group on the bottom with Bkue is better. I had an SDVE40 and couldn't hit with it. I gave it to my son, he never told me if he shot it yet or how it performed for him. I wanted to like it but after 100 rounds, No tickey, No laundry.