Trailboss powder

[Dynamic]

Hey guys going to try out this powder for the first time. Is it really as easy as they say to load this stuff ?

- Seat the bullet to the OAL .

- Measure how much volume there is under the bullet

- That is the max pressure

-70% of the max pressure load is the " starting " load. ??

My main concern is this. I will be loading this in 44-40 ( Winchester 1892 ) 38-40 ( Winchester 1873) and possibly my trapdoor.

Even if I load in between starting load and max load, it will never go above max SAAMI specs for these rifles ? ( all pre 1880 black powder pressures )

If i load a 45-70 or 38-40 to the " max " load will I blow up my trapdoor or 1873 ?

I do not have a chrono to measure the FPS

Thanks guys.

[rsrocket1]

umm..... get yourself a manual and follow the data.

but I am curious, how would you measure how much volume there is under the bullet?

• Determine how deep you seat the bullet
• Use the tail of your calipers to see how deep that is in your case
• Fill the case up to that point
• Weigh the powder
• Use 80% of that as your starting load

Trailboss powder is made so that its volume equivalent is close but always less than that of BP so you don't go over pressure. It has a close energy density of Clays or Titewad (by weight) so you could also use the weight charge (or a little less to be safe) of those powders as a starting point and with less cost, but those powders are more dense and will take up very little volume in a case designed for BP.

Trailboss is nice in that it fills up the case and you'll always be able to detect a double charge. Don't ever try to gain "a little more speed" out of Trailboss or these other fast powders. It's only meant to reliably drive a bullet out of the barrel of the gun with enough pressure to create a clean burn.

[tandmsimmons]

Trail Boss Review

I use it for 32-20 Win. It shoots clean and provides good accuracy. It is an extruded o shaped flake powder the flakes are very lite. Not sure how you plan on metering it so this may be a consideration. I have found that availability is an issue with this powder. If your going to use it a lot finding it may be an issue.

[garyngwind]

rsrocket1: Trailboss can also use to develop a "low recoil" load too right?

[Dynamic]

• Determine how deep you seat the bullet
• Use the tail of your calipers to see how deep that is in your case
• Fill the case up to that point
• Weigh the powder
• Use 80% of that as your starting load

Trailboss powder is made so that its volume equivalent is close but always less than that of BP so you don't go over pressure. It has a close energy density of Clays or Titewad (by weight) so you could also use the weight charge (or a little less to be safe) of those powders as a starting point and with less cost, but those powders are more dense and will take up very little volume in a case designed for BP.

Trailboss is nice in that it fills up the case and you'll always be able to detect a double charge. Don't ever try to gain "a little more speed" out of Trailboss or these other fast powders. It's only meant to reliably drive a bullet out of the barrel of the gun with enough pressure to create a clean burn.

I use it for 32-20 Win. It shoots clean and provides good accuracy. It is an extruded o shaped flake powder the flakes are very lite. Not sure how you plan on metering it so this may be a consideration. I have found that availability is an issue with this powder. If your going to use it a lot finding it may be an issue.

Thanks guys. I am going to try it out tonight. The Hodgdon sheet has 5.5-6.5 grains. Hopefully the case full , 70-80 % full equals to this ammount.

[LynnJr]

TrailBoss powder looks like a flat donut. It has a hole in the middle just like a donut.
You really need to be careful as it is so slow it may not push the bullet out of the barrel. I tried it in my 300 Whisper/300 Blackout and could only get 450 FPS.
I use 10.8 grains in my 308 and 6 grains in my 6BR and it is too slow for the 6BR.
Bring a cleaning rod and make sure you can see daylight down the barrel between shots.

[rsrocket1]

rsrocket1: Trailboss can also use to develop a "low recoil" load too right?

Yes. Just make sure you never compress the powder. It is not meant to be used in compressed loads.

[G-Man WC]

I've used it for 45colt. Would not be my first choice.
And also made mouse fart 308win loads for kids to shoot a big gun.
Like others have stated, check for daylight in the barrel between shots to be sure.
Smells funny when burnt!
-g

[Whiterabbit]

Yes Dynamic, it really is that easy.

No chrono? no problem, just shoot for groups. a 9oz can goes a long way.

in my experience, best accuracy in the 90% case fill range.

I haven't found a load I like yet at 50 yards. But 15 yards with a pistol, it's hard to go wrong.

[LynnJr]

Follow up post.
In my experience you can't get enough TrailBoss in most of the cases "I" use to get much velocity even for subsonic loads.

[Win231]

I love Trail Boss. I load it in light 44 Mag around 900-1,000 fps.

[Dynamic]

So i just measured.

I made a dummy round with no spent primer in the bottom. Seated the bullet to the crimp line . Measured the bottom with a needle and duplicated the powder ammount that would fit with the measurement i took. It is 8.3 grains , so i will round down to 8.0 grains as max powder that will fit. 70% of that is 5.0 grains.

From what I have read alot of people using original winchester 1973 or 1892 in this caliber are loading between 5.5 grains - 6.0 grains of trailboss.

Gonna load up 200 with 5.5 grains see how i like it. This will be used on my SAA clone and the Winchester 1892.

[Whiterabbit]

Follow up post.
In my experience you can't get enough TrailBoss in most of the cases "I" use to get much velocity even for subsonic loads.

Isn't it the point to cough bullets out of the barrel?

[checkenbach]

It's my go to powder for .38 special IDPA loads, accurate and minimal recoil. I hand drop powder after weighing it on my RCBS Chargemaster.

[LynnJr]

Isn't it the point to cough bullets out of the barrel?

That's what your after but in a lot of cases you simply can't get enough of it to cough the bullets.
I only use it in rifle cases and try to get 1000-1100 FPS.
If you fill a case and only get 450-650 FPS accuracy will be horrendous and extreme spreads will be triple digits