Trail Boss - I get it

[Dark Mod]

I started loading with it but moved on to W231, dont remember why. How dirty is it with jacketed rounds? also How is Unique as far as dirtiness goes?

Love the Matte 586 by the way, wish i had more revolvers. Also wish i never got rid of my 460.

Next revolver will be blued with wood grips for sure.

[sofbak]

Has anyone tried loading rifle cases with trail boss? I was thinking about some 30-06 loads with it. I like the 30-06 and have a ton of jacketed bullets for it, but the recoil gets old after a while with a bolt gun. I used to shoot a 3lb coffee can of loaded 30-06 at full power in a day when I was a teen, now not so much. IMR says it's ok to run jacketed, and I have done so in pistol cases, but not rifle.

I am going to give it a shot, but I was just wondering what anyone else thought. TB is a great powder.

IMR lists a .30-06 load with TB and a 150 gr. boat tail. Load is 19 grains, and using the published VMD for TB, that just about fills the usable volume in the case.

It also shows a mv of 1477 fps out of a 24" barrel, so it should be easy on your shoulder. Lots of drop at distances, but that's what elevation adjustment is for. Try it and report back....

[CEDaytonaRydr]

How dirty is it with jacketed rounds? also How is Unique as far as dirtiness goes?

It depends from caliber to caliber and load to load. It's the cleanest powder I've ever seen for 45 ACP. 6.0gr under a 200gr lead, or copper plate. That load is very popular...

On the other hand, I've used it for 40 S&W and it's not that great. W231 seemed cleaner for that cartridge...

[Javi]

Has anyone tried loading rifle cases with trail boss?

[Noonanda]

Has anyone tried loading rifle cases with trail boss? I was thinking about some 30-06 loads with it. I like the 30-06 and have a ton of jacketed bullets for it, but the recoil gets old after a while with a bolt gun. I used to shoot a 3lb coffee can of loaded 30-06 at full power in a day when I was a teen, now not so much. IMR says it's ok to run jacketed, and I have done so in pistol cases, but not rifle.

I am going to give it a shot, but I was just wondering what anyone else thought. TB is a great powder.

Aint5 done .30-06 yet, but did .308 using 110Gr Frangibles, fun little plinker load with zero recoil.

[Bill Steele]

..TB is a good powder. Burn rate is slower than 231, so you get more of a "push" than a "pop", with very mild recoil..

TB is quite a bit faster than W231. It is just less dense.

[sofbak]

TB is quite a bit faster than W231. It is just less dense.

Not according to the "Powder Burn Rate Chart" in my Lee manual (pg 111). W231 is 6 or so places higher up the list that TB.

edit:


Now that I look more closely at this chart, it doesn't seem to make much sense. Several powders are "ranked' with the same number(s), and the numbers go from 1 to 67, but there must be close to 220 listed. I can't find any text reference to it either in the chapter it is in. hmmmm...

[Bill Steele]

Not according to the "Powder Burn Rate Chart" in my Lee manual (pg 111). W231 is 6 or so places higher up the list that TB.

edit:


Now that I look more closely at this chart, it doesn't seem to make much sense. Several powders are "ranked' with the same number(s), and the numbers go from 1 to 67, but there must be close to 220 listed. I can't find any text reference to it either in the chapter it is in. hmmmm...

I always go to the source on these kinds of things.

http://www.hodgdon.com/burn-rate.html

[CGT80]

Thanks for the video Javi. I think I will start at a medium load of TB in a 30-06 case with a standard size flash hole. I would love to shoot a 30-06 with subsonic ammo and a suppressor though. I just want a fun, low recoil load. As long as I don't get a squib, it will be all good. I tried SR 4759 in the 30-06 and was pleased. It still kicks, but it is much more pleasant than a full load of 4895. I also found that 4895 can be downloaded to 60% of published loads. I haven't tried it yet, but I do have a good supply of that powder.

231 is my favorite pistol powder and I run it in 45lc with mild recoil, but it would be very easy to miss a double charge. I think 231 ends up costing less than trail boss for my loads. I bought TB for the bigger 460 case, but I am curious to see how it works out in some other cartridges.

[cindynles]

I loaded up some 38 special with 158gr Bear Creek SWC and hit the range for a comparison. I shot 75 with 3.3gr of W231 and 75 with 3.0gr of Trail Boss. I didn't notice a huge differenence in accuracy or recoil. I did notice that with the small charge of W231 I got some unburnt powder (not much, but noticable), I did not see this with Trail Boss.

Trail Boss grouped a little better, but that could be just because of the reduced recoil with the lighter charge. W231 is on the left, Trail Boss on the right. All shots were double action out of a 4" S&W 586 at 15 yards.

[socal147]

Unique is dirty. I have never heard someone say Unique is a clean powder. I should have taken pictures of my spent 45LC cases loaded with unique. Bad bad bad.........

[CalTeacher]

Unique is dirty. I have never heard someone say Unique is a clean powder. I should have taken pictures of my spent 45LC cases loaded with unique. Bad bad bad.........

Unique will be dirty at lower pressures. It burns very clean, at least in my experience, when loaded at higher pressures in .40 and 9mm.

[bruceflinch]

I've found W231 burns cleaner than Unique, but never felt Unique was that bad.

I'm gonna try some Trail Boss for my Milsurps. Good Thread!

[cindynles]

FYI, I loaded up some 38 special Trail Boss and clocked it this weekend.

3.4gr Trail Boss, 158gr Bear Creek SWC, Remington Brass, Winchester SPP. Shot out of a 4" S&W 586:

Avg: 757 fps
SD: 13.9 fps

761
746
743
782
755
757

[Whiterabbit]

Has anyone tried loading rifle cases with trail boss? I was thinking about some 30-06 loads with it. I like the 30-06 and have a ton of jacketed bullets for it, but the recoil gets old after a while with a bolt gun. I used to shoot a 3lb coffee can of loaded 30-06 at full power in a day when I was a teen, now not so much. IMR says it's ok to run jacketed, and I have done so in pistol cases, but not rifle.

I am going to give it a shot, but I was just wondering what anyone else thought. TB is a great powder.

I used to shoot cast in my 7x57 with trailboss with reasonable results before I switched to 4895. Great practice kind of round.