Trail boss experimenting with 30-06

[rm1911]

Heard all kinds of good things about TB and rifle loads. Wanted to work on it and had read both yes and no as far as jacketed bullets go. IMR site and load data show jacketed so I figure why not.

Loaded some .310 130gr cast bullets I got from hunters supply along with some bull 150 fmj's I had laying around.

Cast had some tumbling issues. Might have to load heavier bullet or go bigger diameter. I have some 154's and 165's in .311 that I'm gonna try next time. Thinking that's the issue. But the 150 jacketed were pretty good. Here's a string at 50yds with 15 grains of TB.

Shot off a soft front rest out of old sporterized 03A3 and scope at 4x.

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1374274480.268491.jpg

I'm liking it a lot. Almost no recoil.

[highpower790]

Is the powder a ball or stick?Trailboss is one that im not familiar with.If a ball powder be prepared for the possibility of flyers.Ball powder tends to be a liitle temp sensative,just something to watch for now that summer is here.

[mjmagee67]

Trail Boss is a donut IIRC!

[LynnJr]

Trailboss looks like a donut.It is round and flat with a hole in the middle.
I am suprised you could get 15 grains into your case.
I tried it in some smaller cases and fully compressed I could only get 550 fps with a 200 grain Sierra.I also had two rounds fail to leave the barrel.

[rsrocket1]

TB is nice, but you could also get about the same performance with a much less expensive-per-grain powder such as Unique, Red Dot, Bullseye or any of the Hodgdon "Clay" named powders (Clays, International, Universal).

I did this with 11g Unique, Red Dot, Bullseye and Power Pistol in a .308 case with a 110g plated RN bullet and got equal performance with good accuracy at 50 and decent accuracy at 100 yards out of a 30" Remington 788. The long rifle barrel allows for complete burn of just about any pistol/shotgun powder which I suppose allows almost all the energy to be put into the bullet so it doesn't matter too much about the difference in burn rate between a fast powder like Red Dot and a slower one like PP.

Anyway, the loads are a lot of fun to shoot and yes, very little noise and hardly any recoil.

[rm1911]

Trailboss looks like a donut.It is round and flat with a hole in the middle.
I am suprised you could get 15 grains into your case.
I tried it in some smaller cases and fully compressed I could only get 550 fps with a 200 grain Sierra.I also had two rounds fail to leave the barrel.

TB looks like no other powder. Yes it is little donuts.

When I measured to where the bullet base depth was then filled case to there (turns out its he top of the shoulder) and weighed, it's all of 19 grains. That's what makes TB so "interesting". I usually shoot 48-49 grains of 4895 and I have some room left. Not much. Hard to believe that 1/3 the grains fills same volume.

Really liked the ever so gentle nudge. The idea is to have a light plinking practice round. Lots more fun. Also a milder hunting round. Especially for my son.

[LynnJr]

I was shooting it with ear muffs on and at 550 fps you could hear the firing pin click when the trigger was pulled.I still have several bottles that look like one pounders but only weigh 9 ounces.

[orangeusa]

Its a weird powder. Crunch, crunch while metering it . Nothing is as large per weight I.e. low density. Im not a fan but will burn through what I have...