Fun With Trail Boss

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The one bad thing about it is also one of its great advantages, it is just to voluminous. You can only get 100 rounds out of a 8 lb jug. (slight exaggeration)
 
The one bad thing about it is also one of its great advantages, it is just to voluminous. You can only get 100 rounds out of a 8 lb jug. (slight exaggeration)
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Actually, an 8lb jug has only 5 lbs of powder within. You pay for 5 lbs and get 8lbs of loading from it. IMO that's not a bad deal at all.
 
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I have been working with it for my SKS useing Berry's plated .310 dia, 110gr bullet (rated for 1700fps max). 8gr seems to be the ticket so far. I really need a chronograph to see what speeds I'm am getting though.
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Will these loads cycle the action or is it a single shot load ?
 
I use trail boss and lee dippers.
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Once I found a load my .460 liked, I made a dipper outta an old casing. Just cut it down so that level full was my charge and put a handle on it.
 
jibjab,

They do not cycle. But that is what I was going for, as my SKS tends to sling the brass about 10 or 15 yards and it mangles the rims.
 
I love it in my 45-70. About 13 grains under a bullet anywhere from 350-500gr is fantastic for plinking.

I'm interested to try it in 45acp. Heck I might even try a few in my 22-250!
 
Just finished loading 1000rds of 6.0gr of TrailBoss in .45LC with MBC's 200gr RNFP today. Time for sleep so I can get up and go unload them!
 
I use it in my .416 Rigby with the RCBS 350 grain FNGC. Great practice load. I even use it at our local indoor range for snapshooting practice.

I've also used it in half a dozen revolver cartridges and haven't been satisfied with accuracy in any of them. I'm sure it works in cowboy action where the target is ten feet wide and ten feet away, but in my PPC and Cup guns, not so much. So that was a disappointment -- but for those of us trying to practice with our dangerous game rifles, it's a godsend.
 
DISCLAIMER: THIS IS A REALLY BAD IDEA.

Ok, with that said, I wonder what would happen if you loaded trailboss into a cap and ball revolver. Again, I'm not stupid enough to try it, but am curious as to what the results would be...that's the kind of curiosity that will get someone killed though.

I'm assuming an explosion would result
 
colhogan44, the problem is you'd be mashing the TB down, creating a very different burn rate. It's not a good idea.

OTOH it should work fine with 45-110. That's just the sort of thing it was designed for. Not sure about the load amount, but .45-70 data for TB should work fine.
 
thanks Cosmoline, I'll look into that, really want to get this ole' girl to the range. Never fired it yet, just wondering if the recoil is about the same as my 450 marlin.
 
Using TB data for the .45-70 in that round, you won't have recoil or energies anywhere in the neighborhood of .450 Marlin. You could always call IMR and see what they recommend.

Is this an original rifle or reproduction? If original you'd want to have a smith check it for safety (headspace, intact receiver, no barrel bulges, etc) before shooting it with anything at all.
 
I load target loads of Trail Boss in my 454 Casull. 9.7 grains and a 255 grain lead SWC bullet. 1100fps? Works well for me...
 
I load target loads of Trail Boss in my 454 Casull. 9.7 grains and a 255 grain lead SWC bullet. 1100fps? Works well for me...
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Wery wery nice. That should work for just about anything that needs shooting. Sounds fun.

t2e
 
I have used Trail Boss to fire form 300WM with 185gr jacketed bullets, filled the case almost up to where the taper starts. The ADI data said i should be getting about 1800fps which is what it felt like.

I've also used it with 30-30 and 6.5x55 same deal just fill case ~70% up and shoot.
 
Fun with TB
I opened up a 12ga 000 load thinking I could use the pellets to slug the chambers and bore of a revolver. Well the pellets measured .345", so I needed to swage them up. I noticed my Hornady 9mm/.38 taper crimp die had a .359" hole through it, and I had a letter drill bit that closely matched, I hammered on a .38 case over the drill point and began to shwack. I swaged the pellets to .25" flat to flat this gave about a .125" bearing surface, they worked well for the intended purpose.
Well I got to looking at these little pills and asked myself, can I make these shoot? Well to make a long story short, Yes. I used .38spl cases and opened the flash hole to .094" I used WSR to prime, the pellet weight is approx. 60gr I used 2.3gr of TB with a dacron filler, test firearm was a Taurus 85 w/a 2" barrel. Well in 18ft (testing done in garage) there was no tumbling, shots grouped at 1" but the POI was 2" below the POA. The report was the same as smacking a primer with a hammer on concrete (inside a garage)
 
It should last many decades, but you'll probably use it up quickly.

I tried out a number of plinker loads with TB for the 7.62x54R over the weekend. The best were .312" bullets for the .32 ACP, over 14 grains TB. They fire with a lovely "paaf" and "smack" into the berm a moment later. By adjusting the sights to 300 meters on the M39, they were hitting dead center at fifty yards.
 
Ryan Williams said:
How dirty is Trail boss? I have never used it but I hear lots of good things about it. Is it a clean burning powder?
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I've been using it in loads for my 2" .38, Mosin Nagant 91/30 and 98K Mauser. All three calibers shoot well with the stuff and it burns reasonably clean. One pass with a CLP wetted bore snake on either of the 2 rifles gives me a shiny bore after a 40-50 round range session and a couple passes with a nylon bore brush followed by a lightly wet patch with CLP does the job on the carry gun.

I love the stuff for inexpensive practice rounds and the accuracy I'm getting out of both the 91/30 and the 98K Mauser is good enough for medium range target shooting. The 2" .38 revolver easily shoots "minute of bad guy" out to 25 yards with it as well.

Darn good powder if you ask me!
 
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