Trailboss loads....
- Thread starter fralic76
- Start date
338 Imperial
CGN Regular
- Location
- Chetwynd BC
What I've done on my 9.3 x74r (no listing) is : take a case & determine where the Base of a seated bullet would be.Fill the case to that level with Trail Boss.Now weigh that charge .Go 70% of that weight for a starting load. In my case with a286gn cast the case capacity to the base was 21gn. So I started with 16 gn & worked up to 18 gn.
This produce a very gentle recoil load .I believe you will find this recommendation on there site , & it is safe for all modern firearms.
Best of luck.
This produce a very gentle recoil load .I believe you will find this recommendation on there site , & it is safe for all modern firearms.
Best of luck.
http://hodgdon.com/PDF/Trail Boss Reduced Loads R&P.pdf
As noted in the powder description section, Trail Boss was designed primarily for reduced loads using lead bullets in pistol
cartridges. However, Trail Boss offers superb versatility in rifle cartridges producing reduced loads using lead
or
jacketed bullets.
These reduced loads make firing such cartridges as the 300 Winchester Magnum or even the 458 Winchester Magnum pure fun!
Listed below we show a few examples of such loads throughout the Reloading Data Center, but the fun doesn't stop there. If you
don't see Trail Boss data for your favorite cartridge we have a formula for developing loads for all cartridges and it's simple to
follow. This formula may be used in both rifle and pistol applications:
Find where the base of the bullet to be loaded is located in the case and make a mark on the outside of the case at
this location. Then fill the case to that mark with Trail Boss, pour into the scale pan and weigh. This is your
maximum load. Pressures will be below the maximum allowed for this cartridge and perfectly safe to use!
Take 70% of this powder charge weight (multiply the maximum load from step 1 by .7), and that is your starting
load.
Start with this beginning load and work up to your maximum charge, all the while searching for the most accurate
reduced load. Once found, the fun begin
As noted in the powder description section, Trail Boss was designed primarily for reduced loads using lead bullets in pistol
cartridges. However, Trail Boss offers superb versatility in rifle cartridges producing reduced loads using lead
or
jacketed bullets.
These reduced loads make firing such cartridges as the 300 Winchester Magnum or even the 458 Winchester Magnum pure fun!
Listed below we show a few examples of such loads throughout the Reloading Data Center, but the fun doesn't stop there. If you
don't see Trail Boss data for your favorite cartridge we have a formula for developing loads for all cartridges and it's simple to
follow. This formula may be used in both rifle and pistol applications:
Find where the base of the bullet to be loaded is located in the case and make a mark on the outside of the case at
this location. Then fill the case to that mark with Trail Boss, pour into the scale pan and weigh. This is your
maximum load. Pressures will be below the maximum allowed for this cartridge and perfectly safe to use!
Take 70% of this powder charge weight (multiply the maximum load from step 1 by .7), and that is your starting
load.
Start with this beginning load and work up to your maximum charge, all the while searching for the most accurate
reduced load. Once found, the fun begin
Canadian_Zuk
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Pickering, Ontario
How about reading the paragraph above the load data and you will see!!...
Great stuff for some easy fun, great for plinking with the big guns. Popping 300 gr jacketed pills out of a guide gun is like a .22 that leaves gaping holes in stuff. Who doesn't enjoy that?
Who ever or what ever has that 300gr bullet flying at them
Trail Boss in "ANY" caliber is a great powder for reduced loads for one very good reason, you will never double charge the case and you will be at the proper loading density meaning a nearly full case. Its not for cheap bastards who want to use 10 grains of shotgun or pistol powder and have cartridges that are position sensitive.
I fire form my .303 British cases with Trail Boss and all you have to do is read the directions for the powder and follow the 70% rule for any cartridge.
I have used it in 30-30 Winchester. 140gr monoflex bullet with 9.2 gr of powder. 860fps with 9 gr. Never chronoed the 9.2 gr wich is a mac load.(full right up to the bullet. 22lr is louder than this load. Kinda fun if you're not shooting more than 50yds.
Silvertip13
Regular
- Location
- Fort McMurray
11.3 of trailboss and 110 gr hornady round rose in the 30-30 round
Go to the Hodgdon reloading data center and look up the load data for .30-30 using a 160gn cast bullet.
http://www.hodgdonreloading.com/
Notice the muzzle velocity and peak pressure for Trailboss compared to the other two powders. Across the board Trailboss generates a far slower velocity while producing a much higher peak pressure. So for my money Trailboss is not a good match for use in the .30-30. I'd much rather go with a powder that produces good velocity at lower peak pressure.
So as always check the loading data and be sure of what you're looking to achieve. Trailboss is not always the low pressure alternative that so many folks believe it to be.
Trailboss has achieved a rather cult like following. It IS a good powder for the hand gun cartridges it was intended for. But I've seen way too many of the same low velocity with very high pressure results when it comes to rifle loading data to consider using it outside of handgun loading.
Now look up .44-40 under the handgun option. Now you'll see what we SHOULD see with Trailboss. And that is a good velocity produced by a lower than typical peak pressure compared to the other powders. Trailboss is a great powder for short fat casings like we see with handguns. Not so good for long bottle neck shapes or long straight wall rifle calibers.
http://www.hodgdonreloading.com/
Notice the muzzle velocity and peak pressure for Trailboss compared to the other two powders. Across the board Trailboss generates a far slower velocity while producing a much higher peak pressure. So for my money Trailboss is not a good match for use in the .30-30. I'd much rather go with a powder that produces good velocity at lower peak pressure.
So as always check the loading data and be sure of what you're looking to achieve. Trailboss is not always the low pressure alternative that so many folks believe it to be.
Trailboss has achieved a rather cult like following. It IS a good powder for the hand gun cartridges it was intended for. But I've seen way too many of the same low velocity with very high pressure results when it comes to rifle loading data to consider using it outside of handgun loading.
Now look up .44-40 under the handgun option. Now you'll see what we SHOULD see with Trailboss. And that is a good velocity produced by a lower than typical peak pressure compared to the other powders. Trailboss is a great powder for short fat casings like we see with handguns. Not so good for long bottle neck shapes or long straight wall rifle calibers.
Trail Boss in "ANY" caliber is a great powder for reduced loads for one very good reason, you will never double charge the case and you will be at the proper loading density meaning a nearly full case. Its not for cheap bastards who want to use 10 grains of shotgun or pistol powder and have cartridges that are position sensitive.
I fire form my .303 British cases with Trail Boss and all you have to do is read the directions for the powder and follow the 70% rule for any cartridge.
Based on your posts on this, I'm working up a TB load for 85gr Hornady .312 bullets, as I couldn't find any 100gr ones. As others have said, instead of that full-house .303 load banging your eardrums, shoulder, and wallet, you get a much reduced fun load for simple plinking.
In smokeless cartridges, the peak pressure with Trail Boss still doesn't come too close to the max pressure the cartridge is rated for.
I've pointed out the pressure vs. velocity thing several times when people talk about using Trail Boss in antique black powder firearms but it doesn't hurt modern firearms meant for smokeless loads at all.
The max load on the Hodgdon site for Trail Boss under a 160gr cast bullet is still less than 3/4 the max pressure for the cartridge overall. If you're worried about gas cutting because you don't have a gas check, sure, a shotgun powder might be better. You get more per dollar so it is also less expensive to use a shotgun powder (I use a lot of Unique, 800x, Longshot, Bluedot, and other powders for cast bullet loads) but Trail Boss is just so easy and has the safety factor of being impossible to accidentally double-charge a case.
Even in something like 45 colt or the 45-70 which are both straight walled, you see higher pressures for lower velocities than with other powders. But in my experience Trail Boss is easier to develop an accurate load with and is still very safe in modern firearms.
Hotwheels81
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- South of GP
It works very well... Way more penetration than you may think...
Just avoid stretching it past 100 yards...
Lutnit said:
For .45Colt that is indeed true. In fact it's not the worst pressure for muzzle velocity. And it matches most of the options to within a small amount. It IS a nice to use handgun powder. The little I used it I found the smoke has a horrible fetid urine like smell but then what do I know. I think black powder smoke smells just fine so I'm hardly one to call the kettle black...
But look at that load data for .45-70 as I suggested above. It generates WAY more pressure for a lot less velocity all at the same time than H4198 and H4895. And that translates also to more recoil kick for less achieved muzzle velocity. Even if it's not actually exceeding the SAMMI specs my thinking is why tolerate more pressure when it's delivering WORSE velocity? All we do is put the firearm AND the shooter under more recoil stress for a lower return.
Like I said, it's a great handgun powder. But not so great for rifles. Not when there are so many better options that produce better values in all the important ways.
The double charge thing is valid for some. I'm not particularly worried about it because I'm rather used to loading up fly specs worth of Bullseye and Titegroup in fairly commodious cases like .38Spl and .357Mag casings to .38Spl loads. And when I load my .38-55 rounds with H4198 the volume of a single charge is just shy of half to where if I were to double charge it I would not be able to seat the bullet even though it would not overflow. So it's pretty obvious.
Just to be clear, I'm not totally against Trailboss. It's a fine powder and it does a GREAT job in handgun rounds. But once we shift to rifle loading it quickly becomes less than stellar. Yes, it can be used. But I prefer to use the evidence given by the numbers instead of simply drinking the TB Koolaid.
Trail Boss is just a downright weird powder. It seems to work so differently from any normal powder.
Higher pressure may lead to more felt recoil, that is true, but I don't know how much the shooter could tell. Recoil is essentially momentum of the rifle coming back into your shoulder. The amount of energy will be the same if the bullet weight and velocity are the same but higher pressure for a shorter duration may apply that energy over a shorter period of time. I suppose it would lead to snappier recoil rather than explicitly more recoil. Again though, I don't know what difference your average person could feel since we are talking about a tiny fraction of a second compared to a very slightly longer tiny fraction of a second; both too fast for any human to be able to tell mentally (though we can feel things we can't see or properly process mentally sometimes).
Higher pressure may lead to more felt recoil, that is true, but I don't know how much the shooter could tell. Recoil is essentially momentum of the rifle coming back into your shoulder. The amount of energy will be the same if the bullet weight and velocity are the same but higher pressure for a shorter duration may apply that energy over a shorter period of time. I suppose it would lead to snappier recoil rather than explicitly more recoil. Again though, I don't know what difference your average person could feel since we are talking about a tiny fraction of a second compared to a very slightly longer tiny fraction of a second; both too fast for any human to be able to tell mentally (though we can feel things we can't see or properly process mentally sometimes).
