Any experience using trailboss with Schofield brass?

apu

apu

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I am woefully behind in trying out some of the new aquisitions. Finally whipped up some 45 schofield rounds for my Colt SAA. I put together a 250 grain lead flat nose flat base keith style semi wad cutter bullet with starline schofield brass using 5.5-6 grain of trailboss, OAL 1.43. Dingus thank you for the recipe.

I fired them off outdoors today, ambient temp was around 0, chrony was registering less than I expected about 550ft/sec for 5.5 grain of trailboss and 675 feet/ sec for 6 grain. Both loads felt fairly sedate, both had reasonably good accuracy at 20 yards off hand(about 4-5 inch groups - more related to shooter's peformance than the gun).

My question is what are other folks targetting for velocity with similar weight bullet? what would black powder velocity be for this case/bullet? Any one else using trailboss with schofield cases? I like the powder but an not sure if I should be pushing the big bullet any harder.

On a side note I fired off some of my cast 180 grain lead hollowpoints in 455 hornady brass (unique powder, can't remember how much) out of the Colt SAA as well today, accuracy was surpisingly very good with a 750ft/ sec showing on the chrony.
 
I haven't used TB but i have used Unique.

6.5 gr Unique, 255 gr Lyman 454190 RNFP soft cast bullet, Starline .45 S&W Schofield brass produced about 850 fps in a 6" .476 WG. Quickload estimated pressure for this load was about 12,000 psi.
 
Thank you Hugh and Jet, much appreciated.

Jet if you have time and the inclination would you please plug into Quickload the same bullet you are using in a schofield case(1.43 OAL, 5.5 inch barrel Colt SA) with 6 grain and 6.5 grain of trailboss, I would be curious what pressures it's estimating.

I think my next chrony shoot will include some black powder rounds for a little comparison.
 
Just a Note! Trail boss is only mild when loaded to Max charges listed.
going over the max recomended listed charge the presure is supose to spike pretty fast so i never did it.
they do say not to exceed max listed charges.
Now thats only what i have read about it i never tryed more than 6 grs as thats the max load i seen listed for the 45 Long Colt (if i remember right) but i use it in the 45 Schofield.
.
 
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dingus said:
Just a Note! Trail boss is only mild when loaded to Max charges listed.
going over the max recomended listed charge the presure is supose to spike pretty fast so i never did it.
they do say not to exceed max listed charges.
Now thats only what i have read about it i never tryed more than 6 grs as thats the max load i seen listed for the 45 Long Colt (if i remember right) but i use it in the 45 Schofield.
I have used 8 gr unique loads in 45 schofield with a 250 gr bullet but that was in a remy 1875 with a new cylinder installed.
Click to expand...

Thanks Dingus, you confirmed what I suspected. I was starting to see the relatively rapid velocity increases in mild increments above 6 grain with trail boss. I don't think I am going to push it much past this point with this powder. I am getting the sense that around 700ft/sec is going to be a good place to be without putting too much strain on the frame.

Now back to some reloading, I think I have a good round set up for my Remington 1875 in 44 Remington, 44 special brass is a wee bit too long and russian brass will do without need for trimming, looks like I can fit 20 grain of fffg in the case behind the heeled bullet that measures out to a robust .447 inches at mid of the bullet and .433 at base.
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For all intensive purpose it looks like the barrel is nominally 45 caliber, has me wondering about having the chambers reamed with a proper throat to accomadate perhaps a 45 schofield round. That said and eventhough I suspect the accuracy even with the heeled bullet is going to be not so great I am hesitant to change the original chambering as it appears finding these guns in actual 44 Remington vs 44-40 is pretty rare.
 
Dingus is absolutely right about Trail Boss. Stick with the published loads and don't push it. Trail Boss is an extremely fast powder with a burn rate close to Bullseye. For the same velocity, you get a lot higher pressure spike with Trail Boss, so don't go beyond the published max for Trail Boss. Check out the pressure plots below (plots are for a 45-70 but you get the point about what kind of pressure spike it generates compared to some of the slower powders). Multiply peak pressure by 100 (i.e., 334 = 33,400 psi). I use either 5744 or IMR SR4759 in my Schofield loads and put them out the barrel at 850 fps ...

45_70_pressure3.jpg

45_70_pressures.jpg
 
apu said:
Thank you Hugh and Jet, much appreciated.

Jet if you have time and the inclination would you please plug into Quickload the same bullet you are using in a schofield case(1.43 OAL, 5.5 inch barrel Colt SA) with 6 grain and 6.5 grain of trailboss, I would be curious what pressures it's estimating.

I think my next chrony shoot will include some black powder rounds for a little comparison.
Click to expand...


Sorry Apu, I'm in a camp in northern Alaska for at least the next 2-3 weeks and my QL program is at home in AB. Be happy to check it out for you when i do get home, though.
 
apu said:
Thank you Hugh and Jet, much appreciated.

Jet if you have time and the inclination would you please plug into Quickload the same bullet you are using in a schofield case(1.43 OAL, 5.5 inch barrel Colt SA) with 6 grain and 6.5 grain of trailboss, I would be curious what pressures it's estimating.

I think my next chrony shoot will include some black powder rounds for a little comparison.
Click to expand...

Apu, here's the QL calcs you were looking for:
6.0 gr trailboss / 255 gr lyman 454190 = 11,072 psi; 712 fps
6.5 gr trailboss / 255 gr lyman 454190 = 12,812 psi; 773 fps

...and here are the QL calcs for my pet loads in the Schofield case using the same bullet:
6.0 gr UNIQUE = 10,473 psi; 778 fps
6.5 gr UNIQUE = 12,173 psi; 830 fps
 
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