Reloading .45 acp with Trailboss for my Antique. Need advice.

Pre-1898

Pre-1898

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I am presently planning to reload .45 acp with Trailboss powder for my Antique french 1873 Chamelot Delvigne revolver. Since I have a limited budget for now, I will be reloading with the basic Lee loader one cartridge at a time.

My projectiles are 200 grain Semi wadcutter lead bullets .

I was told that when reloading with black powder, the projectile must sit on the powder without any airspace.

Now I need to know if its the same with Trailboss powder ? I was also told to put 3.0 to 3.5 grain. Can anyone with knowledge in reloading .45 acp with Trailboss confirm this ?

Thanks for your help !
 
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I load .45 Colt and .45-70 rounds with Trail Boss for my Ruger SAA/NMVs and my Buffalo Rifle single shot Sharps, Rolling Block, Trapdoor and Hiwall.
I've had no issues with leaving an airspace in those rounds.
I use 5.3 Grains TB driving a 250 grain bullet in my Ruger NMVs and I am looking at reducing the charge further, once I can get back out on the range.
Have you measured the barrel and forcing cones on your Chamelot vs your bullet dia?
 
Pre-1898 said:
I am presently planning to reload .45 acp with Trailboss powder for my Antique french 1873 Chamelot Delvigne revolver. Since I have a limited budget for now, I will be reloading with the basic Lee loader one cartridge at a time.

My projectiles are 200 grain Semi wadcutter lead bullets .

I was told that when reloading with black powder, the projectile must sit on the powder without any airspace.

Now I need to know if its the same with Trailboss powder ? I was also told to put 3.0 to 3.5 grain. Can anyone with knowledge in reloading .45 acp with Trailboss confirm this ?

Thanks for your help !
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I load 45Colt with Trailboss I typically load 5.3g under a 200g bullet so your measurements sound about right for a 45acp load. Trailboss has published a load development formula which reads as follows.

If you do not see Trail Boss data for your favorite cartridge, we have a formula for developing loads for all cartridges and it is simple to follow. This formula may be used in both rifle and pistol applications:

1) Find where the base of the bullet to be loaded is 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!

2) Take 70% of this powder charge weight (multiply the maximum load from step 1 by 0.70), and that is your starting load.

3) 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 begins!

Retreever
 
Reloading with Black Powder and reloading with smokeless powder are very different. Black powder should not have any air space. If there is air space the pressure can build too high before the bullet starts to move and it acts like a barrel obstruction, (the simple explanation).

I have no experience with the 1873 Chamelot Delvigne revolver, but have used Trail Boss in several revolvers. Trail Boss would not be my first choice if I were loading for an antique black powder revolver. Trail Boss produces a relatively low velocity with a relatively high accompanying pressure. And if you lower the charge to less than 70% of available space, you can get erratic ignition.

IMO you'd want to keep pressure down below black powder pressures. I'd look at a manual that listed pressure and go from there. A quick look in my Lyman Cast #3 tells me that 3.5 gr of Bullseye, or 5.0 gr of Unique fit that criteria. Pressures would be in the 7,000 range. 3.5 gr of Trail Boss would be around 9,000, for the same velocity. Book knowledge, not experience.

Trail Boss would get you the same velocity, but the pressure would be higher. Not knowing how strong your revolver was built, your safest bet may be to load with black powder.

Trail Boss is a funky powder, it's taken me quite a while to use and like it, it's not magic, but it has some very niche characteristics.

Nitro
 
Pre-1898 said:
I am presently planning to reload .45 acp with Trailboss powder for my Antique french 1873 Chamelot Delvigne revolver. Since I have a limited budget for now, I will be reloading with the basic Lee loader one cartridge at a time.

My projectiles are 200 grain Semi wadcutter lead bullets .

I was told that when reloading with black powder, the projectile must sit on the powder without any airspace.

Now I need to know if its the same with Trailboss powder ? I was also told to put 3.0 to 3.5 grain. Can anyone with knowledge in reloading .45 acp with Trailboss confirm this ?

Thanks for your help !
Click to expand...

Have you reloaded before or is this your first go? Reloading 45acp for an antique revolver is different than reloading for a modern firearm. You want to limit pressure to about 12-13k psi, regular SAAMI spec for 45acp is much higher so you need to download 45acp data.

Trailboss is a very fast smokeless powder and has nothing whatsoever to do with black powder. Hodgdon warns that Trailboss should not be compressed but there is no problem with airspace. You should go to the Hodgdon site and read up on it before you go any further.
 
nitro-express said:
Reloading with Black Powder and reloading with smokeless powder are very different. Black powder should not have any air space. If there is air space the pressure can build too high before the bullet starts to move and it acts like a barrel obstruction, (the simple explanation).

I have no experience with the 1873 Chamelot Delvigne revolver, but have used Trail Boss in several revolvers. Trail Boss would not be my first choice if I were loading for an antique black powder revolver. Trail Boss produces a relatively low velocity with a relatively high accompanying pressure. And if you lower the charge to less than 70% of available space, you can get erratic ignition.

IMO you'd want to keep pressure down below black powder pressures. I'd look at a manual that listed pressure and go from there. A quick look in my Lyman Cast #3 tells me that 3.5 gr of Bullseye, or 5.0 gr of Unique fit that criteria. Pressures would be in the 7,000 range. 3.5 gr of Trail Boss would be around 9,000, for the same velocity. Book knowledge, not experience.

Trail Boss would get you the same velocity, but the pressure would be higher. Not knowing how strong your revolver was built, your safest bet may be to load with black powder.

Trail Boss is a funky powder, it's taken me quite a while to use and like it, it's not magic, but it has some very niche characteristics.

Nitro
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Yes. Being careful and studious with Trail Boss is very important with your antiques especially.
For example I will use TB powder with 400-405 grain lead PB bullets but I do not load this in any 500 grain cast handload. 45-70 antique long gun.
Pressure spikes.
 
Brutus said:
Yes. Being careful and studious with Trail Boss is very important with your antiques especially.
For example I will use TB powder with 400-405 grain lead PB bullets but I do not load this in any 500 grain cast handload. 45-70 antique long gun.
Pressure spikes.
Click to expand...

Yes, and even when loaded to lower levels Trailboss has a steep/abrupt pressure curve that might be hard on old revolvers. I avoid using the fastest pistol powders like TB, 700X, and Bullseye in antique revolvers.
 
Use blackpowder it’s what was originally used, easy to load and not very hard to clean. Go to hodgdonreloading.com and look at the pressure spike trail boss produces. It would be a shame to destroy that pistol if a mistake was made. But it’s your pistol do as you wish.
 
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