Decided to give Trail Boss a try

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Nick_C_S

New member
About three or four years ago, I resolved to pair down the number of different pistol propellants I hold from twelve or thirteen, to just four or five.

I'm finding this difficult to do :p. A few have departed my inventory (Bullseye, TiteGroup, and HS-6, with Unique getting low); but I have quite a few to go. Adding a new propellant wasn't part of the plan :p.

I poked my head into my LGS today and grabbed a canister (9oz.) of Trail Boss. I've heard lots of good things here about it. I don't shoot cowboy action but I do load/shoot a lot in a similar fashion - lead 38 (and 45 ACP) target ammo.

I like the label stating "Preferred Powder of Sheriffs & Outlaws." Nice touch :).

So I go to open it to take a look and was surprised when I spilled about a teaspoon's worth because that measly nine ounces fills the canister all the way to the top. (I also expected one of those tamper resistant seals, but it came off with the cap.) The propellant looks like little doughnuts. Never seen any powder like it. Now it really has me curious at the fill rates.

I'll be loading 148 DEWC's and maybe a plated bullet or two - maybe.

Anyway, I felt compelled to tell the family here what I've bought. It would be interesting to hear other loader's experience with it; and specifically, some load data detail, velocity, accuracy, etc. (just for general discussion; not asking for load advice, as I will do my own work ups). I've read about various things here and there about Trail Boss, but I don't recall a specific discussion focused on Trail Boss. Hope it makes for some good chatter.

-Nick.
 
It's very useful stuff. I wish it were a little less expensive per pound, and the fact it is not gives you some insight into the cost of packaging. I've shot TB in .45 ACP, where you really have to use up the powder space, and got low target velocities. It is the cleanest burning powder I've ever had. I was using new brass for the .45 Auto experiments and I would swear on a stack of bibles that the fired cases were so clean and shiny inside you could not know they'd been fired by appearance alone.

I've also used the 70-100% formula for loading rifle brass and for fireforming it. It takes a heavy bullet to get good fireforming and it seems to be marginal with some folks reporting failure to fireform, but it's gentle and moves the gun so little that accuracy is pretty fair and it is great as a firelapping powder.

The hole in the TB donut is responsible for a portion of its low bulk density. QuickLOAD has it as 0.32 grams/cubic centimeter, but the jar I tested was closer to 0.30 g/cc.
 
I use it for .45 Colt CAS loads and it's great for its intended purpose of light loads with heavy bullets in big cases. Clean burning, as Unclenick noted. I did find that those big light flakes resulted in bridging problems in the small-diameter pistol rotor of my Hornady powder measure, so I switched to using the larger diameter rifle rotor and had no further problems.
 
I am a big fan of TB in revolver cartridges. I use it in everything from 38 colt to 454 casull and lead bullets when I want to create powder puff loads for plinking or introducing a newer shooter to large calibers.
It burns clean, meters pretty well in my Lee pro auto disk, and a little of it goes a long way- so 9oz of it stretches pretty far.

Have fun with it, its a useful powder.

edit - I also use it with 30-30, 300 savage, 303 brit, .308 win and 7.62 x 54R for lower powdered fun loads at the range with plated bullets.
 
I use it for CAS in 38 pistol and 357 rifle. It is also in ammo for my 44 Magnum backup rifle. I like how I can see a small charge before placing a bullet. It will not measure reliably for me using a Lee adjustable charge bar for a small charge, probably bridging. I settled for .1 grain more in the closest disk with a round aperture. That was down in the 3 grain range.

I also use it for my regular load in 45 Colt. However, I favor Power Pistol there, because it shoots well, I can easily enough see the powder charge in the wider mouth case, and I want to reserve the supply of Trailboss for cowboy loads in 38/357.
 
I did note that in the LEE reloading manual (can't remember the caliber) some loads listed a "NEVER EXCEED" grail load that would not even come close to filling a case (did the VMD math twice to verify).
The resulting pressure was less than half of the maximum pressure that the case can take and it also resulted in a substantially reduced fps reading.
Why not allow it to be limited by the maximum pressure when going for maximum case volume?
 
Why not allow it to be limited by the maximum pressure when going for maximum case volume?
Click to expand...

Trail boss typically is used with lead bullets, so few loads are going to be on the upper end of the pressure max for a cartridge.

Wait till you smell it.
Click to expand...
Yup, TB smells like cat pee. .....
 
I have been kicking around the idea of trying this stuff for a long time. I'll be interested to read what your experiences are Nick C S. I've gotten lots of valuable insight and some great loads from your info. in the past.

I did make some sub sonic loads in .45 ACP with Xtreme 230s for a buddy. He gave me enough powder to experiment with and I could only get about 760 fps from a 5" barrel with max load. He seemed happy enough with my work though.
 
I love the stuff in 45-70 for low power plinking loads up to maybe 14.5 grains in my Guide Gun. The 13.0 gr load is real soft with Mo. Bullets 405 gr. cast lead. Not sure it is potent enough for ethical hunting. But fun and accurate. There are better powders I am experimenting with to get a hunting load. 3C
 
Best use of TB for me was in 30-30 plinker loads. A Magnus .309" 115 LRN slathered in liquid Alox over 6.5 grains of Trail Boss (weighed) gave 1208 fps/ES:18fps with 3" accuracy at 100 yards in my Handi (scoped at the bench of course). Load density was only ~60%, but you would have never known.

I've had mixed results in 357. TB and plated don't seem to play together well (poor accuracy). With lead it's fine, but its a very fast powder with a very limited top end, so I moved on. I used 4.0 grains Trail Boss in 357 brass with a Hornady 140 LFP (swaged w/Alox) for a IHMSA Field Pistol load for a while. Super soft shooter with a rainbow trajectory to the 100 yard line, but consistent. Ultimately Titegroup proved to be the most accurate at 100 yards despite tiny charges, beating TB and Clays.

Almost forgot, Trail Boss is the only powder that has ever bridged in my powder meter, dropping some very light charges now and then. I keep an eye on it.

Never compress TB. Watch your load density in WC/HBWC loads in 38/357.
 
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I'm using it in .327 and .32 H&R for ultra low velocities to mimic .22 LR as closely as possible. My range trip last week was great, I didn't hear any supersonic sound crack, so my handloads in a 20 inch Henry were likely subsonic, which is exactly what I wanted.

I've also tried it in .45 Colt and it's fine there too, but I still like the 7.0 grains of Unique load too.

I think you're making a mistake doing away with Unique, but adding Trail Boss is a terrific idea. This powder meters very well and it's almost impossible to ever double charge a case using it.

I haven't used it in bottleneck cases or auto pistol cartridges and have no plans to. I think its strength is in straight wall cartridges with plenty of powder space, which is basically rimmed cartridges.
 
Thanks CommandoX.

My first endeavor will be 2.3 grains under an S&S Hardcast 148 DEWC. We'll give that one a whirl first.

2.3 grains is Hodgdon's load data max. But they're using a HBWC. It has been my experience that DEWC's usually need a little more powder to get the same velocity as a HBWC. DEWC's don't sit as deep in the case - their nose sticks out past the mouth of the case. So that'll be my starting point. I hope I can get them to IDPA Power Factor (710 f/s) without any troubles. We'll see.

The 148 DEWC is the main bullet for which I bought the Trail Boss. I also have 105gn Truncated Cones; and 100gn DEWC's; and I think I have a few (400+) Speer Swaged LSWCHP's laying around here somewhere - I'll give'er a whirl with those for sure.
 
I love Trail Boss in .44 Special, and like it a lot in .38 Special.

I've had a number of problems with it in .32-20, though. I've gotten several bullets stuck in the bore due to incomplete ignition of the powder charge. Increasing the crimp hasn't fully solved the issue.
 
Be very careful using it for full wad cutters. I had a bad problem of squibs in my mod. 67. It did not get enough case fill to propel the bullets all the way out of the barrel. It is my go to for LSWC though. I use it in several revolver cartridges.
 
Trail Boss is the real thing for taming those mag rifle calibers and making them fun to shoot. I've never used it for handgun loads but extensively for rifle loads, up to 416 and 458 mags that otherwise wouldn't be shot much. With reference to the 70/100% min/max loads, it turns out that the minimum 70% load is just too wimpy and I tried that just one time. Thereafter just loading 100% to the base of the bullet and not bothering to weigh the charge. Something that needs repeating is the previously held concept that TB should not be compressed, resulting in a dangerous load. However Hodgdon finally explained that was not the case, but that there were some indications that compression could result in some inaccuracy.
 
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Thanks for the feedback guys. This is the kinda stuff I'm looking for.

This morning, I loaded up a dozen 148 DEWC's (S&S Hardcast) @ 3.2 grains.

For those keeping score at home:
GECO brass.
WSP primer.
1.215" OAL (deep to the crimp groove).
Medium taper crimp.

I'll likely chrono them on Friday. They'll be going through my Model 67 4".

Trail Boss is obviously a very fluffy powder. But at 3.2 grains in a 38 Special case, a double charge still leaves about 1/8" of room to the case mouth. Tell you what though, its density must be less than half that of TiteGroup.

Mike Irwin: I plan on trying it with 185gn DEWC's (Penn Bullets) for 44 Special. Getting to it might be down the road a bit though.
 
I use it in 45LC, and 45ACP for soft loads. Also in some 32 S&W Long cartridges for the fun of the pop.

Don't forget, recipes can also be found at Hodgdon's and other sites for rifle loads for 223, 243, 308, etc. Talk about some mouse loads! Really fun for introducing youngsters to larger rifle calibers.
 
I love trail boss, I have three and a half pou....er...cans of it in my flam cabinet. Its THE powder for 44 special loads in my opinion. Clean, reliable, case filling, decent but not wild velocities. About the only way I'd like it more was if I load 45 colt.
 
I tested it in .357, .44 Special, .44 Mag, and .45 Colt. I didn't care much for it in .357, but did like it in the big bores under heavy bullets. I've still got lots of it, but don't load it much any more.
 
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