Tell Me About "Trail Boss"

Just wanted to add one bit:
Some powders are more forgiving than others. Titegroup is NOT that powder.

If you are ham-fisted, not detail oriented, careless, reckless, stupid with a side dish of crazy... Titegroup might quite likely be the single most dangerous smokeless powder on the market. It's burn rate, high nitro content, small range window of acceptable powder charge and it's extreme density can ruin a day and take apart any firearm if you aren't skilled and diligent at the load bench.

I don't use Titegroup in a lot of places but I get great results when and where I do use it.
 
I like trail boss. I use it, and alliant 2400, a lot for cast bullet loads for rifles.

One thing interesting I have noticed. Muzzle velocity is almost exactly proportional to square root of powder charge. That indicates complete and fast combustion and high efficiency. Other slower powders tend to have order of equation close to 1.

Whoever wants to rid of their unwanted trail boss, I will gladly pay shipping for it.

It may be an expensive powder by pound, but not quite so by number of loaded rounds.

-TL

Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk
 
let me know where to meet you, I'll gladly take it.
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You're really close. I go to Brockport about every weekend. I lied a bit though. I don't have half a pound. It only comes in 9oz bottles, but I probably have almost 8 oz left. It's yours if we can meet up sometime. I may be out there this Saturday. PM me with your email or phone and I'll get hold of you when I'm heading out there. We could probably meet at Runnings or somewhere near there.
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Haven't heard from him. Like I said, I can't give it away. I guess I'll see if it makes the grass any greener.
 
I love Trailboss. It makes for light plinking out of my TC Encore with a 500 S&W magnum 20 in. Katahdin barrel. 440 grain hard cast have as much or a little less recoil than my 30-30s.
 
I loaded 100 .45 COLT rounds with Trail Boss today. T&B Lead flat point 250gr bullet over 4.6gr of Trail Boss. Waaaaaaaaay down at the start loadings. I expect these to be fine for paper-punching which is my goal. I will probably get to try them next week. Looking forward to it cuz I got 2 pounds :eek: of it to use! That's some weird stuff. My first experience with powder shaped like donuts and weigh so little! Fluffy and light, this is a new one.
 
.45 Colt ... Lead flat point 250gr bullet over 4.6gr of Trail Boss
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You will indeed have a popper... You'll be able to shoot, lay the gun down, run out grab the bullet before it hits the ground :) . Lowest I went in my tests was 5.5g (702fps) out of a 5.5" barrel.
 
Tired one can of Trail Boss for reduced loads in a .38 Special. I did not see any apparent advantage over Bullseye. However, the one can I bought only contained 9 ounces for $19.99 ($2.22 per oz.) compared to 16 oz.(a full pound) Unique (I buy Bullsyeye in 8 lb containers, so I could not do a direct comparison) for $23.00 ($1.43 per oz.).

I concluded that if there was some advantage for Trail Boss, it would have to be pretty significant in order for me to continue to buy it at that price difference.
 
You can't double charge Trail Boss, you'd notice it when you were dragging out the vacuum cleaner. :)

It is great for SASS/Cowboy Action, not my choice for other uses. Bullseye, my preference, Power Pistol and Titegroup are more for normal handgun loading, as are others.

But... As always, test and find/use what works for you in your gun and for your needs.

Jeff

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
 
I adamantly disagree with those who don't like it. It is the ONLY powder I will use in my .44 Special.

It gives excellent accuracy in my Model 24.

I've also used it in .38 Special, and again, very good results.

It meters like a dream, as well.

The only problems I've had with it have been in my .32-20. I've gotten inconsistent ignition to the point where I won't use it in that cartridge.
 
You will indeed have a popper... You'll be able to shoot, lay the gun down, run out grab the bullet before it hits the ground . Lowest I went in my tests was 5.5g (702fps) out of a 5.5" barrel.
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Great! I can use my Trail Boss, catch and re-claim the bullets and never need new ones again!!! :D
 
Mike Irwin, I don't doubt that TB would work in 44 Special, but I think Unique and 44 Special is a good marriage.

I wonder if your 32-20 is more about inconsistent powder drops, since TB bridges sometimes in small powder measure apertures.

My cowboy SASS guns use Trailboss for 38 Special and .357 Magnum as well as my backup rifle in 44 Magnum. 44 Special is in one of my alternate revolvers and relies on Unique at an acceptable velocity.
 
"I think Unique and 44 Special is a good marriage."

Unique and I divorced years ago. I don't like the stuff at all because of the weight variations driven by the large flakes.


"I wonder if your 32-20 is more about inconsistent powder drops, since TB bridges sometimes in small powder measure apertures."

Not when a full, unignited powder charge pours out of the barrel when I open the cylinder to drive out the stuck bullet.

For some reason in .32-20 Trail Boss isn't igniting.

To get around that issue I simply started reloading .32-20 with Universal.

Much better.

I also use Universal in my .45 Long Colt.
 
Trail Boss is great for me. I use it (mostly) to fireform rifle cases and it's worked great for me. Forum member frankenmauser has reported less success.

I also use it for "fun" loads. My .204Ruger with max loads of Trail Boss literally sounds like a cap gun but I still get around 2,200fps.

I've used it in .204Ruger, 7mm-08, .243AI and, just for giggles, .357sig. In the sig, it's surprisingly snappy. I never chronoed it but it cycles the gun and has more recoil than I would have expected.

For fireforming, it works best to jam the bullet in the rifling so pressure builds before the bullet moves and lets pressure out before the bore is sealed.
 
"I think Unique and 44 Special is a good marriage."

Unique and I divorced years ago. I don't like the stuff at all because of the weight variations driven by the large flakes.
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I use Unique in the .44 Special too. I like the Skeeter load. Now I tried loading Unique into a .32 H&R Mag case, and the weight 'variation' was terrible. Had to weigh every single load. Yuck. Needless to say I went to powers like AA#2, AA#5, and True Blue for the little .32. These powders flow like water. Work really well, and suspect would work well for the .32-20!

Funny thing, in .45 Colt I had to hunt for good TB loads. In .44 Special every one of my Trail Boss test loads I marked as accurate with an accurate+ on one particular load. Could be the gun of course. Problem is, I couldn't get to the velocity I wanted with it, so I don't use it for .44 Special. Goto load is back to Unique and True Blue. Truth is is just about every powder I used for tests was good in the .44 Special flattop BH 5 1/2" that I use to test loads!
 
My original experience with Unique was with .32 S&W Long in a circa 1917 Regulation Police revolver.

I used an RCBS Uniflow measure and thought I was good.

When I chronographed them some of them were where they were supposed to be.

A significant number, though, were pushing .32 Mag. power levels.

That's when I gave up on Unique.
 
Coarse powders work better through larger apertures and with heavier charges. I would give up with Unique only on the small caliber and use a finer or better flowing powder. My 85 grain RNFP 32 SWL load uses Red Dot, a load which I got from one of my manuals. Red Dot is sort of coarse too but seems to measure okay and is faster burning than Unique according to the charts. My 78 gr load uses Bullseye, another fast burning one.
 
Let us know how you like it! TrailBoss is a fine powder. I have used it in .44 Mag cases and also for big 45-70 cases, and it works great. Yup, there are dozens of other powders out there that will also work in your applications, but TrailBoss will do you just fine. Enjoy!
 
Have never used TB for handguns but extensively for rifle calibers along mostly with cast bullets including moly coates. Loadings are maximum and are great for taming belted mags up to .416s and .458s that otherwise wouldn't be shot much. Comments on TB with the .32-20 cartridge indicate erratic ignition apparently but I have not encountered that at all. I load maximum with some 15 to 20 rifle calibers and have never come across anything negative to say about it. Hodgdon points out that compressing is not a danger factor but can result in some inaccuracy. Never mind using the scale, just visually fill the case to the base of the bullet when seated. In some calibers like .45-70s I do compress some. TB seems to becomming more popular and more are using it, finally catching on.
 
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