Trail Boss in a 45 Colt

[HEAD0001]

I just put together a 45 Colt Contender with a 10" barrel and open sights. My normal 45 Colt load is a Keith style 255 with about 18.5-20.0 grains of 2400. This is a fairly stiff 45 Colt load. I am not wanting a stiff load for this Contender. I would like to work up a good "gallery Load" and a moderate low recoil load for the 255 I am casting. A couple of guys recommended TB. Is that a good idea?? Large Pistol Magnum primer?? Any suggestions about TB for what I want to do?? Tom.

[ReloaderFred]

Yep, it will do the job. I posted to your request on the .45-70 and the information is the same for .45 Colt. Just use standard Large Pistol primers and the load suggestions under Cowboy data on the Hodgdon site. I do get sooty cases with Trail Boss, but the tumbler takes care of that just fine.

Hope this helps.

Fred

[Nobade]

Anneal your cases first. Just like black powder, they need to be soft to seal.

[Snyd]

The ol standby plinkin load for the 45 Colt is 255gr over 8gr Unique. I don't anneal the cases and it shoots great in my wheelguns and levergun.

Would the Trail Boss loads be even lighter?

[saz]

Snyd, I load TB under the Lee 255 in my puma 454, it shoots softer than my unique load and is very accurate.

Head, I shoot it out of a 454 casull case, but I use a rem 7 1/2 primer and do not have any issues with ignition. It runs right at 1100fps out of my 16" barrel. Give it a try, it is fun to work with and burns really clean.

[wellfedirishman]

Tom, I shoot 7 grs of Trailboss in a 45LC in a NEF Handi Rifle (comparable to the Contender) with a variety of boolit weights (200gr through 340 gr). All shoot very well with light recoil.

See: http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=99213

[BCB]

Tom, I shoot 7 grs of Trailboss in a 45LC in a NEF Handi Rifle (comparable to the Contender) with a variety of boolit weights (200gr through 340 gr). All shoot very well with light recoil.

See: http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=99213

wellfedirishman,

From the numbers you are listing, it would seem you are using the 70% rule to determine a safe charge of Trail Boss for your loads?...

I also use the 70% rule and shoot Trail Boss in everything I shoot cast boolits in…

But, there seems to be some controversy as to the published data and the 70% rule. The published data list charges much less than the 70% rule equates…

I have had no problems with the 70% rule—yet others indicate excessive pressures…

I was shooting 7.0 grains of TB today from my Blackhawk with my 45-270-SAA boolit (283 grains) with no problems at all…

I shoot 4.8 grains of TB with my 358429 (173 grains) from my Security-Six today also…

Just curious as to where you got your data or did you calculate it?...

Thanks…BCB