trail boss min/max

[bigted]

prolly been asked n answered already...if so forgive me and please indulge me this one.

here is my confusion...in any of the manuals i find...i have several...the max load for the 45 colt and a 250 grain boolit is 6 grains.

befroe i loaded any cases with this powder i went to the hogden site and read their description of this powder and their recommendation for loads in ANY cartridge. they say to make a mark on the case where the boolit base would end up when loaded and to fill the case to this mark with trail boss powder...then to dump it on a scale and this would be the max load for that cartridge.......did this with my rem 45 colt cases and came up with 9 grains of this powder so i loaded 50 rounds with this load behind my 250 grain boolits. they describe such a load as plenty safe for any cartridge.

so im kinda confused with the manuals in that non have a 250 grain boolit load over 6 grains.

any thoughts???

[Ragnarok]

The Hogdens site...like you describe say to mark the case where the base of the bullet will be seated to..mark the case..fill with powder to the mark..weigh that charge..and that's the full charge...70% of the max charge is your starting load..so the min would 6.3gr for a 9gr max?..am I doing the math right?

I'm also presuming they don't want you to compress the powder any.

Any thoughts? I don't know..I just bought a can of Trail Boss to make some .45-70..so I don't know didly squat about it..Possibly the velocitys would be low..risking a stuck bullet..my thoughts. But I don't know that for sure.

Hogden has some pistol data online..what minimum charge do they reccomend?

[carlsonwayne]

Different books will list different data. I have no idea why. I use several books to find a good starting load. One thing with Trail Boss, is that even though they give that formula, some of us are using TB to load 308 and other subsonic. Using that formula comes up with higher numbers than what we use. In my 308, I use 10 grains, but in my 7.62x54 I use 9.5 grains. I also occasionally use 1.5 grains and a single buck shot that barely fits the neck of the 7.62x54 brass. When I try a new load, I load ten rounds and try them. If they work and don't cause any excess pressure, I load some more and check accuracy. I do it this way because it is easier to pull 9 bullets and powder than 49. You can always E-mail Hogden and ask them about the differences.

[John Ross]

Loading TB to the base of the bullet is safe, but make sure you use a SIZED case when you do your checking. Using an unsized case to determine the charge can cause you to get too much powder height when that charge is thrown in a sized case, resulting in compression and thus powder fracture of the delicate TB donuts when you seat the bullet.

Manuals list max TB loads that are less than what you will get when you do the load-to-base-of-bullet procedure because

A) different makes of cases have differing case volumes, and

B) different make and style bullets of the same weight have different shank lengths when seated in the case. Manual publishers have to "idiot proof" their info as much as possible, and assume a worst-case scenario.

Your 9 grain load is safe with the case and 250 grain bullet YOU are using, but Hodgdon realizes some guy may use their printed data with a 250 grain button nose wadcutter with a much longer shank, so they don't list over 6 grains in their manual.

Make sense?

[bigted]

yes it does make sense. thought along these lines myself but want to check out others thinking as well.

it was and is my understanding that as long as you don't compress this powder you cant really get into trouble but then my fevered brain started working and i re-thought myself so... better to be safe then sorry

im not new to this trail-boss in that ive loaded 45-70 and 458 win mag with it for down-loads with a small success so thought id give the 45 a try in my Ruger vaquero.

[BCB]

bigted,

This is all you need...

http://www.hodgdon.com/PDF/Trail-Boss-data.pdf

It works but the published data will conflict...

I have contacted IMR/Hodgdon and you get no reply...

Many will argue vehemently against this 70% formula--so be it...
(Most have not tried it or are depending on some computer program to...)

I have a 5-pound keg of Trail Boss and it is 3/4ths empty and I have both eyes, both hands and all fingers...
(Another 5-pounder will be ordered in the future from Powder Valley)

I've reloaded all of the following: 25 Auto, 270 Winchester, 30-30 Winchester, 357 Magnum, 38 Special, 44 Magnum, 445 Super Magnum, 45 Colt and the 7-30 Waters…

Didn’t need any published data to successfully load all of these with several boolit weights for each cartridge…

You decide...

Good-luck...

BCB

[bigted]

yep i decided...went out and fired a 9 grain trailboss load behind a 250 grain boolit and walla...no signs at all of any preassure...cases look good and the revolver went bang in a significant way...feels like a 9 or 10 grain unique load with the same boolit.

thanks for the reply's all.

[Malcolm]

I load 16 grs. of tb behine a 350gr bootlet in 2 rifles a 45-70 marlin lever action & a45-70 BC There is no recoil to speak of & I havent had any probles . I also load 21 grs of TB in my 458 win. & no proble there.

[Nobade]

Same here, 9gr. Trailboss and the Ranch Dog 290 in my Marlin 45 colt rifle. 16 gr. and the RCBS 325 FN-U in the 45-70. Both are used for cowboy silhouette matches, have fired thousands of them with no problems. Both are extremely accurate.

[DukeInFlorida]

The phrase that we use when loading a new load with TrailBoss is:

"Don't crush the donuts"

You should be fine as long as you don't crush the donuts..... in any caliber, any bullet.