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Thread: Trail boos in military rifles

  1. #1
    Boolit Buddy
    Join Date
    May 2019
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    Midway USA
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    Trail boos in military rifles

    I have not really messed much with Trail Boss powder. I was looking through my inventory, and discovered that I had quite a bit of it, and not so much of some of my other favorites like Unique, and 2400, 4227 and others that I like in reduced loads.

    So the question is how consistent is this stuff? Does any one have experience shooting over a chronograph?

    I load for 3006, 8mm x 57, and 7.5 Swiss, and since other powders are in short supply, and I have a lot of Trail Boss, that it might be a good choice.

    I dont shoot my cast as hard as some do, and like shot gun / pistol powders, as I get more shots per pound.
    I usually load around the place that Ed Harris' article suggested. 12- 13 grs of Unique, or Red or Green dot, or 16 - 18 grs of 2400.

    I am wondering if Trail Boos will get good accuracy in the 11- 13 grain range. Also, since I dont have a chronograph, I was hoping to get some feed back on how consistent Trail Boss is?

    Thanks for any help you can offer.

  2. #2
    Boolit Bub
    Join Date
    Feb 2009
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    31
    I used to live in an area where most of the lots were about 1 1/2 acres .I used a lot of Trail Boss in rifles from 6.5mm to 45 cal. averaging about 7 grains to keep the bullet subsonic. I had a 50 yard range and with some rifles ( all old milsurps) I could get 5 shots into a quarter (25 cent) group. I hear a lot of guys complain about Trail Boss but I have had good luck with it. Where I live now I can go to a very good public range so I up the charge for the longer shots. I have fired T.B. loads through a chronogragh and they seemed pretty consistant but I never kept records.

  3. #3
    Boolit Master
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    Production of Trail Boss has been suspended,perhaps permanently...unless Hodgon has another source for it.

  4. #4
    Boolit Master
    Daekar's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by john.k View Post
    Production of Trail Boss has been suspended,perhaps permanently...unless Hodgon has another source for it.
    Didn't know that, a shame if true. I enjoy using it.

    In my experience TB is consistent with boolits and will produce accurate loads easily. If one of my guns won't shoot with TB, then it won't shoot when anything else either.
    I'm a big fan of data-driven decisions. You want to make me smile, show me a spreadsheet! Extra points for graphs and best-fit predictive equations.

  5. #5
    Boolit Buddy
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    Thank you all for responding. I looked and I have just short of 8 pounds, so I figured I may as well use it.
    I had no idea that this powder had been suspended. Hopefully it will get back into production soon.

    I think maybe I will try and load some up into some of the cartridges. Perhaps the Swiss, and see if I can build a load that will work.
    Also talking with my buddy who has some experience with Trail boss, I think maybe I will start a little lower. Maybe around 8 grains, and up or down from there.

  6. #6
    Boolit Mold
    Join Date
    Mar 2022
    Posts
    2
    Anyone know why Hodgdon has suspended TB production?

    Before you use it in your old rifles take a close look at the Hodgdon online reloading manual. I've noted that TB produces reduced velocities along with reduced chamber pressures in straight-walled pistol cartridges (as designed)...however, in larger bottleneck or semi-bottleneck cases the chamber pressure is actually higher than other powders on the chart. Nearly had a disaster with a Carl Gustav rolling block in 8x5R Danish.

  7. #7
    Boolit Master
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    The powder is made by ADI.....Hodgdon own the TB name ......and any statements from ADI are basically waffle,but seems they have massive military orders for shells and bombs and such ,and have trimmed their production of small arms powder to whats used in military rounds.........Funny thing is years ago some expert claimed it was battleship gun propellant (long bundles of sticks) ,shaved into thin slices......corresponding with the moving of the stocks stored underwater in barges in Sydney harbour so the billion dollar waterfront Navy land could be sold....Who knows?.........anyhoo,ADI say its unlikley TB will be in their future schedule....Thats not to say Hodgdon cant get it made elsewhere.

  8. #8
    Boolit Buddy
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    Wondering if I should save it and use something else.
    If this is out of production long term, the guys that really need it, such as cowboy action shooters.
    I may be able to trade it to someone who needs it worse than I do, for something that would work better for me.

    Thank you for the caution regarding bottle neck cases. I have always loaded everything on the side or caution, and since trail boss is a powder that has no real data, in bottle neck cases, I was especially conservative.
    The recommendations regarding filling a case to the base of the bullet, and measuring it, and then starting with 50 % of that, and going up to 70 % seemed a little odd to me anyway.

    While I used it in several cases, it is absolutely not a low pressure powder, in spite of what a person would think, or the report from the muzzle would indicate.

  9. #9
    Boolit Master
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    You should ask Hodgdon ,as they may decide to have it made elsewhere................I know for sure there is not a single grain to be had here.,and that situation has been for some time.

  10. #10
    Boolit Master
    Join Date
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    Belfast, ME
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    The powder was designed for low velocity lead loads for cowboy action shooting. So it bulks up twice as much as a charge of Unique of the same weight. Ignition is better for different positions in the case, fore and aft. Use it while you have it. IMHO.
    "You will wantonly strike a hornet's nest which extends from mountains to ocean, and legions, now quiet, will swarm out and sting us to death. It is unnecessary; it puts us in the wrong; it is fatal." Robert Toombs, Democrat of Georgia, warning of the results of the imminent attack of the Confederacy upon Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, 1861

  11. #11
    Boolit Buddy
    Join Date
    Sep 2019
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    Quote Originally Posted by john.k View Post
    The powder is made by ADI.....Hodgdon own the TB name ......and any statements from ADI are basically waffle,but seems they have massive military orders for shells and bombs and such ,and have trimmed their production of small arms powder to whats used in military rounds.........Funny thing is years ago some expert claimed it was battleship gun propellant (long bundles of sticks) ,shaved into thin slices......corresponding with the moving of the stocks stored underwater in barges in Sydney harbour so the billion dollar waterfront Navy land could be sold....Who knows?.........anyhoo,ADI say its unlikley TB will be in their future schedule....Thats not to say Hodgdon cant get it made elsewhere.
    Regarding Trail Boss possibly being repurchased battleship powder, check out this link to a production photo from the now- defunct Indiana Army Ammunition Plant, Charlestown, Indiana (once the largest powder production facility in the US).
    Imagine slicing this big-gun powder thin to use it in cowboy action loads.

    https://www.in.gov/history/images/powder-300x257.jpg

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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check