Trail boss question

[Josh89]

So why is trail boss only a 9oz bottle. I Was reading that it works pretty for soft loads. I was looking to load up some 240 lead flat points for my dad. He's had some neck and shoulder problems the last few years so after a day of shooting some stout loads out of his 629 he feels it. You guys had Good experience reloading 44 with trail boss.?

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[DizzyJ]

Guess I learned something new here. I didn't know any of these powders came in containers smaller than a lb?

 

[scrandall01215]

Because it's so bulky. And that's what fits in a standard 1 lb bottle.
And it great for soft shooting loads I made some .270 loads and it was like shooting a .22

Stacy

 

[gmerkt]

Some of the older DuPont, later IMR powders for shotguns and pistols came in 8 oz. cans. Things like SR 4756, SR 4759, PB, SR 7625 and others. I guess the thinking was these were powders that were dispensed in small quantities and a little went a long way. These are all gone out of the line-up now. As stated above, Trail Boss is so bulky that you can't get a full pound in the standard black plastic jug use for other powders.

I don't know of any other powders now that are sold in containers of less than a full pound. The concept of smaller quantities (and thus lower prices) for powders that are used in smaller amounts per cartridge seems to have become a casualty of manufacturers wanting to sell more powder. So people like me wind up with a whole lot of different containers that are partials. About 30 years ago, I bought an 8 pound jug of Accurate Arms No. 5. It was on sale for $65, what a deal. Well, over the course of 30 years I did use about 6 pounds. But lately I finally got tired of seeing it around and let the remaining 2 pounds go in a lot of other powder that I sold off. It goes slowly at 5 or so grains per charge.

 

[Certaindeaf]

Here's a recent thread essentially on the subject..

Bunny fart loads for 38 special.

Im trying to work up some super soft loads for 38spec for my lady to go shooting with me next week. All I have currently is 148 DEWC, 158 swc, could probably have 105 tc or 125 rn before I leave this Friday. For powders I have 700x (really like this powder). Unique, universal and 2400...

www.northwestfirearms.com

Also, after you shoot up those 240's, try some lighter bullets because physics, all else being equal.

 

[41mag]

I developed severe carpal tunnel syndrome which cowboy action 45 LC loads aggravated. Trail Boss plus 200 grain cast lead was big improvement. 38 special even more, and it was hard to hear the impact on steel targets. Designed for bulkiness it rather simulates the full case charge of Black Powder.

 

[daved20319]

Probably a silly question, but is it safe to assume that this powder probably won't have enough grunt to cycle the action on most semi-autos? My Sig P220R has the stiffest recoil spring of any pistol I've owned, my powder puff load of a 200 gr. SWC and 4 gr. of Bullseye is just barely enough to cycle that action most of the time. My CZ 97 BD has no problems with it. But maybe this is the motivation I need for that convertible Ruger Bisley .45LC/.45 ACP ...

 

[Red98422]

Waiting on a shell holder now for my 44 set, but as the OP from the thread posted above I can assure you that for pistol loads it most certainly is a very soft shooting powder.

 

[2Wheels4Ever]

Probably a silly question, but is it safe to assume that this powder probably won't have enough grunt to cycle the action on most semi-autos? My Sig P220R has the stiffest recoil spring of any pistol I've owned, my powder puff load of a 200 gr. SWC and 4 gr. of Bullseye is just barely enough to cycle that action most of the time. My CZ 97 BD has no problems with it. But maybe this is the motivation I need for that convertible Ruger Bisley .45LC/.45 ACP ...

I tried it once loading a 135gr .40sw for a Glock. It didn't cycle. I was trying to get some silly soft shooting loads for speed steel.

 

[41mag]

Developed for revolver fans wishing to change fron the Holy Black. I've not found reliable bottom feeder load from Trail Boss. They may be out there, I'm done looking.

 

[Tom Louis]

I bought a Charter Arms Bulldog in the 1980s ; .44 special, stainless, factory Pachmayr type grips with the shortened hammer. As a relatively small revolver for the caliber, it was and is painful to shoot with normal 44 Sp loads. I used to load way down with Unique and a 200gr SWC lead bullet but even with a fairly bulky pistol powder like Unique there was a lot of empty space in the cartridge case and it didn't ameliorate the heavy recoil much. When Trailboss came out I tried it with the standard 246 gr lead bullets with excellent results, less felt recoil, factory velocities (close) and it does a far better job of filling that cavernous case. Best. Tom

 

[Throckmorton]

clays is 14 oz jug, there are others that are not 'a pound' of powder,fyi
get your trail boss at bimart, best price all the time on TB. Many stores rip off on their TB prices by charging the same as full pound powders

 

[41mag]

Many stores rip off on their TB prices by charging the same as full pound powders

inquiry, and pardon my ignorance: Trail Boss is packaged by volume, and sold in a certain volume container; I've never seen "full pound container" of Trail Boss; how do you arrive at your assertion? Are we to believe the distributor has a secret built-in billing program to callously bump up the TB price, that somehow 'should be' less?

Given a standard TB container full, vs weighed charges of other powders, into any given caliber cases, which product loads more charges per container?

Tried years ago to compare TB vs (other) powders in a cost-per-container or per-loaded-round exercise; it was too close to establish with certainty, that there really was much different. Please discuss how you arrived at the conclusion, I'd really like to understand the often heard claim.

I've only got some bottles purchased long ago with old price stickers long gone now. No idea what current price is on any powders.

 

[Certaindeaf]

inquiry, and pardon my ignorance: Trail Boss is packaged by volume, and sold in a certain volume container; I've never seen "full pound container" of Trail Boss; how do you arrive at your assertion? Are we to believe the distributor has a secret built-in billing program to callously bump up the TB price, that somehow 'should be' less?

Given a standard TB container full, vs weighed charges of other powders, into any given caliber cases, which product loads more charges per container?

Tried years ago to compare TB vs (other) powders in a cost-per-container or per-loaded-round exercise; it was too close to establish with certainty, that there really was much different. Please discuss how you arrived at the conclusion, I'd really like to understand the often heard claim.

I've only got some bottles purchased long ago with old price stickers long gone now. No idea what current price is on any powders.

Promo, a Red Dot clone without the red dots, is way cheaper than same. Average powder charge for many loads is probably right close to 4 grains.
A target .38 load is about 2.5 gr, +/- whatever.

Edit to add,
Natchez shows TB currently $32/lb and Promo $15.75/lb.

 

[Throckmorton]

" I've never seen "full pound container" of Trail Boss; how do you arrive at your assertion? "
what I ws getting at is this..if you are being charged the same as say a pound of UNique, which these days is abt. 25 bucks you are being ripped off. Sorry if I was unclear
Bimart sells it every day of the week for abt 16 bucks, if they can, others can

 

[Josh89]

Got my at bi-mart.i believe it was 15.97. Grabbed two in case I like it.

 

[Certaindeaf]

Got my at bi-mart.i believe it was 15.97. Grabbed two in case I like it.

So 2x Promo.. and it sucks for 9mm etc. and mid-range magnum loads.

 

[bbbass]

So 2x Promo.. and it sucks for 9mm etc. and mid-range magnum loads.

I won't be using any TB, cuz I gots 8lb of Red Dot, 4lb of 700X, 3lb of Titegroup, and 3lb of Titewad to use in .45ACP @ 2gr/230gr bullet load. And cuz all my cowboy hats is in storage.

 

[Certaindeaf]

I won't be using any TB, cuz I gots 8lb of Red Dot, 4lb of 700X, 3lb of Titegroup, and 3lb of Titewad to use in .45ACP @ 2gr/230gr bullet load. And cuz all my cowboy hats is in storage.

Yea, hard pass on the trail moss for me.

 

[Throckmorton]

"Probably a silly question, but is it safe to assume that this powder probably won't have enough grunt to cycle the action on most semi-autos? "

I don't know about 'most' but it cycles my 1911 with 16 lb. recoil spring just fine.200 grain cast with 3.5 TB.it's very case filling in 45 acp's which leads to good ignition,imho