Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Trailboss vs. accuracy?

Being that I'm getting more and more paranoid about double charges I'm thinkin about trying some Trailboss for some light .357 loads. Only problem is I've never heard let alone seen anyone getting the kinda of accuracy with it that they get with more traditional powders. What say you? Any other bulky powders I should be looking at to get mild .38sp performance without the risk of double charging a .357 case?

CB

I use it in my 4 inch 5 shot Tracker with 240 grain lead bullets for 850 to 900 fps. It has shot as good accuracy wise as most other powders I use in the 44.

It's ok...

No real prob in a 45 Colt

I load weak .357 loads for my brother's S&W 686 using .38spl brass. He doesn't want true "magnum" velocity/noise/recoil, and is perfectly happy with the loads I build him using 158gr Laser Cast, .38spl brass, and 6.0grs Unique. That's at least a grain above normal .38spl operating pressures (so you've been warned), but is a puzzycat in a larger .357 like my bro's S&W 686. Anyway, a double charge doesn't overflow the case, but is VERY obvious if it should ever happen. I just checked for purposes of this thread, and 10 grains (a 5gr double charge) also sits close enough to the case mouth to wake up all but the sleepiest of reloaders.

Just another powder to consider. Unique works well in lots of applications.

6.0grs behind an Oregon Trail 200grn/rnfp in my Uberti 1873 45 Colt is as accurate as any thing I've ever shot out of a wheel gun.

Thanks for the info everybody. Tried and use Unique for a good number of my loads, as a matter of fact my 158gr range load (lead, plated or jacketed) is 6.7 grs of Unique in .357 cases. But I'm seeking a true powder puff and looking to remove as much possible error on my part as possible. Just thought I'd give Trailboss a try if it works well for a few of you.

Pay attention!

Lately I've been using 9 gr. of Trailboss with 250 gr hard cast for plinking loads in my 454 Casull. They shoot Great!
I was shooting out behind the house yesterday. Taking a rest over a fence pole I was able to hit volleyball size rocks at 130 yards. The gun just seems way too accurate with this load, for a half-baked handgunner like myself.

I had the same experience with 45-70. Instead of 52 grains of IMR3031 I used 14 grains of TB and got the same size groups - without the kick

Avoiding double charges with plinkers is good and anyone can make a mistake. In my limited experience better accuracy with Trail Boss comes at the top of Hodgdon's recommendations. YMMV

I have had nice results with Trail Boss for the 32H&R and 44 spl
fun to mess with and fills the case, best accuracy has been almost near max. With reloading working up the loads is half the fun.

Picked up some TB at the LGS this weekend and did some playing around with it. Saturday I tried it with some 158gr RNFP's, some Berry's 158gr plated FP's and some Berry's 158gr plated HP's. All backed by 4.5grs of TB. None exibited what I call good accuracy, 3-4" 10 shot strings for all loads at 25 yards.

Sunday I decided to just play around with the 158gr RNFPs and some different powder weights. Tried 3.2grs, 3.7, 4.2 and 4.7grs. Natural selection warning: the 4.5 and 4.7 loads are over book but I used IMR's formula and 5 grs will fit under these bullets without compression. Again nothing stellar in the accuracy dept but the 4.2 came in best at 2 - 5 shot strings around 2.5", slightly behind were the 4.7 loads. The 3.2 and 3.7 loads, forget about it.

About the only thing I determined was TB and the hardcast lead I was using sooted up the gun a fair amount. Nothing that didn't easily whipe off though.

I too have not found hard cast bullets and TB to give stellar accuracy. I have a feeling that it is the hard cast bullets. I am going to try some swaged lead bullets when I get time to play with Trail Boss again.

Ernie