Home Forums Reloading Varmint Rifles Trail Boss reduce velocity loads...

Maxwell:

A long time ago when I was developing these Blue Dot loads, I learned a quick way to avoid any double charges, and now I do all my hand loading with the Lee Dippers and the 505 Scale. I turn all cases upside down on my load box, once it has the primer put in each case.

Then I turn the case over one at a time, charge it and then seat a bullet before going onto the next case. If I get interrupted by the wife ( who like ALL women expect us to drop what we are doing and come to give them the assistance they need, as it always with just 'take a second'...) I dump the powder back into my container, and turn the case upside down again.... so when I finally return, I start on a fresh case, and NOT in the middle of where I was. To me it is the easiest way to not loose where you were at when left. We had a member who was a a minister, that was asking me about Blue Dot and I worked with him and answered his questions.... but he had something go wrong, and shows one should maintain a rhythm. He was loading a 257 Weatherby.... charged a case and was interrupted by his wife for help... then he returned and she returned wanting some more help... so when he returned he charged the case again, and was interrupted another time by her.... when he returned, he charged the case a third time ( he was wanting a light load), and then seated the bullet.

When he shot it at the range, it exploded, destroyed the rifle and the action, and even broke the Leupold 3 x 9 scope on top into pieces. Luckily his personal injury was minor and recoverable... but I am sure the explosion was a little nerve racking, to say the least.

If one can't have a discipline in handloading technique, or is inexperienced, should just pass it by... its not for the inexperienced reloader... they don't have the discipline and experience it requires to be done safely.

Sorry to see anyone have a BAD experience.Thanks for sharing a worst case scenario. Do not wish to see anyone have a experience like Seafire shares above.

Keep it safe folks or don't do it! Same message Seafire is sharing. Though, worth repeating enough to insure folks are taking safety to heart!

I do it differently but equally anally. (My apologies if I described this before in this thread, I'm not inclined to go back and re-read the whole thing to find out.) I set the sized and primed cases in a loading block - no matter if small pistol cases or large rifle cases - and charge each one in turn by feeding charges from a separate vessel (usually the measuring tube of a Belding&Mull measure or a separate dedicated case with the Harrell's) moving the funnel in turn from case to case never touching the cases being charged. No interruptions are tolerated - no TV, no music, no phone, no nothing. (No wife, so there's that advantage.) When all cases are charged I move up and down the rows peering in with a small flashlight beside my eye - even with 5 grains Bullseye in a Krag or '06 case, or 2 grains in a Hornet case, you can see and take note of the physical level of the powder. Then I come back through the rows in the opposite direction. When satisfied that nothing is amiss, I do it a third time. Sounds boring and overly anal but it only actually takes a minute of time.

Results of following that protocol for as long as I've been shooting reduced loads (sometimes dramatically reduced loads): zero mishaps in a half-century of doing it. Heck, I'm so used to doing it that way that I follow the exact same protocol when loading full charges in large rifle cases too, but that's mainly to ensure I didn't skip one than to guard against a double charge.

I've had guys come up and start talking to me while I'm loading at the shooting bench by breech seating lead bullets in single shot rifles, via a single cartridge case re-charged for each shot. When interrupted like that I dump the case out and start the routine over - sometimes powder comes out, sometimes not, but bottom line each time I stick that case in the chamber I know there's but one charge of powder in it.

Bottom line: when messing with reduced loads develop a protocol for ensuring you don't double or triple charge a cartridge case and become religious about it. Doesn't matter how you do it, what matters is that you do it.

I'm loading 12 gr of BD in a 223 so a double charge would catch your attention. However, lighter loads could be a serious problem and I would probably use Trail Boss instead. In case anyone is interested, a full case of Trail Boss gives 2000 fps with a Hornady 50 gr spsx in my 16" Ruger American Ranch and is sweet with a suppressor. But on with the story, my problem is bridging. I Originally used a Redding Benchrest powder measure to directly drop the charge into the case but you cannot visually monitor the process. I then changed to a Dillon measure and a 45 cal drop tube to prime a 45 Colt case and from there, use a funnel to charge the 223 case. Sizing, dropping the charge, and seating all take place with one stroke of the press so it's efficient but I have to transfer the powder from the Colt case to the 223 with a funnel so I can watch it. I nearly always have to shake the funnel to get it to drop into the 223 case.

Seafire, is Blue Dot Position sensitive with respect to velocity? With a half case of powder, do you need to raise the rifle vertical before you shoot?

Maxwell:

Blue Dot is not position sensitive. I regular shoot it in the 223s, with charges of 10 grains to 14.

I've even shot it downhill at say a 75 to 80 degree angle, at ground squirrels etc.

I don't use fillers with it, and have NEVER noticed ANY issues whatsoever. and that is experience of shooting probably 100K plus rounds out of my bolt action rifles. That is regardless of shooting it level or either uphill or down hill.

Mainly use small rifle primers, but in a pinch or time of shortages, that has included using small pistol and small pistol magnum primers with them.

This is really good to know because I really like this powder in the 223. The only load I use for 223 is 12 gr with Hornady 50 gr spsx at 2640 fps which is good to 300 yd. If I want more juice, I use a 6 BR. Even at the pedestrian speed of 2640, the 1-8" twist has the bullet wound out to it's max rpm and is explosive. What's not to like about this? I've noticed this same load in a 1-12" twist is not super explosive

Are they still making Trail Boss?

according what I've found on line, yes it has been discontinued, even if just temporarily.