My wife really likes my Kimber Eclipse II. I was thinking about loading it down a bit with H&G 68's (205grn.) and Trail Boss to around 750-800fps. I'd make it her "house and range" gun, and I'd upgrade for me.
I'll likely have to re-spring as I put in a small radius firing pin stop, 18lb recoil spring, and 24lb (I think) mainspring.
My question is, has anyone ran this combo? Any comments on accuracy? Reliability?

Thanks!!

I dont think the trail boss idea is what I would do for a reduced load.. TB is not supposed to be compressed, and the chance it would be, in a small capacity case as the 45ACP is, is asking for a serious mishap... Use Bullseye or some other fast pistol powder to get the load level that you seek. A 750 fps load is a standard 45 target level loading thats easy to get without any special hoops to jump through. A recoil spring adjustment might be needed 14lb if I remember right.

I looked up my old NM load, 3.7 gr BE and a 200 gr SWC for right at 750 fps from the 5" Clark Colt.

How well does Bullseye meter? Trail Boss meters very well and I don’t want to have to fight something that meters like Unique through my Uniflow.
Thanks!!!

I load 45 acp for wild bunch action shooting and I use 4.0 grains of WST powder and a 230 grain bullet. The 230 grain bullet has less recoil than the 200.

My Uniflow meters BE, Unique and Red Dot just fine after putting in a baffle.

I put a baffle in some time ago, but I’ve not tried Unique with it.
Might try it again.

My everyday load for my 1911 .45 acp is 5.9 grains of Universal behind 210 grain cast Lee 452-200 bullets. It's mild shooting and one of my most accurate off hand shooting pistols at 25 yards.

I haven't met a measure yet that doesn't meter Bullseye ok. Trailboss is ok, but represents about the worst bang-for-the-buck of any powder out there, plus I never attained best accuracy with it. Gave away my last can of it years ago.

BE, WST, 231/HP38 and VV N310 work well with reduced loads.

e3 works well. Its kinda off label with no pistol data published.

I've had a couple guns that shot it very well, but agree, for the most part the accuracy with it is middling at best from my experience, too. That said, I've used quite a bit of it for 45 Colt plinking loads in a couple rifles that shot it well.

I actually just picked up a can from a LGS the other day because I was almost out of the first bunch that I bought 15-20 years ago. They changed the branding on the can from IMR to Hodgdon at some point between then and now.

Trail Boss was designed for reduced loads in high volume cases. .45ACP is not one.

Hodgdon lists TB loads with several different weight bullets in 45 ACP, so there was some thought put into it being used for the cartridge.

No clue how well they'll cycle the action, though.

I have loaded TB in 38 special for my daughter to shoot as a powder puff load. I will admit it was fun to shoot for me too.
Never tried it in anything else.

A lot of powder manufactures print data for their products. It doesn't mean it the best choice.

I certainly agree it is probably not the "best" choice, but a lot of powders that aren't really optimal for a cartridge can produce good results. I almost exclusively use H4198 in 300 Savage... not really the best choice for the cartridge if you look purely at ballistics, but the accuacy and efficiency are excellent.

As a whole, I've not had a lot of success with TB, though. I've tried in in 32 S&W Long, 327 Fed, 38 Special, 357 Mag, 44 Mag, 45 Colt, and 45-70, and the only cartridge it has consistently been accurate in for me is 45 Colt. I use it a lot for 45 Colt plinkers, and not much else.

I know my uncle loves the stuff for hard cast bullets in 22 Hornet, but I've never really messed with it in rifle cartridges, aside from 45-70.

I've tried TB in a .45 Colt with round balls, it was louder than I wanted (out of my 16" Henry), but they all hit the 25 yard gong.
I've also tried it with paper patched 270 SAA's in my .45-70 (#1), where it shot VERY well at 50 yards, I've not tried them further.
But alas, I've not tried it in normal pistol loads.
I've got some H-Clays somewhere around here that might do well. I've also seen Ramshot Competition at the LGS, might try a lb of it.
Thanks!!!

Never know until you try. Load up a handful, either they'll work, or they won't. 🤷‍♂️

If they do, you can adjust the load from there to see if you can get decent accuracy. If they don't, you're not out much.

A recent press release from the company in Australia that manufactures Trail Boss indicates that it will not be manufactured in 2022. I would devote my time and effort developing a load using powder that will be manufactured unless you already have a large amount of it on hand.

Dang. Makes me glad I found a jug last week.

A pound of Bullseye or Hodgdon Clays will go a loooooong way further than a pound of TB. Just saying. If you charge your cases separately and let them standing in a loading block for inspection you should never generate a double or triple charge. (I use a small flashlight and go up and down the rows, and then repeat a second time. It's one facet of handloading that one must be completely anal about.)

As popular as it is, I've never had much luck with Bullseye for accuracy, Clays has been a good shooter for me in the past, though. A#2 has fit the bill for me as a mild pistol load powder several times, as well.

I actually just ordered a can of Nitro100NF yesterday to play around with. I've never messed with it, but it's cheap, and there's loads listed for a lot of cartridges I shoot with cast, so I figured what the hay.

I ordered some HS-6, to try for some snortier 45 loads in that 1873 repro, too. I could have sworn I had some, but I either used it all, or gave it away, because it wasn't in my powder stash. Leaning toward gave it away, because I don't recall using it much. A#5 is my usual go to for that puropose, but this rifle didn't like it or 231 at all.

I had a buddy suggest HS-6 to me and I was able to find a 1 lb can so I bought it to try. AA#5 was my go to powder for all around general loading but it (like everything else) is hard to find.

A#5 or Unique usually shoot really well for me, too. This rifle is just being really load finicky. In the end this 45 Colt just may not be that accurate... I've had a handful of levers I couldn't really get to shoot how I wanted over the years.

I've run TB in my SA XD-S 45 with no issues...

Although Titegroup is used more often which is case position insensitive

Hodgdon lists TB in their 45 ACP load data along with Titegroup (in link)

https://shop.hodgdon.com/reloading-data-center

The manufacturer of Trail Boss announced they will not be producing anymore until sometime in 2023. Unless you have a large supply of trail boss I wouldn't waste the time working up a load for it.

If you have H- Clays, 4.0gr/200gr bullet will work just fine. 3.8gr with a 230 LRN is even better.

I was looking at 4.0grn Clays with a 200grn bullet yesterday on Hogdon’s site.
Will likely start there.