Trail Boss Powder and Lee Auto Pro

[gaston_r]

Hey guys,
I am an extreme newbie. So new in fact I haven't even purchased my press yet. My wife is getting it for my B-day present in December. I am getting a Lee Classic Turret. It comes with the Lee Pro Auto-Disk Powder Measure as well as the Lee Safety Prime and scales. I have been researching as well as reading The ABC's of Reloading 7th Edition. I have met a friend at my shooting club who is an experienced reloader and is helping me get started. I will be reloading .38 spec & .357 mag for my Ruger GP-100 4" and my Ruger Speed Six 2.5" (or there abouts). I am wanting to start really slowly and will be using the turret as a single stage for a while. I am not interested in hot rounds, just something economical and accurate enough to hit steel pates at 10-15 yards and fairly clean. I have been reading the dangers of double charging and came across this Trail Boss powder which is more volumous than other powders therefore easier to spot double charges. It also fills the case up more, possibly leading to more even ignition. This leads me to ask a few questions to you all.

Has anyone used it and how did you like it?

Is it indeed a clean burning powder?

What primer(s) do you recommend?

Which lead bullets does it like?

I found a VMD for the Auto Disk of .2172 per Grain searching on google. Does this sound right? The thread says they found on Lee's website but I was only able to pull an old chart from the direction section for the Auto-Disk. There is another section named VMD in the instructions, but it will not open - maybe they are updating it. Any information and comments will be greatly appreciated.

[kg42]

Your "PAD" will come with a chart giving loads for each cavity; like the AD2302 download, but up to date with latest powders...

Whatever LEE's charts (usually optimistic) say, you should write your own down by checking every cavity in a realistic way.
Rotation of the turret and use of the sizing and expanding dies will settle the powder and give loads slightly heavier than the first few after filling; so take at least 10 measurements through the expanding die with different cases.

And check the loads again when you buy a new jug of powder.

kg

[Daveb]

Sounds like you're getting good good advice re the Lee set-up. I've always been a single stage reloader so I don't know a lot about the turret and progressive presses. I CAN tell you about my experiences with Trail Boss powder though. If you can pull up IMR Smokeless Powders, go to IMR Handgun data and Trail Boss, you can get a whole bunch of reloading data on Trail Boss. I've tried it in my .357, 44 magnum, .45 Colt and the 45-70 cartridges. You are right about the loading density being really high so double charges are easy to spot. The data says with a 158 gr SWC bullet you start with 3.2 grains (754 fps- 16,500 cup) and the maximum is 4.2 grains (865 fps- 20,400 cup). I couldn't get good accuracy with it but I also shoot longer distances using a Winchester 94 with 24 inch barrel at steel silhouettes from 40 to 100 yards. I did find that the maximum charge of 16.5 grains of Trail Boss under a 320 grain gas checked bullet works really well in my Marlin XLR (24" barrel) in 45-70. I shoot it out to 200 yards at steel silhouettes and it reliably knocks those rams down. I chronographed that load at 1285 fps which is what IMR published in their information sheets. Hope this helps some. Take care out there!

[405]

Like Daveb, I'm a slow, oldie single stage press type so have little experience with your type loader. But Trialboss meters very well so should do fine. Just double check the charges against a beam scale.

Yes! Good powder. But in my experience it fills a relatively small niche. The Hodgdon/IMR site will have some data. The latest Hornady manual also has some data for it. And yes, it is extremely bulky and to my surprise, after looking at its texture, it is very consistently thrown by powder measures. When you look at the data notice where it fits into the type of cartridge-bullet-load category. It is a very fast powder- seems to be in the 700X, red dot, bullseye range by grain weight. I've found it to be excellent for such cartridges as the straight-walled types shooting cast bullets at the lower velocities. That's just what you would expect from the very fast powders. I shoot a lot of originals so never go high with pressures or velocities- not interested in that in those guns. I've found it to one of the best powders for the 38-40 and 44-40 in rifle and pistol. I follow the IMR listed loads and use soft cast, plain base, original style bullets in the older guns. Accuracy is outstanding and it is a very clean burning powder. It doesn't require a special primer- just use the regular type. In my more modern handguns in 38/357, Trailboss does equally well if I keep in mind its niche--- lower pressure/velocity, cast bullet loads. Good luck!

[Daveb]

Hey 405-You're right on the money about the burn rate of Trail Boss. The burn chart I saw put it right at WW 231. It's really fast burning and burns really clean in my 94. I eneded up calling the manufacturer re the max charge for .357 and was told that I couldn't get enough Trail Boss in the case to do any damage--- so I had to try a little more than the max load. I went as high as 5.2 grains under a 165 grain SWC with WW brass and standard WW primers. I thought it might have made the primers just a little less rounded but no significant signs of pressure. I still couldn't get it to shoot accurately though-at lease for my needs. I tried Trail Boss in my .44 magnum model 94 as well and went up to 9.0 grains which wasn't bad but still not as good as my Unique load of 9.0 grains under a 255 grain SWC, WW brass and standard WW primers. Always good to hear from you all so keep those posts coming!

[Miner]

I use Trail Boss in my Scoped 454 SRH when I shoot 45LCs in it. Shooting Laser-Cast 200 grn or 250 grn from a bench at 30 yds I can put 18 shots (my 3 speedloaders full) into 1 hole that takes out a 1" bull completely. Looks impressive but I'm sure a better shot (with younger eyes) could do better. I'm impressed with the load in my wheel gun tho

[sepolvora]

I post here against my own good sense. but I am here is because Frank, a gentlemen from Georgia invited me.

I left my last reloading forum 4 years ago after a heated argument over something I forgot long time ago.

This time I swear, really swear, not argue about anything, with anybody
If I break my rule, please kick me out of here.

Well, when I started reloading, 20 years ago, an old gentleman told me "I started reloading 70 years ago and if I were to start again, I'll buy a Lee turret press."

I did so, and my first Turret gave me over 120.000 rounds before I bought 2 more.

If you set it up properly, with the autoindex feature, there is no way to drop a double charge, unless you try really harder.
So my favourite load for cheap plinking (and I am a real miser) is a 158 RN or SWC, which be the cheapest, over any primer which is in sale this week, and 3,7 to 4,3 grains of WW231.

You guessed, I use 3,7. Why? it kills my paper target the same as the 4,3 and is cheaper!

In fact, you can load a 38 special with anything from 2,8 gr up, but you'll feel Sissy with a 38 that recoils like a 22 LR.

Great forum, best regards to everyone.

[Fireball 57]

Welcome Sepolora and Everyone! While I have had good results with the powder in cast 9mm and 200gn. cast 45 caliber, I'm a slow single stage reloader type and quite leery of progressive loaders-heard too many reloading faux paus disasters.