Dillon Charge Bar w/ Trail Boss

[Duster Tom 27]

Loading 5.5 Gr. of TB for .45 Colt. I've used both the standard and large charge bars for a 550. What is everyone else using?

[Tracker Jack Daniels,58780 159]

I use the standard on my 650.

[Chief Rick 218]

Loading a little lighter than you, I'm using the standard.

[Church Key, SASS # 33713 108]

I load 6.2 grs for my .44 mag on a 550 using the large charge bar. The small one does not work for me.

 

Church Key

[Griff 657]

34 minutes ago, Duster Tom said:

What is everyone else using?

Almost anything besides Trail Boss.

[Duster Tom 27]

3 minutes ago, Griff said:

Almost anything besides Trail Boss.

Not helpful.

[Laramie 135]

Small charge bar. No issues for thousands of rounds. For me, trail boss works great. 

[Dubious Don #56333 59]

I like the large charge bar. because its 'deep' I think the charges are more consistent over the thinner/longer opening using the small charge bar. I load, depending on the caliber, 3.8 to 5.5 Trailboss. 

[Irish Tom 81]

I use the large bar. Seems to work best with Trail Boss.

 

Irish Tom.

[J.D. Daily 131]

I load 5.6 grains of TB behind a 200 grain pill on an XL650.  I bought it new with the 45 Colt die set.  I believe it has the small charge bar.  The charge deviation I find is +/-0.1 grain.  I modified the charge bar by installing the micrometer kit from Uniquetek.  This enhancement saves a lot of time when changing charge weight or powder.   Not cheap but worth it in time saved not making ammo.

[Wallaby Jack, SASS #44062 243]

Large charge bar ……….. and a vibrator on the hopper (old fishtank air pump)

[John E.B. Rawton 51]

I think I set up large for both .45 and .38. Hundreds and hundreds of rounds. Never used anything but trailboss until the recent switch to bp. 

[Duster Tom 27]

Tried both again today. The large is throwing more consistent than the regular one.

[Cheyenne Ranger, 48747L 1,101]

regular one for me

 

do while out the hopper with a dryer sheet before I fill with powder

 

 

[The Rainmaker, SASS #11631 210]

Using the small one, no probs yet, but how do I keep powder from going everywhere? It's getting in the primer seat cup and deforming the primers.

[Duster Tom 27]

Just now, The Rainmaker, SASS #11631 said:

Using the small one, no probs yet, but how do I keep powder from going everywhere? It's getting in the primer seat cup and deforming the primers.

When I used the regular one I was getting powder falling down after charging the case. Which led me to believe the regular bar was too small for 5.5 Gr. Of TB.

[Jackson Rose, SASS #45478 77]

I use the standard for 38's large for 45's. If you are spilling powder you might be using too much or are to violent when indexing the shell plate.

[The Rainmaker, SASS #11631 210]

24 minutes ago, Jackson Rose, SASS #45478 said:

I use the standard for 38's large for 45's. If you are spilling powder you might be using too much or are to violent when indexing the shell plate.

I don't think either are the case, but I will be a little more gentle with my 5.5 gr. AND use the large bar. Thx

[Irish Tom 81]

45 minutes ago, The Rainmaker, SASS #11631 said:

Using the small one, no probs yet, but how do I keep powder from going everywhere? It's getting in the primer seat cup and deforming the primers.

Use large bar. Trust me.

[Driftwood Dan SASS #62738L 8]

I Use the Large charge bar.  I read when I started using TrailBoss powder  that IMR recommended  Dillon users use the large charge bar. 

[Grouchy Spike 56]

Run one cartridge case through all four stages to determine when it spills.    My 550 will hang up slightly on 45 ACP cases when raising the handle after dropping powder. A shot of Clean Shot on the flaring portion of the powder drop tube fixes that for a while. 

 

I can't reliably drop more than 4.6 or TB  grains with the small charge bar but it's used on all but 45 Colt.

[High Spade Mikey Wilson 121]

23 hours ago, Griff said:

Almost anything besides Trail Boss.

I love Trail Boss. I use it in 32 WCF, 38 Spcl., 45 Schofield, 45 Colt, and 45-70.

[Grey Beard 152]

I use the large bar for any caliber that I'm loading with TB.  It's more consistent with the large bar vs the small bar, particularly in large cases like 45 colt and 44-40. 

[The Rainmaker, SASS #11631 210]

Large charge bar in... GREAT! Thanks pards.

[Will Kane 7]

I’ve had good results using the small charge bar to drop 3.5 grains of TB into 45 Cowboy Special cases, and the large charge bar to drop 6.2 grains of TB into 45 Colt cases. I have my Dillon 550 grounded and I keep used dryer sheets stuffed in the empty powder reservoirs when not in use. 

[Four-Eyed Buck,SASS #14795 258]

I use the large bar in my SDB

[Chuck Would, SASS # 53289 43]

Tom,  The one I recently set up on the North Shore in .45 using Trail Boss had the Large charge bar installed.

 

[Gila Gus 0]

I'm just setting up my Dillon 550.  I'm new to the CAS, but one thing i heard from several shooters at our match was that they liked Trail Boss for 45 Colt.   I'm starting with a 5.5 grain load per the Hornady site.   I switched to the large powder bar, and  I weighed each powder charge, and noticed that it would vary between 5.5 and 5.7 grains.  Is that a typical variance?  Or do I have some calibration left to do?

 

Thanks for the help!

[Tequila Chase 18]

7 hours ago, Gila Gus said:

I'm just setting up my Dillon 550.  I'm new to the CAS, but one thing i heard from several shooters at our match was that they liked Trail Boss for 45 Colt.   I'm starting with a 5.5 grain load per the Hornady site.   I switched to the large powder bar, and  I weighed each powder charge, and noticed that it would vary between 5.5 and 5.7 grains.  Is that a typical variance?  Or do I have some calibration left to do?

 

Thanks for the help!

 

I'd double check your setting, usually you'll get +/- .1 gr.  That being said I'd lower the setting just a tick and see how averages over 10-20 shells.  JMHO

[Tombstone Shootist1 0]

Dillon 550B, using the small bar loading 6.4 - 6.5 gr for 45LC.  Took a while to get it to meter correctly, but once it settled in, the loads are pretty consistent and haven't had any problems loading Trail Boss.

[The Rainmaker, SASS #11631 210]

23 minutes ago, Tombstone Shootist1 said:

Dillon 550B, using the small bar loading 6.4 - 6.5 gr for 45LC.  Took a while to get it to meter correctly, but once it settled in, the loads are pretty consistent and haven't had any problems loading Trail Boss.

Just curious, what's your bullet weight?

[Tombstone Shootist1 0]

200 gr.

 

[The Rainmaker, SASS #11631 210]

How come such a beefy load for dingin' steel plates?

[Tequila Chase 18]

12 minutes ago, The Rainmaker, SASS #11631 said:

How come such a beefy load for dingin' steel plates?

 

Good question.  I'm using 5.6 with 200 gr RNFP and that's in both pistol and rifle.

[Tombstone Shootist1 0]

Beefy?  Well, to me that's mild.  Beefy would be 7.7 gr of titegroup.

Edited February 7 by Tombstone Shootist1