Dead_Head Posted June 8, 2019 Share Posted June 8, 2019 A new shooter in our club has a pair of Ruger Vaquero 5.5" revolvers and wants to load up some .45 Colt cartridges using 250 grain bullets and Trail Boss. It is for CAS so no need to go heavy for Wild Bunch power factor, etc. Is 4.5 grains okay for a lighter CAS load? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whiskey Hayes #41999 Posted June 8, 2019 Share Posted June 8, 2019 With TB best to follow Hodgden manual. TB doesn’t perform well outside of manual’s loads. I shot it for 10 years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boggus Deal #64218 Posted June 8, 2019 Share Posted June 8, 2019 1 minute ago, Whiskey Hayes #41999 said: With TB best to follow Hodgden manual. TB doesn’t perform well outside of manual’s loads. I shot it for 10 years. ^^^ This. Look at the Hodgdon data and don’t go below it. It gets very erratic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bgavin Posted June 8, 2019 Share Posted June 8, 2019 My Hodgdon 2019 manual has an entry for 250 grain LRNFP in 45 Colt and Trail Boss powder. Min=4.5 grains, 606 fps, BHN=6.9, Recoil = 3.36 lbs in 2.81 lb Vaquero Max=5.8 grains, 727 fps, BHN=9.9, Recoil = 4.93 lbs in same revolver The low PSI of 8800 to 12700 looks to be a good match for Big Lube, Desperado, Outlaw (Waimea) bullets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eyesa Horg Posted June 8, 2019 Share Posted June 8, 2019 When I shot that filthy stuff, I was using 6 grains with a 200 grn. bullet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Original Lumpy Gritz Posted June 8, 2019 Share Posted June 8, 2019 Load 5.3 gns and be done with it. Won't have issues in the winter either as TB wimps out in the cold. Have him look hard at Unique or WW231 powder. Be sure he uses a very firm roll crimp. OLG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juan Solo Posted June 8, 2019 Share Posted June 8, 2019 4.5 under a 250 should be fine. I shoot 4.6 under a 200gr and find it to be extremely accurate and very light recoil. I do use Magnum primers though for a complete burn. It is dirty though, no getting around that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dantankerous Posted June 8, 2019 Share Posted June 8, 2019 I've used 4.6 and 5.4 TB with 250 grainers. Both work, I've not noticed any great difference between the two. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Savvy Jack Posted June 8, 2019 Share Posted June 8, 2019 Guys are getting pathetically lazy about the joys of cleaning guns!!! Been using 5.4gr with a 250gr LRNFP for years....no problems. Anything less, just go shoot the match with a BB gun! https://www.hodgdonreloading.com/data/pistol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarge Posted June 8, 2019 Share Posted June 8, 2019 I shoot 5.5 grains of TB behind a 230 gr TC bullet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Graybeard Posted June 8, 2019 Share Posted June 8, 2019 I was using 5.2 grains with a 250 go Bullet and 5.8 with a 200 grain. For wild bunch I use 5.6 with a 250 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sedalia Dave Posted June 9, 2019 Share Posted June 9, 2019 From Hodgon's Resource Center. Formula for using TB in any cartridge, any bullet weight, any OAL. TRAIL BOSS REDUCED RIFLE LOAD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dead_Head Posted June 9, 2019 Author Share Posted June 9, 2019 Thanks all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boomstick Bruce Posted June 9, 2019 Share Posted June 9, 2019 I load 5.5 gn TB with 200gn rnfp for 45 Colt and 5.0gn TB with 200gn rnfp for 45acp. Works well out of my 5.5" Remingtons and my 1911. On a side note thought, TB doesn't meter for crap... I get very erratic powder drops so I bought an aquarium pump to shake the powder dispenser. I haven't had a chance to try out the pump yet, I'm still waiting for the lead we ordered 3 weeks ago... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
"Big Boston" Posted June 9, 2019 Share Posted June 9, 2019 20 hours ago, Boggus Deal #64218 said: Look at the Hodgdon data and don’t go below it. It gets very erratic. Most of my experience is with 38/357 and some 44. At the starting load it is fairly inconsistent, somewhat erratic. I use a Chrony for load development and do a quick test. For the first cylinder of 5 I shoot powder forward, (simulates pulling the gun from the holster and firing the first round) and for the next cylinder of 5 I shoot with the powder against the primer. Somewhere between starting load and max it starts to smarten up. IMO it is better in a smaller case, 38 Spl better than 357. I really like it in the 44 Mag with Speer swaged bullets. @ 7.2 gr and a Rem 2 1/2 primer I get single digit Sd. Velocity is a shade under 850, no leading and it works in all my guns, in spite of the varied throat and groove sizes. I use a Lyman Accumeasure and metering at these weights is OK. Hodgdon lists this load at app 20,000 psi. With other powders I had issues with leading, and even though the Speer bullet is just soft lead, I suspected that it was not obturating sufficiently. I was looking at the Hodgdon data for all powders and noticed that with Trail Boss the pressure was higher than the rest for the same velocity, so I tried it. It did what I was looking for. In the 38/357 I found that metering was an issue, and with 125 > 147 gr bullets I did not find a suitable load. One load even worked better when the powder was forward, erratic when the powder was against the primer. Different primers gave different results. IMHO Trail Boss is not a one size fits all powder. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Savvy Jack Posted June 9, 2019 Share Posted June 9, 2019 15 hours ago, Sedalia Dave said: From Hodgon's Resource Center. Formula for using TB in any cartridge, any bullet weight, any OAL. TRAIL BOSS REDUCED RIFLE LOAD You missed this part: Quote Where data is already shown for specific cartridges, never exceed listed maximums Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cold Lake Kid, SASS # 51474 Posted June 9, 2019 Share Posted June 9, 2019 I've shot TB at 5.5 gr under a 250 gr RNFP for a number of years in my 5 1/2" old model Vaqueros, my 1866 and my 1873 I'm reducing the load somewhat for my new model Vaqueros. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.