No doubt about that! One of my problems in the past has been my unwillingness to only shoot 6 or 8 rounds per range session. I would regularly shoot 30 or 40 rounds each time out and then be sore for a week after. I'm sure my technique suffered toward the end of those sessions. That meant I was almost always ending the session with something other than my best effort.

This last session, with the Trail Boss, seemed to work well for me. 20 reduced loads to warm up and then only the 6 full power rounds. Felt like I got in sufficient trigger time with the gun, then finished with good, controlled shots. I think I'll save a few TB rounds next time to finish with.

Hopefully, this will be even more beneficial with the 577!

I been buying and hoarding .458 bullets for years. Off to the store to buy some Trail Boss to give it a try in my Searcy 450 NE.
Thanks for the great advice.

With the low velosity that you are geting I would try some cast bullets that should reduse your practice roundes to about $1.00 a pop.

quote:

Originally posted by MJines:
Certainly could be used to practice technique, or off hand shooting. One thing is for sure, you can shoot a sh**load of the stuff without any sore shoulder or headache.

Will give it a whirl too. When I shoot full house loads...96 gr of R-15 and 570 gr CEB...I get a headache after 6 rounds. I don't really mind the recoil on my shoulder or cheek with my Pabst pad...but seems to rattle my brain a little.

Has anyone tried bumping the 70% load up to see if the velocity and point of impact changes enough to make any difference??

Guys, as excited as I am about figuring out this Trail Boss thing for reduced loads, I received the following email from IMR this morning:

"Trail Boss is not recommended in the big bore English or European double rifles or single stalking rifles. Grahame Wright, in his book, “ Shooting the British Double Rifle” (which I feel is THE authority on this matter) discourages the use of Trail Boss as he locked up his test barrel and could not open the action without disassembling the rifle. Due to the unique nature and value of these rifles, I cannot recommend Trail Boss knowing of Mr. Wright’s experience.

Mike Daly
Customer Service Manager
Hodgdon Family of Fine Propellants
Hodgdon Smokeless Powder
IMR Powder Company
Winchester Smokeless Propellants
GOEX Blackpowder"

So, where does this put us? I'm convinced from my practice session at the range that the stuff is without issue in my rifle. I feel obligated however, to share this correspondence from the powder factory. I don't have a copy of Grahame's book so don't know the story behind the incident of locking up his action. Did he compress the powder, use a filler, too much powder, etc. I don't know. I certainly would like to know more about the incident however so if someone has the book, could you relate the story here.

Todd

A fellow AR member sent a copy of Grahame Wright's story on Trail Boss to me this morning. The incident involved a 100% loading in a BPE rifle, not a full Nitro gun. Grahame's discouragement of Trail Boss was with attempting to replace Black Powder with Trail Boss, thereby achieving original Black Powder velocities in BPE rifles. He suggested using the 70% density load as a Maximum in BPE guns with Trail Boss and obviously falling short of regulation velocities. It does not discourage the use of Trail Boss for reduced loads in a Full Nitro Rifle.

With that, I plan to continue using Trail Boss as a reduced load in my rifles.

Any comments on 470NE and 450/400 reduced loads?

Same procedure for Tralboss, powder to the bullet base, back off to 70% powder weight, and let'er rip?

Any suggestions for the AA5744?