Does any one have experance with Trail Boss in the 30-06?
I plan on loading some Lyman 311291 for my 03A3 and would like to try Trail Boss. Hogdons web sight list 13.3gr. to 19.0gr. with a 150 grain jacketed bullet at 1061 to 1477 fps. My other options would be Red Dot or Unique. I would like to get between 1600 and 1700fps.

I have used it in my .35 Whelen, which is basicly a 35-06. Using a 158 gr bullet I got slightly over 1200 fps using 14gr of Trail Boss. This load fills about 3/4 of my cartridge. I could add more powder for more velocity but that could start leading up my barrel. I use #2 Lyman cast bullets. So I should be safe at the fps I'm at now and maybe a little faster. It's a plinking load and I'm happy with it so far.

I have tried some other 'reduced' loads where you use a small amount of fast burning powder. Accuracy was not that good for me.

I think you could get close to 1600 fps using a 150gr bullet out of a 30-06 using Trail Boss. But I would use hard cast lead or a jacketed bullet. I have, at home, the current copy of 'Handloader' Mag. In it Charles Petty worked up a load in 30-06 using Trail Boss. He used jacketed bullets and got some good velocities. I will look it up after I leave work.

Ed Harris's THE Load of 13.0 RedDot will give you right at 1600 fps with that bullet in the -06. With Trail Boss, you can load right up to the bullet base - but TB does NOT like to be compressed. That's according to the guys at IMR.

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I got my 'Handloader' Mag and looked up the article mentioned above. Charles Petty using a 155gr Sierra Matchking from a 30-06 got:

with 14.1gr of Trail Boss 1,482 fps (min)
with 18.8gr of Trail Boss 1,736 fps (max)

I have experienced excellent results using Hodgdon IMR "Trail Boss" reduced hand loads to date as shown in these recent posts:

http://shootersforum.com/showthread....il+boss&page=2

References:

Hodgdon IMR "Trail Boss" Data (PDF) page

or via the

Hodgdon IMR Powders Web page (click on DATA>TRAIL BOSS REDUCED LOAD via drop-down menu)

James

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I tried two different loads 13.0 gr. of Red Dot and 14.4 gr. of Trail Boss (case filled to bottom of bullet). Trail Boss showed a little more promise than the Red Dot. I shot two three shot groups with each at 50 yards and the Trail Boss would shoot two within a half inch of each other and the third would be two inches away at the four o'clock postion in both groups. With the Red Dot both groups were open and around four inches ctc. I think more work is needed with the bullet maybe size to .310 or .311 (was at .309) or adjust the alloy (50/50 lino/lead).
Thank you for the advise.

Do you have a chrony? With 14.4gr of Trail Boss, I think you would be getting about 1200 fps with a 150gr bullet. Also in my .35 Whelen 14gr of Trail Boss fills up about 3/4 of the case. How long is your bullet? I tend to think you could get more powder into your case before touching the bullet base. Hard to tell over the Internet through.

Lynn,
I am testing exactly the same bullet but using 16.0 grains of trail boss. I hope to get to the rifle range next Friday. Will let you know the results. In the meantime if you find a better powder charge let me know.

I have a chrony but have not shot this load through it yet (had a little mishap with one of the sky screens ).

To bad about your chrony.

I found a Petty article online about using Trail Boss.

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/m.../ai_n16866645/

He deals with the 30-06 a little bit in it.