The long awaited return of Trail Boss has ended!
Your go to suppliers should have it in stock.

Just loaded up some subsonic 308 with H4895 using 190 Hornady Sub-X boolits.
13.3gr disappears in the case so you HAVE to have a headlamp or flashlight handy to check the cases.

Still out at Powder Valley. Last price was $42 for 9 ounces, seems a little steep.

The other thing, seems to be a powder with higher charge weights per loading. If so, fewer loads per pound, or the 9 ounces.

When did that happen, powder sold in less than a lb container? I know it was a thing with black powder substitutes & such.

I’ve never used Trail Boss, I know it has various uses.

quote:

Originally posted by sourdough44:
Still out at Powder Valley. Last price was $42 for 9 ounces, seems a little steep.

Yeah, it does. At $42 for 9 ounces they probably figured nobody would be willing shell out $80-ish for a pound can.

I got some mostly free powder not long ago, estate deal. I’d guess the vintage is the 80’s or so, based on price labeling. The bulk is Bullseye, 4227, some 4064 & a few others. I’ve been doing some 9mm loads with the Bullseye, 115 grain plated bullets.

Most of my reference for regular powder is around $30, or less a pound. I don’t really need any at this $50+ level.

I do like Blackhorn 209 for my Knight muzzle-loader, luckily I have a fair supply. With that the new price is $90 for 10 ounces, painful.

quote:

Originally posted by sourdough44:
I got some mostly free powder not long ago, estate deal. I’d guess the vintage is the 80’s or so, based on price labeling. The bulk is Bullseye, 4227, some 4064 & a few others. I’ve been doing some 9mm loads with the Bullseye, 115 grain plated bullets.
Most of my reference for regular powder is around $30, or less a pound. I don’t really need any at this $50+ level.
I do like Blackhorn 209 for my Knight muzzle-loader, luckily I have a fair supply. With that the new price is $90 for 10 ounces, painful.

When was the last time you bought powder at a store?? Has it been over a decade?

I bought Win 748 the other day because it was under $40 a pound, I bought all they had.
There are some powders that are under $50 but they aren’t easy to find and will quickly be out of stock.

If you are loading for extremely reduced recoil for new shooters, recovering from shoulder/neck surgery or SUBSONIC loads for rifles, *THIS* is where Trail Boss shines.
Hands down it beats paying store prices for subsonic ammo.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: KMitch200,

Back in stock at Powder Valley. ~$75/lb is raising my eyebrows. I'll stick to Titegroup for my mouse fart loads. It requires far less charge weight, though I do have to be extremely careful. Titegroup is very unforgiving with any unintentional overcharges.

Trail Boss loading literature defines a maximum load for any cartridge as filling the case to where the base of the projectile would seat in a loaded cartridge with no powder compression.

That being said, I loaded .500 Smith & Wesson Magnum with Trail Boss and 440 grain hard cast lead gas checked projectiles.
With the evening setting sun behind the shooter and shooting outside, you could SEE the 1/2" diameter gas checks on the projectiles as they slowly traveled downrange.
Trail Boss while expensive, is very good at what it does without virtually any risk of blowing up a firearm.

I was prepping some 9mm cases the other day, more Bullseye loads. While looking I checked out a pound of IMR SR 4756, a medium, slow handgun powder, shotgun also. The price on the can was $4.95, though I didn’t buy it myself. That likely gets us back to the late 70’s.

My thoughts with that powder are medium 357 loads, 32 H&R mag, maybe some 38 +p loads.

I do think it’s been at least prior to Covid since I bought powder in a store. I hooked up with a few guys aging out of reloading, then some estate deals.

I had a situation years ago, powder was labeled 4831 in a can that wasn’t a factory can, it was different. I set it aside as an unknown. When I had time I found a 243 load with 4064 & 4831 powder. Then using a chronograph I could confirm it actually was 4831 powder, labeled as such. The 4831 with the same charge as the 4064 powder gave less fps, 4831 numbers.

Yes the common advice would be to put the powder on the lawn. It did come from a known reloader, somewhat vetted.