The recently introduced Trail Boss powder for the cowboy crowd has received a lot of attention. Since I am a 45 Colt fan, I finally decided to try some with 200gr Lazer Cast bullets. I loaded 5, 5.5, and 6 grains of the stuff for some chronograph work, about 50 rounds of each. This powder reminds me of miniature Cheerios and the load density is so loose that a typical one pound can only holds 9 ounces.

The first round I fired, I had to check to make sure the round really discharged. It had. I was shooting two Rugers, one with 4 5/8" barrel and one with 7.5". The muzzle jumped about one inch. One inch! Chronograph numbers showed the 5 grain load at 675 fps. The six grain load hit 772fps. Standard Deviation hovered around 7fps, all three loads, and accuracy was 1.25 to 1.55" @ 15yds, ten rounds, rested.

Now, with another 120 rounds to shoot, I kept on shooting, loading and shooting. Setting targets to 25 yards, the accuracy remained superb with off hand groups in the 2 to 3" range. The revolvers felt more like 22 magnums than 45 Colt. At home, the Rugers cleaned up with the typical five patches and no residual leading, courtesy of my Shooter's Choice/Kroil mixture.

The Dillon 550 just cranked out another 200 rounds of the 5.5 grain load and I look forward to my next session with the Rugers. This is a fun load for extended sessions. I truly enjoy the 454 Casull and 44 Mag for about 30 to 50 rounds with full power loads, but, with these Trail Boss loads I've found my whimpy side satisfied and fulfilled.

Hi

I bought a few boxes of .45 Colt Cowboy loads to pump through Baby...


- - - Baby - - --

It was a fun shoot, but it smelled... well....

Remember when you were kids, playing Cowboys and Robbers? (We had an American Indian family on the block, and so's not to offend our friend, you see, we combined two favorite games into one, and then we ALL took turns being the robbers) and you'd pull off a few rounds?

That amazing, tangy, cap-gun smell??

THAT is how this powder smelled!

It declined to clean up, as well, so that I had to take Baby apart and scrub her out with hot water and Dawn dish detergent, which worked like a charm.

So, I'm wondering: How does the Taril Boss stuff smell? I ask because I'm trying to find out what they fed to poor Baby!

(I'm still looking for someone to load me up some REAL black powder loads - not Goex - so I can get the REAL look and feel of how it's SUPPOSED to be/USED to be.)