Trail Boss and 148 gr DEWC bullets in .357 Magnum cases?

[IDriveB5]

All-

Does anyone have any load information for the above combination? My usual resources (Lee, Lyman manuals, various online data sources) haven't listed anything and regular forum searches haven't turned up much.

I am looking for a safe, light and accurate load using this combination to shoot out of my 6" 686 and 2-1/4" SP101.

I was given about a thousand 148 grain DEWC bullets and thought trailboss would be great to use to create light loads for plink and take beginning shooters out to the range.

Thanks,
DZ

 

[Sam1911]

Trail Boss is created to be almost impossible to make a mistake with.

IMR's instructions allow you to use it in ANY case by making a simple volume calculation.

http://www.imrpowder.com/PDF/Trail-Boss-data.pdf

Just figure out how much empty case capacity you have once the bullet is seated and start with 70% of that volume.

Pretty much anything between that capacity and full (BUT NOT COMPRESSED) will be perfectly safe, light, and very accurate.

 

[Sam1911]

Actually... looking at the Hodgdon/IMR site I see this:

148 GR. HDY LHBWC
IMR Trail Boss
.358" Bullet dia.
1.160" OAL
Starting load: 2.0 gr., 625 fps, 15,100 PSI
Max load: 2.3 gr., 675 fps, 15,700 PSI

So... Somewhere within 1/10 of a grain of 2.15 gr. is probably going to work GREAT!

 

[IDriveB5]

Sam, thanks for that pdf. Somehow I missed that in my searches.
I saw that hollow base load data, but didn't want to follow that for the DEWC's without any further info. That 70% rule sounds like a winner.

 

[Sam1911]

I assume that with the HBWC, they aren't counting the volume inside the hollow portion as part of the total case volume they're calculating. In other words, I don't think that even the max, 2.3 gr., is going to be compressed with your DEWCs, but you can always drop to 2.0 for safety.

I think that, as long as you don't compress the load, it's pretty much impossible to hurt yourself or your gun with Trail Boss. It's just designed to be super safe that way.

I use a small mountain of TB in my .44 Specials that I shoot in IDPA competition. Fills the case (good for reloading safety), very mild, gets my speeds right where I need them, and fairly inexpensive.

I normally use about 5.5 gr, IIRC, under my 200 gr. LRNs, but I've used a full grain more than that at times and it was just more of a good thing!

 

[IDriveB5]

Yup, sounds about right. Low density is exactly why I selected the powder.

 

[icanthitabarn]

This advice isn't worth much but its true. I couldn't get very good loads with some Hornady 148 WC and TB. Doing well with TB and MB 158 SWC.