Trail Boss Alternative light subs

[KB64]

Picked up some Hornady 90 XTP and would like to put together some lightweight subsonic loads for a RAR. Suitable powders other than Trail Boss or Red Dot ?

Quiet and clean are a bonus!

[excess650]

Take a look at the burn rate chart and look for similar burn rate powders. Hodgdon Clays is a very clean burning powder, but most powders can seem dirty IF you are loading too low pressure.

https://hodgdon.com/wp-content/uploads/ ... -chart.pdf

Be aware that shotshell powders might still be in tight supply.

[bangbangping]

I use 4.5 grains of Tin Star for about 1000 fps in a bolt action. Giggle factor is high. Also check out this thread. Lots of good load info. https://www.300blktalk.com/forum/viewto ... 41&t=92768

[KB64]

Thanks, I've read through that thread several times. Most of the loads shared use Trail Boss or heavier bullets in the 150 grain range. I have some American Select, AA#2, Unique and Herco which are fairly close to Trail Boss on the burn rate chart. I was just wondering if someone had some reliable data for bullets in the 90-100 grain range. I reached out to Hodgdon but only got a reply stating that they hoped to produce Trail Boss in 2024.

[excess650]

I doubt you'll find ANY published data for the loads you're looking for.

https://www.hodgdonreloading.com/reloading-data-center

Start with Hodgdon's 32-20 pistol loads. Remember that they are using a 5.5" barrel and you might need more powder than their starting loads to push a 90gr jacketed bullet from the barrel.

[KB64]

Thanks, that’s very helpful

[bangbangping]

Personally, I don't like Trail Boss for light subs. I've seen 5 shot extreme spreads of over 400 fps when trying light subs. After four or five attempts I gave up on it. Too many powders, not enough time.

[30plinker]

I'm using the .312" 85 gr XTP in a 762x39 bolt gun (my 300bo is out of commission)... Got to run 'em over a chrono today even.

3.5gr TiteGroup - 5 shot string gave 755, 922, 869, 880, 845 for an average of 854.20 and a big StdDev of 62.06

Bumping the powder charge to 4.0 gr and all else same-same got much more consistent results and were perfect if one were considering running these through a can (I don't have the $ to play in can-land)

5 shot string gave velocities of 1011, 1004, 1013, 946 and 1055 for average of 1005.80 and a StdDev of 38.98

Wasn't really testing for accuracy (was focused more on not shooting my buddy's chrono) but in both cases was good for my purpose - sniping turkeys in the head at point blank to 40 or so yards, with body shots out to 100. All holes were nice and round - no stability issues.

Running the average of 1000fps thru a calculator with a 75 yard zero it gets as much as 2.25" high at 40 yards and drops just under 5" at 100 and it is still moving at 880fps.