Winchester 1873

Ok, let me ask this a different way. How much space does the five grains of trail boss take up in the 45 colt case? A 45 colt case will hold roughly 30 grains of BP. Of course with BP you want some compression of the powder and no air in the case. I am genuinely curious.

Joe beat me too it. Yes the volume of Trail Boss is more but the weight and grains are the same.

I like it. I use the same amount of Trail Boss as I do Winchester 231 for the same load in my SASS rounds. I have found that the TB is cleaner I have a better consistency and so on. SO I have been keeping my 231 for my 9mm and other loads and using the Trail boss for my SASS loads.

Also if you are going to use Black Powder keep in mind that BP must be packed for it to work properly. You can not just load it loose with in the case.

Trail Boss will take up about 1/2 a case of 45 colt brass with about 5.2 grains. 30 grains of FG will take up most of the case. You will have just enough to seat a bullet. However if you use FFFG it will take up less room. FG is courser then FFFG. Where 5 Grains of 231 will take up very little of the 45 colt brass.

Well, I'm more than likely going to use black powder...I'm a little scared to use smokless since the rifle was made for black powder .44-40 round.

Ya smokeless powder really did not start coming into popularity and use until the mid to late 1890's

Plus true black powder is just cool. Just dirty and smokey and smelly. until gun cleaning time, then it kind of sucks.

Exactly....that is why I don't shoot black powder, way too hard to clean . But, I have to say I've shot black powder shells through my Cimmaron stage coach shotgun and it is awesome, I couldn't believe the amount of smoke. It reminded me of that one movie with Kevin Costner...I think its called Open Range where he shoots the shotgun at the sign in the bar and it filled the bar with smoke.

I love the BP until gun cleaning time. However I do about 90% of my hunting with flintlocks so I've gotten prety good at cleaning it up fairly quick, reletively speaking. Nothing like a big flash and smoke out of a smokepole. Anyway, good luck with your 44-40. Pics?

Dont use any Petroleum based oil on your gun if you are using black. Really no reason trail boss wouldn't work just fine. Just get the whole volume thing out of your head. It is not relevant. A book mid level load of trail boss is going to run at the same pressure curve as your FFFG,

Gunzilla works great to not only clean up guns with smokeless powder it also does a very good job on BP. Bit more expensive then say Hops or one of the others but well worth it. Also if you run a patch through your gun before you shoot it helps with clean up after. No need to oil the gun or anything.