Well, I'm digging the Uberti Cattleman II. I've shot about 300 rounds with it, all but the first 50 being handloads. I started with Titegroup, since Unique and Trail Boss were hard to find in my area. I finally found a can of Unique and tested 70 loads with it, 4 or 5 different charge weights in both 200 and 250 gr RNFP. It shot consistently 40% smaller groups than Titegroup, and I love how it smells just like shotgun powder (because it is).
I decided to load up a bunch of 200 gr bullets with 8.2 g Unique (approx 847 fps) as a relatively light load, and 250 gr bullets with 8.6 g Unique (926 fps) as a heavier load. The heavier loadings tended to open the group a bit, as were loads less than 8 gr powder.
I also loaded 20 rounds of 250 grain bullets with Goex FFFg black powder, using home-made lube and felt wads, with cork wads separating lubed wad from powder. With the thickness of the wads, I only put in 28 grains of powder (same charge I use with my 44 cal 1860 Army). I got a good amount of powder compression, as the un-compressed load wasn't quite up to the lube ring on the bullet. Thirty five grains of powder left the wads right at the case mouth, and I didn't want to compress the charge that much. I'll shoot these next time out.
I decided to load up a bunch of 200 gr bullets with 8.2 g Unique (approx 847 fps) as a relatively light load, and 250 gr bullets with 8.6 g Unique (926 fps) as a heavier load. The heavier loadings tended to open the group a bit, as were loads less than 8 gr powder.
I also loaded 20 rounds of 250 grain bullets with Goex FFFg black powder, using home-made lube and felt wads, with cork wads separating lubed wad from powder. With the thickness of the wads, I only put in 28 grains of powder (same charge I use with my 44 cal 1860 Army). I got a good amount of powder compression, as the un-compressed load wasn't quite up to the lube ring on the bullet. Thirty five grains of powder left the wads right at the case mouth, and I didn't want to compress the charge that much. I'll shoot these next time out.