NoSecondBest
New member
The Lyman 49th edition lists a number of smokeless loads for this caliber. The reason Shiloh doesn't recommend using smokeless is that there is always some idiot out there who'll see how much powder the case will hold and how fast he can push the bullet. The gun just isn't designed to work at ridiculously high pressures and they don't need the hassle of fighting with that idiot as to why their gun blew up. As stated above, Trailboss is an alternative. I've tried it and don't care for it but it's very low recoiling. I'd suggest using 5744. As far as fillers go, they aren't that difficult to use. You just need to know the difference between a filler and a wad. I use fillers on some of my 45-70 loads and they work great. Go to the castboolit board and see the sticky on fillers by Larry Gibson. He's an expert on using them and it's not voodo trying to figure it out. If you want to try some, I can send you some pics on how to do it. Even though this isn't a 45-70, it can be loaded up with the same velocities and lower recoil as one. With the right load you won't get any brusing at all and will actually enjoy shooting the gun. One of my Sharps weighed around twelve pounds and had almost no recoil. I could shoot that gun all day with no problems what-so-ever. My Win 1886 at 6.6 lbs is a whole new ball game. Everything hurts in that gun except the lightest loads. It's still fun to shoot. Don't give up. This can be corrected with the right loads and a little change in bench technique.