The Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook has data for smokeless and that cartridge. I think that's a decent choice of powder if you don't want to go with black powder. I'd check the twist on that rifle. I imagine it'd be 1:18. If using the Bullet Barn bullets I'd go a bit heavier and try the 535gr Postell bullet. As long as the bullet fits the throat well it should shoot well. Just don't try and jack up the velocity more than 1300-1400 fps though.
Smokeless can be accurate in these cases, but your enemy may be higher muzzle velocity standard deviations. I don't shoot smokeless in the big cases, just black, but I know that many shoot at the Quigley match using smokeless. If you want to hit consistently at longer ranges you need very low deviations. Try playing with JBM Ballistics and you'll get an idea for how tight they need to be. Consistency at 500-600 is easy, but it gets harder past that distance.
Have fun with that rifle. I'm sure it'll be a blast. When I first started with single shots I used smokeless in a Sharps in .45-70. It didn't take long at all and I switched to black powder. It's unbelievably fun, especially as the distances get longer.
Chris.
Smokeless can be accurate in these cases, but your enemy may be higher muzzle velocity standard deviations. I don't shoot smokeless in the big cases, just black, but I know that many shoot at the Quigley match using smokeless. If you want to hit consistently at longer ranges you need very low deviations. Try playing with JBM Ballistics and you'll get an idea for how tight they need to be. Consistency at 500-600 is easy, but it gets harder past that distance.
Have fun with that rifle. I'm sure it'll be a blast. When I first started with single shots I used smokeless in a Sharps in .45-70. It didn't take long at all and I switched to black powder. It's unbelievably fun, especially as the distances get longer.
Chris.
