Advice requested re hard cast v plain lead nitro or BP

[UKShootist]

The situation I have is a Pedersoli 45/70 32" barrel rifle. Owing to not having a mould or the time I ordered 100 535 grain postell bullets to try out, but I ordered plain lead with the intention of loading with black powder. Now for various reasons BP is not going to be used and I would appreciate loading advice for using nitro powders behind these bullets, both in powders (nothing too esoteric, I'm in the UK and supply is often limited.) and fillers or wads. (I have Dacron!)

I'll be ordering hardcast in a while, but advice regarding the use of plain lead with nitro is what I seek for now.

TIA

[Wayne Smith]

Boolit fit becomes a critical issue - smokeless does not have the initial bump to reliably obdurate the boolit into your rifling, thus it has to fit initially. Other than that, keep the velocity down to BP levels and protect the base - Dacron does this well.

[Digital Dan]

Floral foam and card wads will be your friend, object being to eliminate air space in the case when using small charges of nitro.

[Scharfschuetze]

What powders do you have access to in England? For BP velocities there are several powders that will suffice; often a mid speed pistol powder is a good choice.

With the BP velocity level between 1,100 and 1,300 fps, BP lube will do well as will most of the lubes intended for smokeless powders.