About the onionskin sticky

[SgtDog0311]

CM... I gotta respect that. Thanks for the advice given thus far. If you are curious about that particular rifle, and about the Marlin Ballard characteristics and differences in Cast and Forged frames they cover it briefly here: http://www.assra.com/cgi-bin/yabb/Ya...=1340046856/30

The picture you are looking at is a cast reciever, as identified by the cavity under the threads.

One of the main rubs with Marlin Ballard guys is those who ignore the warnings given them about the number of lines that are stamped on the receivers, two vs three, wherein one indicates cast and the other indicates forged. The cast receivers are recommended by many for 'no larger than 22 caliber', even those originally made for larger rim-fires.

It's not a warning unlike yours... given by well respected black powder shooters to those who are entertaining smokeless. On that account the only thing I can offer to set myself apart from those ignoring the "cast receiver warning" is that I'm relying on pressure graphs and testing. According to that data, the loads I'm shooting pose less risk in both spikes and top-end pressure than even BP. To show I'm not looking for an argument I'll add that I know respected Marlin Ballard experts who shoot nothing but light smokeless while I know perhaps more who would never shoot Smokeless.

I'm not looking to compound my mistake in not realizing there was a PP section dedicated to smokeless. I appreciate both your cautions and convictions.

Lead pot, Twenty five feet... wow. That'd shiver my timbers. I am curious though, are you saying you'd never consider smokeless in a Shiloh because of pressures? I knew Shiloh made rifles specifically for Black Powder but I always thought it was a liability thing for them 'and for other modern reproduction folks' to protect them from those who hot rod smokeless.

[Don McDowell]

Yup after 2 years she has most of the use of her hand, lots of painful surgery and recovery. Fingers still show the blue lines where they reattached them. Took several weeks in the Salt Lake City Hospital to save her life and her hand.
Go ahead and shoot smokeless in that old Ballard, hell it's only had 140 years of stress and strain, and we all know metal never weakens over time due to use, and corrosion etc....
Shiloh only warrants their rifle for use with smokeless powder that have factory loaded ammunition available..

[Lead pot]

John.

I started shooting black powder rifles since I ordered my first one out of the back pages of the NRA magazines back in 1954 after getting paid for spending the summer up in a haymow mowing hay or sticking the forks on the hay rack if I was lucky to get that job
I have had several rollers in several different calibers and I never used smokeless in any of those rifles. When I got the first browning BPCR in the 90's I loaded some rounds in the .45-70 and I found no advantage doing this except for scrubbing lead out of the bore so a few times doing this I went back to the blk powder and got better accuracy again. The 7 Shiloh's have never had black or subs shot through them. There is just no need to use smokeless and I don't thumb my nose at people that want to use it. I have shot along side my friends I shoot with that use smokeless and I have seen one shooting a 2.4 Sharps using smokeless I think he said he had a .45-70 load in that 2.4 case of 3031 and had detonation in one round that smeared brass in his chamber but the sharps action held.
No I wont use it.
Don was to the left of me when this happened.

[Don McDowell]

I have no problem with folks that want to shoot smokeless in a modern built rifle in cartridges that are readily available factory loads, or even some that aren't that are listed with pressure tested data from places like the Lyman Reloading handbook.
But doggone, those old guns that were built before smokeless was even in a manageable form, and cartridges that didn't survive the transition from black to smokeless, need to be treated with the respect due to their age, and when shot only be shot with the powder they were built for..
Yup that was a scary day when Sharon almost lost her hand, we had just finished up on our turn at the offhand target and started to walk up to the far end of the firing line. We wished her good luck and probably hadn't made it 50 yds when that shot rang out and we heard the screams.....
Leadpot and the rest of our group had a long long time to sit and think and pray and hope for the best.....
Spend the dang money and get a modern rifle to shoot your smokeless thru..

[SgtDog0311]

Lead pot... thanks for the answer. Appreciate the civility.