I am tired of cleaning the black powder crud from my old original Marlin Ballard. It is chambered for the 45-100 Ballard Express cartridge and I have shot it for years with some success and fun. Now I'm turning 83 and sick of cleaning it and want to shoot some smokeless powder reduced loads at 100 yds. This cartridge was designed to shoot smaller pistol bullets for more velocity and the groove diameter is .452. I hope to shoot soft cast .454 pistol bullets at 1300 to 1400 fps, and not get the **** kicked out of me for a change, but I am concerned about the loads. I have shot some smokless gentle loads in the past, but due to a fire in my reloading shack (bad lightning storm) I lost all my records and kind of have to start from scratch. The gun has wonderful Tang sights that I can still see quite well, and I don't hunt anymore so I just want to drop a few light loads for entertainment. My hard drive (brain) is full and I don't remember as well as i use to so I would like some opinions on powder, filler use, wads, etc. so I can enjoy the old girl without taking her to the car wash. Thinking about Trail Boss, RX7, or the like...........Any advice or comments will be welcome..............Thanks guys, in advance for you time and help.
Catch