Either from laziness or habit, I had always used .440" balls in 45 caliber guns. They worked great in everything except an old single trigger Cherokee I picked up about 10 years ago. No matter what I tried I just couldn't get it to shoot very well. Recently I was re-reading my Dutch Shoultz book and he kept talking about using the biggest ball you could load. So I thought why not, and ordered a .445" mold. I shot it some today and by gosh if it's not a one hole gun at 25 yards now! And that's with a 60 grain load, plenty of power for shooting deer. I am very happy with the rifle now, and amazed at myself for not making that leap a long time ago. I guess when a rifle doesn't work well it gets put in the back of the safe and forgotten for a bit. But a little 6 lb rifle is going to be a joy to carry in the woods this fall.