Cavasback, my reference to the heavy loads is what I hunt with and have historically hunted with throughout my life. He and I didn't discuss heavy loads vs lighter loads. His recommendation was to watch the the wooden stock and pay attention if anything changes. The breech locks up very tight. I'm here and speaking with others collecting the best information I can get and doing so primarily to determine the strongest load I can safely use in the gun. It looks to me like I may be good with one ounce at mid 1100 fps range but I am considering like Stanton Hillis has mentioned. I'm considering my options. I do have some places where a bit lighter load may be plenty but I hunt other locations that pretty long shots. I do have other shotgun options but want to hunt as much as I can with the old double.
Perhaps I misunderstood your intention. The way your first couple posts read, at least to me, it was like you weren't really interested in learning much, just kinda getting confirmation for what you intended to do. If that's not the case, let me apologize for being a bit harsh.
I think this board is always ready to help someone who truly wants to learn about their old gun. One of the things that happens is you may find out more that you thought you would. You ask one question but you get the answers to five. You may find that the gun you acquired, or the gunsmith your are using or any number of things, isn't the right tool/man for the job. And we don't know anything about your circumstance or intent except what you write in your posts here. With each succeeding post, we are learning more about you. The most important thing, at least to me, is that you can entertain changing your course of action when new, unexpected information comes your way.
