Thanks for the input, I do and would shoot smokeless in many of my old guns. Just not this one, it's too nice and the brass is too scarce and I'm not shooting a big match with it. I might shoot 20 rounds doing target workups. I will carry it small game hunting, what it's made for. I may shoot 5 rounds then. In neither scenario am I wiping the bore. I use SPG lube and a fiber wad, the bore is amazingly clean when I shot it the first few times, when home. This is not a match rifle to shoot 50-100 rounds in, like my Shiloh, or Stevens 56, or even more in my original Bisley in a cowboy match. It's a gentleman's Rook rifle, made in an American way, for small game hunting on a cool Fall afternoon. Mostly to carry and show off, but it will shoot.
The casting, pan lubing, sizing cases, priming, and dropping black powder down a copper tube (by volumn) is very easy and relaxing for me. I'm doing all with an antique Lyman reloading tool, which has an 86 grain bullet mould at the front. For me it's a chance to shoot the gun the way it was made to be shot. I might one day shoot some smokeless in it like I do my .22 Hornet, .32-20 WCF, .22 Savage HP, etc....but not right now.
Last edited by AZshot; 11/04/25 12:17 PM.
