[Jeff Higgins]

Nothing but black powder goes into my original Ballard Pacific, nor any of my Sharps replicas. I now own three .45-70 rifles, with only the new Marlin digesting smokeless. All use cast bullets only. The mold I use for the Marlin produces a bullet with a long, full diameter front driving band that will not allow it to even chamber in the Ballard.

The load that took the above rifle apart is generally considered to be about 12% over maximum for the .450 Alaskan. There seems to be the missconception that when loading these big bore rounds, the expansion ratio is so much faster than small bore bottle neck (.30-'06 and the like) that it is difficult to raise undue pressures, as long as the proper powder/bullet combination is chosen. True enough with black powder, but very dangerous with smokeless, no matter how slow burning. That is, by the way, why many of us consider smokeless powders a "passing fad".