Hello!
I recently acquired a very nice Marlin Model 1889 rifle in 38-40 with a fairly good bore (24" barrel, slugged at 0.406," minor roughness in the rearmost 1/4 of the barrel, with the rest good and shiny; strong rifling throughout). I've got a few pounds of GOEX and Swiss 3F, a good Lyman 40043, and as this is my first black powder cartridge rifle, I'm looking for suggestions and advice.
Reading over some of the posts here, I'm a little confused over the type of crimp and the degree of crimp that should be used for this cartridge with black powder. I'd like to obtain both a Lyman 310 die set (since the 310 tools comprise the bulk of my reloading equipment) and a more "modern" set of dies; are the RCBS "cowboy" dies what I'm after?
Also, should I cast from pure lead, or will straight wheel weights suffice for the combination I have? Are magnum primers advisable?
Thanks!