John: Thanks for the suggestion, I will give those a try. Both the powder and card wads were really tough to get in. There was no way they were going in without a short starter.

Cayugad: I was shooting #4 lead shot out to 50 yards, no choke. The gun is going to be used (eventually!) to hunt rabbits. So I was shootingfrom a standing position. Not familiar with where the lock breaks, I was anticipating the recoil and pulling the pattern to the right bya few inches (about 3"). Maybe I should bench shoot it a few times to learn the trigger pull and where the lock breaks. It is a single trigger only, so it is quite a bit different from my double-set triggers.

As for the recoil, I can't give an accurate answer at this point. I was using 80grns of Goex 2F (4F in the pan). But in order to load the over-powder, over-shot wads, I kind of broke them up a bit. So the powder probably didn't build up to full pressure before the wads let go.

The butt is nice and chunky, not slender like the Lyman Great Plains rifle. So what recoil I did feel, felt quite manageable.

The barrel is rust brown, so the gold tone dot sight really stands out-a big plus!

Too bad I don't have a lathe, I could just make a replacement rod!

Further updates to follow.