"Hardening" the inletting on "sweet elsies" is an excellent decision, IMHO. I do it with all the ones I restock, in fact I say I "glass bed" them just like a rifle action. The commercial loads I use for box birds in my "elsie" are the WW 3.25 dram/ 1.25 oz.copper plated, 7.5#, or the Fiocchi #7 nickel plated Helice loads. I also "roll my own" using Cheddite hulls and Longshot powder-look on the Hogdon site for the recipe. Have found by chronographing that the WW loads and the Fiocchi loads are about 50-100 fps slower than they advertise, so I have gone down in the amount of Longshot I use to keep the foot-lbs. of recoil down and save the head of the stock. Load pressure really has no direct measurable affect on recoil but usually is a good prognosticator of slower/less recoil loads. Good luck,Bill
