The point is, the 1900 was not designed for modern loads. Now, you're right in the middle of the safety issue for Vintage guns. Historical information, as well as DocDrew's testing has shown that Vintage Guns with unaltered barrels can take the modern loads without catastrophic failure. (Usually, but there are possibly exceptions such as guns with very light, thin tubes) When modern powders were introduced and were loaded by volume as were black powder and early bulk smokeless, catastrophic failure was possible because the pressures were so high. This was used as a marketing tool to convince users to buy new guns with modern steel tubes. I certainly wouldn't be running slugs and buckshot through a Vintage Parker built on a #1 frame, or an English 2" chamber gun. This is also why so many Vintage guns you find are loose/off face with cracked stocks, (Belgian guns in particular) they've been used with modern loads.
As noted by the previous posters, you'll eventually damage your gun with modern loads. Since there's plenty of loads out there (using modern powder) that perform within the black powder specifications that your gun was designed for, it's unnecessary for you to abuse your gun and potentially create safety issues.
Many who shoot their Vintage guns on a regular basis take the added precaution of glass bedding the receiver. This is due to wood shrinkage over 100 plus years, and prevents the stock from cracking.
Regards
Ken
Last edited by Ken61; 04/11/17 09:38 AM.
