Actually, this weekend I was usung a mixture:

Hull 65mm Imperial Game Fibre No6 28g
Gamebore 65mm Pure Gold Fibre N0.6 28g
Express 65mm HV 24g No.7 1/2

but your point about experimenting with loads is a good one.

It is hard to find a softer shooting shell than the Express 24g HV - but even that kicked the SH1T out of me in a 5lb 8os springer hammer gun I shot with a couple of weeks ago. Beautiful quality gun but I never want to shoot with it again, spiteful little beastie!

www.vintageguns.co.uk