Ok, one step at a time...
I reload black powder rounds for my .45-70 Ruger #1S and Sharps 1874 Business Rifle.
One thing to keep in mind is that the cartridge brass from 1873 to just before WWII was constructed differently, being configured as "Balloon Head" brass. It means a thinner construction near the case head, but also gives more case capacity than the currently available drawn cup brass. So new brass like Remington, Winchester, Federal, PMC, or Starline may well indeed fill up at 60-65 grains of FFg powder.
I happened into an estate sale and bought several hundred pieces of new Remington-UMC balloon head brass a couple years ago. While still new and unused, it is considerably thinner in construction and obviously weaker than modern brass. I still use it for my Sharps, because I load it with real black powder and keep pressures in the Trapdoor Springfield range. I baby it, ultrasonically clean it after firing, and generally pamper it while watching for signs of case fatigue. My payback is that I can throw a full 70gr charge of Goex FFg or Cartridge and seat a bullet to cover the lube grooves.
Now, something all should realize about black powder cartridge loads, (even with the substitutes like Pyrodex) is that they require compression of the powder charge, to the extent that there is absolutely NO air space between the powder and bullet. To do otherwise risks ringing the chamber or worse upon firing.
One essential tool in making a dense black powder column in the cartridge is to use a drop tube. The drop tube allows the individual powder kernels to settle more densely in the cartridge, and the difference in case capacity between drop tubed loads and loads that were just dumped into the case is quite readily visible. The drop tube also serves as a partial compression aid. As for how much compression, that's an art and subject of many a debate among black powder cartridge shooters. My own 500-535gr loads endure a compression of between 1/4" to 1/2", depending on bullet design and wad composition. To prevent bullet deformation on seating, I also use a powder compression die. With all these tricks, I get that full 70gr of FFg in each case behind the bullet.
Over-powder wads are something of an interesting variable. Depending on who you ask, they either protect the base of the soft lead bullet from the harsh explosion of black powder, keep bullet lube from migrating into the powder column, clean the fouling out of the bore after the bullet passes through, or provide an extra bit of lube if made of soaked felt or other porous materials. I said soft lead because most black powder cartridge shooters shy away from the harder cast lead materials like Lyman #2 alloy, and instead get their bullets cast in the softer 1-20 or 1-30 alloy. For my heavier bullets, I simply use cardstock wads, just like the stuff used for legal tablet backing, punched into a 0.460" disk. For my 405gr-450gr loads, I use the OxYoke WonderWads, which are vegetable fiber and saturated with a lube that I can only describe as lanolin-like.
As for bullet lube, remember you're working with black powder, not smokeless. Smokeless loads like harder, petroleum-based lubes. Black powder loads like more organic stuff, so think along the lines of mixing lard, Crisco, lanolin, bear fat, olive oil, beeswax, or other nifty ingredients in various combinations and ratios. If that sounds like a pain in the butt, then go with SPG, a commercial black powder lube. Myself, I'm using beeswax and lard these days, but I have an old Lyman #45 lube sizer. The black powder bullet lubes serve two very important purposes - to keep that big bullet lubed all the way to the muzzle, and to keep the residual black powder fouling as soft as possible. Hard, crusty powder fouling raises hell with accuracy and cartridge chambering. If your bullet runs out of lube before it reaches the muzzle, you get leading in the last few inches of the bore. Think about that when you see those Sharps and Rolling Block Creedmoor rifles with barrels from 28" to 34". Rule of thumb, if you can see a nice lube star on the muzzle crown after firing a couple rounds, you probably have enough on the bullet. If not, another trick is to load a grease "cookie" between the over powder wad and bullet base, or between the over powder wad and another wad under the bullet's base. The intent is to provide additional lube, without the lube or wad sticking to the base of the bullet for the flight downrange.
As for primers, some folks have wonderful results using Large Rifle Magnum primers, for an extra-hot spark to light off the black powder charge. Others have discovered an edge in using Large Pistol primers, supposedly for a more uniform flame front that doesn't upset the bullet until more of the black powder charge has ignited, or something to that effect. I just use Winchester Large Rifle primers, because they're what I have a lot of and they have a bronze color which looks factory when seated in my vintage Rem-UMC brass. You'll have to experiment with whichever gives you best results.
Some folks swear by nickel-plated brass, because it cleans up exceptionally well after firing. Black powder residue is corrosive at best, so you want to take good care of your brass after firing it. Many black powder cartridge shooters even have a gallon milk jug of soapy water near the shooting bench, along with a handheld reloading press, so they can decap the fired cases and immediately dunk them in the soapy water to neutralize the corrosive salts and begin the cleaning process. Nickel-plated brass does indeed clean up well, especially if the plating is uniform inside too, but there are drawbacks, including less case capacity and the fact that the nickel plating will crack and flake off the base brass after X number of reloadings. My own Rem-UMC brass gets decapped at the range, then dunked into an ultrasonic cleaning tank and buzzed mercilessly for between 30 minutes to an hour in a soapy solution of Dawn, Simple Green, or Micron. They come out looking gorgeous, and that's even before they are dried out and run through the corncob tumbler.
If you do your homework, and work up a load that your rifle likes, you may not be so excited about smokeless loads ever again. Groups like this become quite common:
Hope this helps! By all means, if you have questions, keep coming back here to THR and ask folks in this forum. There's a wealth of knowledge to be tapped, and it keeps one from having to re-invent the wheel time and time again.
