I passed on the 209 mags in favor of the "Eclipse", which Cabela's ran on sale for the same price as the Stag Horn.
For the money they are hard to beat.
They will accept the 150gr Eq. loads (Pyrodex substitutes for B.P. on a volumn basis not weight (wt. =80% ie: 100gr B.P.=80gr. Pyro).
However, you will probably find that except with some of the saboted bullets or the CVA power-belt bullets, that accuracy will erode dramatically above 90gr.eqiv.
I plan to use 90gr of Pyro. RS, with a sabot, and some .452 pistol bullets and/or a .458 340gr FN sized down to .452. Initial tests indicate the pistol bullets shoot well (~2"@ 50yds). I haven't tested the longer 340gr yet but the 1/28" twist should shoot well. The sabots give faster loading and easier seating, and I don't have to use pure lead (I have xxx pounds of wheel weights for free), and sabots are about $7.50 per 100. I can't quite warm up to over $1.00 per shot for M/L when I can shoot round ball in a CVA frontier carbine I built back in '80's for less than .020 per shot and do essentially the same thing.
Don't let folks who haven't shot a m/l fool you. Trajectory is in line with .22lr, which means that if you're sighted in at 100yds, trajectory is sufficient with conicals for effective hunting shots to over 150yds on bug game. A 300+/- slug at over 1,000fps is a very effective killer.
For pigs, a heart/lung shot is very effective, and the primary purpose of my Eclipse was to allow hunting of HOGs on WMA with an effective weapon allowable during Small Game Hunts. A .50 CAL. M/L IS LEGAL TO HUNT SQUIRRELS BUT A .22CF ISN'T. GO FIGURE !!!!!!! ONLY A BUREAUCRAT /GOV. EMPLOYEE COULD COME UP WITH THAT.
(I SHOULD KNOW, AS I FIT THE LATTER CATEGORY)
Good luck with your "smoke pole". (also carry some speed loaders too !)
