Similarly, you need to crimp the bullets solidly in place so recoil will not push the bullet down into the case. This means you need bullets with their cannelure (or crimping groove) in exactly the right place for the overall length you need for your particular rifle to feed properly. With most lever-action rifles that use lifters to feed, cartridges must be one length exactly. Too long, obviously, won't work, but neither will too short because the cartridge sitting on the lifter will allow the next cartridge in line to back its rim onto the edge of the lifter and jam it in place.

With rifles utilizing tubular magazines and lifters, cartridge length is critical to proper functioning, as with this Winchester 94 in .38-55.

If you conclude from all this that the shooter of a vintage lever action should find the specs for the original ammunition and try to duplicate it exactly, you are quite right. Once you have some workable ammunition you may want to experiment, but not at first.

There are some odd situations regarding specific cartridges. One rifle you might encounter is a .32-40, and for many years .32-40 brass was impossible to get (and it's still difficult). Since it fathered the .30-30 family, one can make usable brass from the .30-30 or .32 Special, but it will be about a tenth of an inch short. This, however, can work to your advantage.

Jacketed bullets intended for the .32 Special have their cannelure too far back, so crimping them in place creates .32-40 ammunition that is too long. If you make .32-40 brass from .32 Special brass, the reduced length allows crimping of these bullets, and their extra length brings the overall length back to what it should be.

Making .32-40 brass this way presents a problem if you are loading your ammunition with black powder, but not with smokeless, which does not require all that space.

Since most casual shooters of inherited rifles will want to take the easiest route, most will stick with smokeless powders. Loading data for old rounds is not widely available, although with the advent of Cowboy Action shooting and new powders for that purpose, it is easier to find than it used to be.

If I were starting out to work up a load for any of these old black-powder rounds, I would start with two powders: Hodgdon's IMR Trail Boss and AA5744. Both are right at home with lead bullets, low velocities and, most important, low pressures. They will give you ammunition that is accurate and fun to shoot with very little recoil and no danger. Later, if you want to put your rifle to more serious use, you can move on to powders like IMR 3031 and H4895 (my favorite).

Experienced handloaders, accustomed to working up hot, accurate loads for a modern bolt action, need to alter their mindset considerably. Forget high velocity. Adjust your accuracy expectations. Primarily, your ammunition needs to feed and chamber reliably, which limits your options considerably, but you also need to keep in mind the steels used. Even if the barrel says "high-pressure steel," our idea of high pressure is not the same as theirs was in 1906. And then there is the action.

Caution is the word, and due regard for the capabilities of a nice old rifle. They were all made to shoot, and most will still do so with a little help. Once you get into this, you may find that it is far more interesting than working up yet another quarter-inch load for a bolt action.

And the next time a widowed aunt calls? You'll run to the phone.