Dugaboy,

I don't own a BPE, but have met several men who do (One was Ernie Stallman of Badger Barrels).

When I asked about loading smokeless loads, each one said "No way". When pressed for an answer why, each were of the belief that the guns were unsafe with smokeless. I was heavily into black powder for a while and learned quite a bit about the properties of BP and Nitro, fascinating. I learned that black is very forgiving and that nitro is very unforgiving. I won't go into the pressure curves, shock waves, etc - because I know you know it already, but If it were my face(hand) that was inches away from a 100+ year old gun proofed for BP - I think I'd stick with BP.

BTW, what airline did you work for and what did you do?