400NitroExpress - Thanks for the input. I've followed the discussion(s) on this board re: monolithics for a couple of years now. As best I can tell, using hard bullets can be iffy if you own a pre WWII DR, but should be OK for any of recent manufacture. That being said, I haven't fired any of them as of yet and may not. I've probably got a couple hundred $ worth of 9.3mm Swift and Barnes bullets sitting on the shelf, so I am going to think and research on the subject some more. I've waited this long to acquire the rifle, I can wait a bit longer before (if ever) I use those bullets. I will stay away from those hard bullets until I have had a chance to talk to the dealer from whom I bought the rifle, and also to the Chapuis folks at the next SCI convention. I have noticed how thin the barrels are on my rifle, plus my barrels mike out at .3640" (left) and .3645" (right), so a .3660" hard bullet is going to stress the barrels perhaps a bit more than normal. As a result I haven't been all that confident in using those hard bullets.

As I noted above, I am most definitely a neophyte when it comes to DR's, so I very much appreciate your advice and concerns. I've been reading and studying about DRs for way more years than might seem reasonable (upwards of 50 I think), but the prices for one was always just a bit out of my reach. I just finally decided to buy one (money be damned!

) as I had a heart problem a year and a half ago and am not all that sure how many years I might have left. It's in His hands, so I don't worry about it any too much, but...I"m an engineer/scientist and pragmatic so to ignore the past when considering the future doesn't seem any too wise in my mind. Anyway, now I finally have my DR.

Pilgrim