tarawa- I-too like my Tanner moulds. For trimming the sprues, I use ordinary wire strippers. The smaller holes in the strippers work the best for me, leading just a little bit of lead that is easily wiped off with a wood rasp - one swipe. It matters not whether the balls are hard or soft to the strippers.

I think an analysis of the balls would show about 2% antimony and a trace of arsnic, with no tin. It depends on th shot as it may have as much as 3% antimony or as little as 1%. What matters most, is the Kodiak double has fairly shallow rifling which should allow you to use the harder balls just fine. As Steve indicated, you may have to go to a thinner patch than you would use for a pure lead ball, but then, maybe not. Experimentation is what will determine what is necessary.

The picture below shows the two different wire strippers I use for cutting off the sprues- both work well. I shoot straight WW alloy balls in the large bores with no difficulty in loading with the appropriate patch. The straight WW balls are harder than what your shot alloy balls will come out at as our WW run around 5% antimony - apparently - for a brinel reading of 12 to 13. I suspect the shot you used would only be around 7 or 8 at the most. Pure lead runs 5 brinel. I suggest you contact Bruce Strickling's web site for instructions on making paper ctgs. for hard balls for muzzleloading rifles - or contact him through the member's list at www.americanlongrifles.org . The paper ctgs. are a great boon to shooting large bores - not only rapid loading, but amazing accuracy when done correctly. Bruce followed the methods I used and with 1 hole accuracy.