Jim, glad you joined. First, you can shoot 2 3/4" shells in a gun with 2 1/2" chambers - the pressure won't go up all that much. The Federal shell is straight walled and the Win or Rem shells are tapered wall. If you use the WAA12 wads in a Federal hull you'll get a loose fit and really low pressure with a lot of bloopers. I have about 2000 Federal papers and use Claybusters wads meant for the Federal shell. I don't believe pressure will go up by going to 2 1/2" and roll crimp [ put have no proof one way or the other ] because everything I've read says a roll crimp has less pressure than a star crimp, everything else being the equal. When using BP I've always used paper wads because the plastic wads will melt in the barrel and leave quite a mess you don't want to clean [ don't ask - I just know ]. With the paper wads from
www.circlefly.com you can adjust your wad column height for length of shell or load. The paper wads can also be used with nitro powders and you'll usually get about 10% less pressure [ not always - but never more pressure ]. Yes the pressure will be low with BP, but there are many low pressure loads using nitro. I've shot BP or nitro in my damascus guns for years. If you want some low pressure loads just ask, many of the guys will be happy to tell you what they use. Hope this helps - any questions, don't be afraid to ask - you'll get lots of replies. Paul