Im new in to reloading, bought a little bit but havent done anything new. My stuff so far is all smokless powder stuff. Do you need special equipment to reload black powder ammo. I really want a sharps and probably want to reload the ammo.

There are some "extras" that are handy for loading match grade BP. Things like a drop tube, over powder cards, powder compresion die, SPG (or sim) Bullet lube, etc.. Your press and standard type reloading dies are like you are using for smokeless. Do a search for loading manuals for BP loads. Mike Venterino(sp) wrote an easy to find book on this subject.

Keith

Im going to try and find a book to read up on this some. Where do you guys buy your supplies?
Im looking at and weighing my options of a 45-70 and 45-110. I have a partner press will that be good enough?
Have i read somewhere that people use substitute powders in there loads instead of black powder?

Danny -
I've loaded for BP cartridge for a few years maybe I can provide some tips. 1st, Buffalo Arms is a good source of supplies for BP shooting. The guys there are all BP shooters & very helpful with any questions you may have. Sorry, don't have a contact phone #.
If you get into this seriously, there's a whole new learning cureve for you. I'd recommend you get into bullet casting & learn how to cast consistant bullets. For bullet lube it's SPG - hands down. Don't even think of mixing up your own bullet lube since there are so many concoctions out there. Just stick with SPG & save yourself some unecessary headaches. My lead mix was 20:1 lead /tin for target shooting & about 30:1 for hunting.
I ALWAYS used black powder, NEVER that phony, fake stuff. As far as I know, all of the top BPS shooters used the real stuff with Swiss brand being very popular, then GOEX. I don't know what's available now. My cases were only sized just for the depth that I seated the bullet and the bullet was seated to engage the lands. My bullets were run thru a sizer that was about 0.002" larger than my groove diameter. My cases were all trimmed to the same length and the flash hole was chamferred out on the inside of the case. Of course, you only do that the first time you use the case. Powder is dropped tubed into the case then an over powder wad is inserted. I use a compression plug die for compressing the powder/wad combination (Buffalo Arms has 'em). Only compress enough so that the bullet sits on the top of the powder/wad column when seated. One BIG no-no is having an air gap between the bullet base & the powder column - DON"T!!! You NEVER load BP and allow an air gap between the bullet & powder. With smokeless powder, you can have an
air gap but not BP. Once the wad.powder is compressed, I place a wax paper disc on top of the wad - this to prevent the possibility of the wad sticking to the bullet when it's fired. All of the bullet lube should have been wiped off before seating but there could be some accidentally left on the base.
This is more than you asked for but I wanted to give you an idea as to what's involved. Basically, as I see it, you have 2 learning curves to overcome - reloading & shooting BP cartridges and learning to cast QUALITY, consistant bullets. I hope you get into it and if you do, I think you'll find it quite challenging and fun. Enjoy, Bear in Fairbanks

Thankyou for your help Bear. Is the lyman dies ok or buy the rcbs. I just picked up a rockchucker, 5-10 scale and redding case trimmer. Are the bullets on the market not very good to use? Is that why you cast your own, or is that just for part of the fun.

Danny:
I'd say use whatever dies you like. Regarding commercially made cast bullets. At the time, I was going to get into BPCS competition shooting. From what I could find out, the commercially made bullets were not as consistant weight wise as I wanted so I got into casting my own. The rifle I was using was a .45-70 and I settled on the Lyman #457132 mold. The Postel style. I'd cast a batch of bullets, then weigh them out and segregate them into groups of +/- 1/2 grain. Ie, 235.5 grs., +/-1/2 gr. My grove diameter was .458 which I found after slugging the bore. The bullets were run thru a 0.460 sizer die on my lubrsizer. For lead, I'd buy plumbers lead in 5 or 6 lb. ingots. I bought tin bars to add to the mix. BTW, lotsa guys use wheelweights for bullet casting. That may be fine for your handgun & plinking but not for BP in my opinion. Wheelweights are too hard & they have antimony in them. As far as I know, no one shooting BPCS would use wheelweights even if they were diluted with pure lead. Too much chance of variation in hardness.
I think I'd recommend that you start out buying your cast bullets. You'll have enough headaches getting started just learning to load & shoot BP. It's a heck of a lot of fun & you'll surely turn heads at the range with your Sharps. I had 2 .45-70 Sharps rifles, wasn't using them & sold them. I've now got a .45-120 Sharps and my BP target rifle, a Ballard, long range, .45-70. That one is a real sweet rifle.
Good luck & keep us posted. Later, Bear

P.S. I don't crimp the bullets either.

I'm kinda new to reloading BP myself. there are one or two other things you should be aware of; Do not use a plastic powder measure or funnel made for smokeless powder! these things can build static electricity and cause a spark. BP will go off. measure by hand with a brass powder measure or buy a powder measure made for BP. be very aware while you are reloading to ground your self from time to time. if you get up and walk away, touch something before sitting down again. do not let anyone walk up to you and touch you while you have powder exposed on the bench. in fact do not have any more powder out in the open air than you need for the task at hand. think about the fire power a 90 grn loaded muzzleloader has when fired. now consider your loading room in your house with many times that amout exposed to what ever might set it off! your wife will be pissed, if your still alive! smokeless powder is different and not as vollital. whew!