I had one of these for years. I have to agree with Rockshooter. Mine was a plinking gun/truck gun. I tried several loads in it, intended for various purposes that included deer hunting. That particular trapper model, acquired new by me around 1988 or thereabouts, fed everything flawlessly, but in terms of accuracy its best bullet was a cast semiwadcutter, Lyman 429215, sized .430, and weighing around 220 grains with the gascheck. I spend many a pleasant afternoon with this gun at my club range, plinking clay pigeon fragments from the 100 yd gravel berm. This bullet was very accurate in this gun, and recoil was minimal. It was a far more accurate bullet in this gun than other, 240 grain and heavier loads. One bullet that gun really hated was the Remington 240 gr jacketed softpoint, a flatnose number that I had hopes to use as a deer round. I never really could figure out why this bullet, accurate in other guns, was such a lousy performer in that little Winchester. You don't need to use a giant slug in that little trapper. Go for accuracy and have some fun. If you need to hunt big game, and fear running across a Tyrannosaurus in the woods, then take a 45-70 Marlin on those sorts of hunts.
