I primarily shoot smokeless especially since the Black Horn insanity,, when you get into smokeless guns you'll see a lot of " Magnum loads or hot loads out there that people are shooting,, I have barrels of different tapers and different shank diameters some very capable of handling a hot load-Magnum load. I approach all my guns looking for the most practical accuracy rather than the highest velocities I can achieve. I really think Mr Tom has it Dead on! I do have rifles that I shoot Black Horn out of break open rifles cva,Patriot from Woodman etc as well as a group of traditional guns that I'm shooting some of the other subs out of,,, with all of those non-smokeless rifles I educate myself up front with what the gun can handle and I back way off of it,, if shooting a traditions break open or a Acura type rifle I'm going instantly to 70 to 75 grains by weight, 100 - 110 grains by volume, I'm probably not going to budge from there. I think the meaning of a magnum load is a load that appeals to the male ego!