Tex, a thought or two on how it shoots. There is only a very small difference between the Winchester version and the original SS version insofar as case capacity is concerned. That said, the general ballistic performance is close as are the similarities of loading cast bullets. I won't be shooting jacketed rounds in mine due to the gun's years, but you do have that option. If you stick with lead you can run very soft alloys, ie 30:1 or there abouts; or you can do a little harder to no ill effect.
The beauty of the Stevens action however is it's camming power when closing the action. If inclined you can seat a little long and the bullet will engrave with little resistance into the lead/rifling.
Having toyed (shamelessly) with the Winchester variant in an old lever gun, I found somewhat quickly that harder alloys are doodoo, but that somewhat stronger loads made it hum. The gun was relined due to a moonscape surface in the original. I shot both Lyman 257312 and Ideal 257283 bullets successfully with hardness ranging from 12 to 8 respectfully.
That gun defined successful as 1.2" at 50 yards for 10 shots, elbow rest. It has a tang sight very much like the one your own sports and a 14" twist. Favorite charge is 6.0 grains of 2400, SRP and a very mild crimp. Where it got a little odd for my feeble brain was it's response to different lubes. The Ideal bullet, conventionally lubed shoots ho-hum on the best of days with SMOKELESS powder.
Lee ALOX on the other hand is just the opposite. (I hope they don't let that go to their head). The Lyman bullet behaved in similar fashion. Both lagged in accuracy until the velocity got up around the 1300 fps level or a bit higher, and I started using LLA for lube. I cut ALOX about 10% by volume with mineral spirits and tumble lube, leaving a very thin coat, almost like a coffee stain in appearance. I also dust the bullets with motor mica to preclude them gumming up the seating die. Haven't run the loads over the Chrony yet. Both shot better with more conventional powder as opposed to Trail Boss.
Short version, try softer bullets, engage the rifling a bit when chambering the round and put a wee bit more powder in the hole.
Some of this you likely already know, hope something clicks for you.
