Hey, quick question for all those black powder enthusiasts out there.

I'm a life long rifle hunter whose recently looked into branching out into black powder. I recently purchased a 1862 Pedersoli .58 caliber and I'm set on taking it out this season. The gentlemen who sold me the rifle at Cabellas was quite nice, but (being an old fashioned guy) was pretty wishy-washy about the load I should be using with it. As such I've turned to the internet (which hasn't been too helpful yet) in hopes that I can find a consensus.

I'm shooting a .58 Caliber, 469 grain bullet with F2 powder. According to what I've seen online, people are loading anything from 50-80 grains. I should also mention that I'm usually a deer/hog guy, but I'm thinking of going after something larger (bear/elk) with it as well.

Also, if anyone knows a reliable place to order musket caps (the nipple on the Pedersoli's quite large) I be much obliged.

Thanks

I've had pretty good luck with finding everything I needed for muzzle loading supplies with these folks.

The load will depend on you, the specific rifle and the projectile (patched round ball vs. sabot).  Decide on your projectile and go to the range.  Start with 50 gr. And work your way up in 5 gr. increments.  I use patched round balls and 90 gr. Of 2F in my .54 Hawken.  You will have to spend a day at the range finding the load that is right for you.

The powder charge will depend on the bullet.
You will need to test fire various loads for accuracy.
The classic Minie' ball load was 60grns of powder with a SOFT lead bullet in a civ war rifled musket.
Traditional minie's have a rather thin skirt and this gets blown out of shape by larger charges and has detrimental effects on accuracy.
Too light of a load and the bullet doesn't expand and engrave with the rifling on firing and again detrimental effect on accuracy.
Harder lead bullets don't work well. Accuracy will be poor.
Patched round balls work OK but again you need to play around with charge sizes to determine what shoots best in your rifle. Most of the civ war type muskets don't shoot RB as well as minie type bullets.
Lee used to make a .58 caliber bullet mould that cast a bullet  like a giant wadcutter. It was a design for accuracy but it hit like a freight train.
I never tried the newer sabot type bullets. Can not comment on them.

http://leeprecision.com/bullet-casting/black-powder-molds/black-powder-minie-bullet-molds

I dealt with a similar situation.  I picked up a new 1973 made Zoli Zouave that I wanted to work up some loads.  My goal was towards punching paper.  But for me the rear sight was killing me, so I managed to scrounge up a 1902 Krag rear sight for the rifle.  Now I have both open and peep as well as windage available!  Makes load development a breeze.

Musket caps can be challenging.  CCI only sells "re-enactor" MC now and they are under powered.  You need to find RWS (Dynamic Nobel) or New Old Stock CCI  MCs with the model number 300.  (310s are the under-powered ones).  You'll have to keep an eye out to find the RWS in stock.  Here are the places I watch.  My last buy was from Crater.

Back Creek Gun Shop http://www.blackpowderva.com/
Crater Fireworks http://addictedtoblackpowder.com/2.html

I also lucked in to a small cache of CCI 300's from Craigslist.

Since you are in VA, another option is to attend or consult re-enacting groups or look for a Rendezvous / Living History event that might have connections for the good stuff.

Good luck!