I was going to respond to the original posting, but it looked like it got a bit off track. I thought this might be interesting though. This summer I was experimenting with black powder loads for a Uberti 1873 with a 7 1/2" barrel. My load was using Goex 3fg and around 36-37 grains of powder (as much as I could get into the modern brass using a drop tube). With a 255 grain bullet I clocked these loads at over 1000 fps with the fastest going closer to the 1030 mark, using P pyrodex took them easily over 1050. Bear in mind that the original loading was a true 40 grains, the military quickly dropped their load to 30 grains and the civilian load topped out at 35 grains. I heard once that the troops in the Little Bighorn were shooting 45 Schofield cartridges in their Colts since the military adopted that load almost universally by that time.
I personally don't care for the 45 colt in a lever gun since I like shooting black powder and the 45 colt cartridge does not provide a good gas seal in the chamber (the 44-40 is far superior in that respect) and it also was not a traditional lever gun chambering. I suspect that was true because the original rims were too tiny to get an extractor into, but the gas seal also comes into question. I would have no problem shooting a deer within 50 yards with this pistol and the above load.
