My grandfather somehow brought his Model 1883 Reichsrevolver and original German cross-draw holster with him when he emigrated to the United States before the war. He eventually gave it to my dad. My mother gave it to me after my dad died.
The gun has a significant intrinsic value, but an enormous sentimental value to me. I would not want any damage to come to this gun. This gun is chambered in 10.6 mm German Ordnance/10.55 mm German cartridge, which is interchangeable with the .44 Russian. I have shot this gun hundreds and hundreds of times, and never once fired a black powder cartridge in it, but only my own hand loads using smokeless powder and my home cast bullets of 153 grain wad cutter or a 205 grain flat point bullet designed for the .44 WCF. I use whatever lead alloy which happens to be handy, and am not in the least concerned that the bullets might be too hard.
I use a very light charge of Bullseye powder, or more recently, Trail Boss. Both powders have provided excellent results. I load my ammo for velocities of 550 to 700 fps.
I do not use Black Powder because I do not want to deal with the lengthy complete disassembly and soap and water cleanup. I have Black Powder muzzle loading guns which require this, and it takes a lot of time, and definitely puts more wear on the gun than shooting does.
There is a mountain of misinformation and superstition out there about using smokeless powder in old Black Powder guns. I researched it thoroughly before I started loading for it, starting about 25 years ago. The bottom line is that pressure is pressure, regardless of the type of propellant used. As long as the pressure does not exceed the original specs (and my loads are well below that) the load is safe to use.
Last edited by Warren Sear; 11-27-2020 at 06:24 PM.
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