I did a good bit of research on shooting smokeless in my near mint factory re-furbished .44 D.A. I came up with a load that works to my satisfaction: 200Gr. RNFP, 3.7Gr. Tight Group, 1.255 OAL, using a WLP primer. The recoil appears to be less than a black powder load of 18Gr. of Old Eyensford 3F, certainly cleans up easier. I still like shooting black powder, it just feels right.
I did not mention that I shot a box of Black Hills Cowboy ammunition through mine before deciding to make my own. The Black Hills stuff worked fine, it seemed a little stout.
When I fired the first black powder rounds the piece got a little stiff to operate after a couple dozen rounds. I found that the black powder residue was building up enough to cause the cylinder to slightly bind. I attributed this to the fact that it had been completely refurbished and was very tight, all I needed to do was wipe off the face of the cylinder and I carry a nylon brush in the box now to brush off the area above the cylinder and around the forcing cone. I do not plan on pouring boxes of ammunition through this old piece, just wanted to see what it was capable of doing. I am flat positive they were deadly at close range and provided an individual with more than adequate personal protection in a rather small package.
