For those of you who are concerned about the authenticity of "non-.44 Russian" NM#3's, be advised that about 2000 originals with a longer cylinder
were chambered in .44-40! Sadly, I saw an original in that cartridge
blown up!!! at a CAS match about 20 years ago.
The shooter, NOT ME, was using some "remanufacturer's" smokeless loads. I witnessed this disaster. The first two rounds sounded like squib loads and bullet impact was about 10 yds in front of the gun! The third round split the cylinder vertically. Unfortunately, the shooter/owner would not let me examine the remaining ammo. The gun's forcing cone was split at the 12 o'clock position. Given my later research into ignition delay overpressure phenomenon, I
suspect the ammo was actually underloaded so the bullet was kicked out of the case, into the forcing cone, with the smokeless powder smoldering behind it. When the bullet stopped the pressure went up and got the powder going again. The force required to engrave the rifling on the bullet probably exceeded the strength of the brass, which ruptured and hot gases acted like a cutting torch on the cylinder's metal. (Not sure if the cylinders were steel or wrought iron at that point in production.)
Properly loaded, with modern steel, there is no reason this new gun can't handle
reasonable smokeless loads.