Doug
Do a bit more research on the pyrodex vs black story - chemically its much more corrosive to steel than real powder - black is so easy to clean using plain water and a dash of dish soap - I wonder where the hard to clean story comes from - I got my first can of blackpowder in 1965 at age 17- been shooting black seriously for thirty years - cleanup is easy - so easy - I can clean a blackpowder cartridge gun quicker than the same gun after smokeless - the main difference is you cant put a blackpowder gun in the safe dirty!
Yeah, actually not too hard to clean with the .44-40 rifle as the chamber seals good and all you really have to worry about is the chamber and bore and maybe a little residue that drips into the action on cleaning the gun.
But I shot my .45 Colt Vaquero this weekend in Pyrodex and I tried the usual Cleanshot/American Pioneer method of letting the gun, cylinder and brass sit in hot water and vinegar for a few minutes...the water started looking like I poured Coke into it with that Pyrodex. And it didn't all come off either. Had to get patches and bore rod and paper towels to thoroughly wipe everything down constantly. And then I dried and soaked the gun as best I could with Breakfree oil.
The Brass I ran though the tumbler for about 6 hours. The .44-40 brass from last week still had a black stain around the upper neck but a little hard work with steel wool removed that. The just shot .45 Colt Brass was completely shiny. The insides though weren't brassy looking, still a little black.