Let's try this again from the top.
R&D cylinders are proofed for SAAMI strength Smokeless cartridges. I thought they were made from 4140 steel, but 4140 or 4150, the point is they are made from the same type of steel that most modern arms makers use to make Smokeless firearms. The cylinders are then heat treated to bring the strength up to a point where they can take the stresses of standard SAAMI loads. This is the same way S&W makes cylinders that could normally only take the pressure of 38Sp loads able to withstand 357 Mag. R&D plainly states on the literature that comes the cylinders that they can take the pressures of Smokeless 'Cowboy Loads'. The simple truth is R&D cylinders are much better made than the cylinder that comes with any Cap & Ball revovler. They are more precisely made, and they are stronger. Why do you think they cost so much?
In any revolver, it is the cylinder that is most vulnerable to the pressure when a cartridge fires and whenever a revolver blows up it is almost always the cylinder that actually blows up. The cylinder is the 'weak link' in the chain. Take a look at how thin the steel is between chambers on a large caliber revolver, and then look at how thick the steel is in the barrel. The section of the chamber directly under the locking slot on the cylinder is also a weak spot. There is very little metal there. Even with the relatively weak steel that Uberti may or may not be using in the rest of the gun, it is the cylinder that is most likely to fail.
I have seen plenty of revolver barrels that have been bulged by a round striking a barrel obstruction. If one fires a second round after a bullet has lodged in the barrel, you will probably bulge the barrel. The pressure buildup may be enough to blow the cylinder. It happens. But you are not going to blow up a barrel by shooting SAAMI spec Smokeless rounds through an unubstructed barrel. If you shoot loads that are too hot, it is the cylinder, not the barrel, that will let go.
If you fire a second round into an ubstructed barrel, nobody is going to give you your money back anyway, no matter what kind of powder you were using. That is clearly operator error.
You will be just fine shooting Cowboy Loads through a C&B gun with an R&D cylinder.