True.  One of the best scenes in The Wind and the Lion!  (If any of you haven't seen that movie, you really NEED to!)

That's a beauty. Here's mine, a Deluxe Sporting Rifle in .44-40. I like it with the long barrel and the Marbles peep but I would still love to get one with the carbine style butt and keep it factory sights.

Got some good stuff from them over the years.  Another sutler gone.  Last orders by July 1.

There is a great deal of (literal) old world charm in his work.

Reviewing my notes from initial tests with the Black Hills 148 HBWC loaded out to the same length as a RN, Trail Boss is a non-starter.  It made very anemic loads, and the hollow bases did not obdurate into the bore.  WW231 and Unique both did much better.  I will try those and APP and Triple 7 with the Bear Creek 150 grain RNHB and see which is better.  I am betting Unique will be the winner.  This round will be done with a 7.5" and a 5.5", my having traded the 4" to get the 5.5".  Loading the 150 RNHBs to the same overall length as a .38 Spcl, will give the same case capacity as .38 special in .38 Colt brass.  I am doing this, because the Kirst cylinders are .38 Spcl chambered, and 99% of the users will not be using .38 Colt brass!


Reprint of my July, 2020 test Summary:

1)  Black Hills factory .38 Colt. .357," 150 solid base RN: From both a 4" and a 7.5" .375 bore gave minute of dinner plate accuracy, with ALL bullets key-holing and tumbling through the targets at 7 yards.  Useless for practical purposes in BP revolvers with .375" bore converted with centerfire cylinder, regardless of whether the cylinder has a .357" or .375" throat.

2) Black Hills factory .38 Special 148 HBWC.  From the 7.5 " with the .357" throated cylinder did a 3.5" group, and from the same revolver with the .375" throated cylinder did a little better at 3".

3).  Bear Creek 140 grain .375" heeled bullets over 3.7 grains Trail Boss, crimped with OWBM's heel bullet crimp in Black Hills .38 Colt cases.  These cases split (no other cases in test split), but I attribute that to my using too severe a heel bullet crimp.  The rupture started where the wrinkle in the crimp occurred.  The same powder charge with a 148 grain HBW set forward 1/4" in the same .38 Colt case did not rupture.  Groups were 1.75" to 3.0" from the test gun, with the 4" EMF 1851 giving the best group.

4) 148 grain HBW set forward 1/4" in the same .38 Colt case, with 3.7 grains Trail Boss gave 2" from the 7.5" barrel using the .357" throated cylinder, and 2.5" when using the .375" throated cylinder.

5) 148 grain HBW set forward 1/4" in the same .38 Colt case, with 3.3 grains of Unique gave 4" from the 7.5" barrel using the .357" throated cylinder, and 3.0" when using the .375" throated cylinder.

6). Several other powders were tried (WW231, Bullseye) and gave results essentially the same as Unique

A) In ALL cases, whether from .357" or .375" throat Kirst cylinder, Hollow Base  Wadcutters seemed to obdurate into the .375" bore to give as good of accuracy (or bretter in some cases) than the 140 grain .375" heeled bullet.  Groups were consistent and the holes cut crisp and round, with no evidence of tumbling or keyholing.

B) Barrel length (4.0" or 7.5") did not seem to have any effect on this obduration.

C) The hollow base loads, while not quite as accurate as the 140 grain .375" heeled loads, were certainly accurate enough for SASS use.

D) The tests show that hollow base bullets work well in both .357 and .375" bore revolvers.

E) (FOR JEFF) The expense of commercially loading .375" heeled bullets is prohibitive, and appeals to the somewhat limited market share of converted revolver shooters. OIn the other hand, the 150 grain, hollow base round nose bullet (of the original 1892 Army loading of the .38 Colt produced into the 1960s) would be attractive  to both SASS shooters shooting .357" bore revolvers and SASS shooters shooting .375" bore conversion revolvers.

F). (FOR WALT) There was no consistent difference in accuracy from the `.357" throated cylinders to the .375" throated ones.  It would be easier to simply produce all the cylinders with the .375", rather than in .357" with the .375" being special order.  The production being in .357" eliminates traditional shooters )like myself) that may load the original style heeled bullets.