Gather around the stove kids, put on a pot of
Expresso Arbuckles, and keep the eggshells handy, and
Uncle Grandpa Professor marvel will
tell you a story give you a mini history lesson.
Firstly, What St. George and Abilene said.
If you are talking modern Rugers, Virginia Dragoons, blah blah blah, that's a different kettle of fish.
you can shoot whatever factory ammunition it is chamber for, with dull regularity,
and "some" special Ruger Only Loads" you may find in loading manuals...
if you are talking "old school cartridges originally designed for Black Powder in an old school design"
then you really need to stick to Factory SAAMI PRESSURES as a maximum.
the older SAA design is not as strong as the Ruger, etc nor are the cylinders as thick.
If you get an modern Single Action of the old design (ie Cattleman) style in .357 magnum or .44 magnum, you can shoot magnums
all you like, but you should stay within SAAMI pressures as published for those calibers.
It's all about pressure and pressure curves.
In the dark past of history (
learn from history or be doomed to repeat it! ) there were for example hot 44-40 rifle loads
that said "rifle " on the box and if you blew up your BP Colt pistol with it... well, tough. People did not shoot anywhere near as
many rounds in a lifetime as we do in our hobbies, so guns that were properly cared for seldom wore out.
Gun design was a trade-off ... Guns were designed to be light enough to carry all day, and strong enough to do the job, but not
indestructable.
After WWI then WWII a bunch of gun cranks started hotrodding stuff and shooting the s**t out of whatever they had.
Theu discovered that the "hot loads" would actually cack the frames or links in a model 1873 Winchester rifle if you
shot many thousands. But a Model 1892 with it's stronger design would stand up to them almost indefinitely.
Eventually they discovered similar things about the Colt Model P single action design. Then about the large frame
Colt and S&W double actions.
S&W came out with the .357 magnum and the .44 magnum, and life was good.
A few nutcases blew those up finding their limits.
the same sort of folks push the envelope on car engines and aircraft. It makes them happy.
Then around the 1960's or so Magnumitis and Big Game Handgun hunting took the shooters by storm and the
crazies big names started designing handguns that were built like tanks, and weighed as much as a small rifle. .454 Casull and such come to mind
now, new guys who don't know the history start wondering and ask the hivernaughts....
and some slow-witted types decide they are undiscovered geniuses breaking new ground and start loading .45 Mugnums into
soft italian BP designs ....
However -you specifically asked about "Buffalo Bore Heavy"
if you will recall, Great Grandpa Uncle Professor mentioned pressure and pressure curves earlier.
Buffalo Bore has developed some "special" loads with "heavy for caliber" bullets that are loaded to standard SAAMI pressures.
for example:
snip----------------------------------
BUFFALO BORE HEAVY 357 MAG
180 gr. JHP (1,500fps/M.E. 899 ft. lbs.)
20 Round Box
ITEM 19L
Our 357 mag. ammo adds more power than ever before to the 357 Mag. This ammo is safe to shoot in ANY all steel 357 revolver - this includes J-frames. This ammo is no harder on your gun than any other normal 357 ammo. Please don't phone or email us and ask if this ammo is safe in your gun. It is, providing your gun is in a safe condition for use with any normal 357 ammo.
We don't recommend this ammo be fired in super light alloy revolvers as bullets may jump crimp under recoil, but the ammo itself won't hurt these super lightweight revolvers. These revolvers are simply so light that the recoil is severe enough to cause crimp jump.
endsnip----------------------------------
So, if your modern pistole' is chambered for a modern round, according to Buffalo Bore, you can safely shoot their stuff.
BUT it is most likely that a steady diet of that hot stuff ( ie 200 rounds a week) will wear out your pistol.
I know several LEO's who wore out S&W model 19's 13's , 29's and Colt 1911's shooting "a lot of hot stuff"
ALSO REMEMBER - don't try to duplicate Buffalo Bore 's loads.
They are professionals, they have a lab, and Magic Pressure Test Equipment.
And Computers
And IBM's proprieary Magic Server Pixie Dust
https://www.youtube.com/embed/3nbEeU2dRBghope this helps
uncle grandpa prof marbels
PS If you wear out, or break your gun, it's on you, not Buffalo Bore , or any other ammunition manufacturor
PPS if anyone notices I got any facts wrong, please feel free to correct me and I shall update my history lessons