Okay guys, gonna try loading some APP and try BP loading. Okay, which rifle of these two will play better with BP, my Rossi 92 in .357 Magnum or the Uberti 1873 in .45 Colt? Rifling, cleaning, etc?
Do you plan on shooting .357 or .38 spl? I'm not sure how well the Rossi feeds the .38 spl. The '73 is the king of the Cowboy match guns, no ramp to go up the carrier lifts any bullet shape straight up and the bolt pushes it straight in. I personally think it is easier to clean a '66 or '73. You pull the side plates and it is all right there. Dave, is right about blow by unless you load it full and compress it a bit. You need that straight wall case to obdurate a bit to seal, but a lot of cowboys use the .45. I have a couple of rifles in .38 sp,l a Marlin '94 Cowboy Competition (actually chambered in .38 Spl not .357) and a Model '66 Yellowboy.
I load my .38s with as much powder as I can compress under a 160 gr Snake Bite Grease Wagon and they expand well and seal the chamber. That bullet has a long ogive and actually shoots well in marlins and '92 pattern rifles because of the length. (Hellgate posted while I was typing this, it is exactly what I am saying) Short and stumpy sometimes has problems in rifles with ramps (Marlin/Winchester) I also have a couple of .44 Spl rifles (one's a carbine shooting .44 Russian) Those are straight wall cases and once again I put as much powder as I can cram in under a 200 Grain Mav Dutchman and they obdurate and seal as well, even the .44 Russian. I know people also do the same with .45 Cowboy in '66s and '73s with the carrier you have to add to use the shorter cartridge. I have that carrier in my '66 that shoots .44 Russian.
The .44 WCF or .38 WCF do about the best, the bottleneck cases seal even better than straight walls.
I will tell you this though, I get more residue back in the action from racking the action as fast as I can shoot than I ever do on the range taking my time between shots. There are speckles all over my '66s from black powder still smoking as I eject shells during a match. I get as little as I do with my original Win 73 in .44 WCF when I am taking my time between shots (no hot unburned powder flying...)
Check these images out below, this is a .38 Spl Short Rifle:How they sell it...see first image below
This is how it looks when you use them hard and even clean them (not polish them).See second image below
And it is clean, this is the inside.See third image
~Mako