The US Army boght 58 rimfires right after the Civil War. Te ones used in the war were the ones that used the reloadable steel case that use a percusion cap, minnie ball and 60 gr powder. Same as you loaded the 61/63 Springfield with. These were private purchase by some units. A real pain. Both the 58's used the drum which was part of the trouble.
They US Army did not buy any of the 45-70's till I belive around 77-78 after they decided the Army needed better weapons.
The 30-40's came in after 1892 and were not scrapped till about 1915, both the 45-70 and the 30-40 used a two column stick magazine. The are the two demoed on Mail Call on the history channel.
They were made on order for any cartride of the time if you wanted, some worked better than the others. The 44-40 was a little short thing called the bulldog. The ad for it often showed a sketch of on mounted on the front of a camel saddle, complete with camel underneith. Nope not me, I ain't gonna get up there and crank it unless it all goes into the back of that creatures head.
I have seen and original steel case one fire. When it wasn't jamed it was awsome, when it was I could have picked off the crew one by one with a muzzle loader, no problem.