Crisco

Buckaroo Bobbins might be a good bet, but you would have to give them a call. Geneva makes leather riding skirts to order and I believe I’ve seen jackets and such too, but I don’t see anything but the skirts and accompanying vests on the website. I expect she can make it if you let her know what you want. River Crossing is still listing outfits like you are looking for too, but also made to order.

Had one in 20ga and it was a well made, reliable shotgun but I didn’t like it much for CAS. The first time I tried swiping across both hammers to cock them, all I accomplished was leaving a good bit of skin on the ears (stiff springs and small ears), and the receiver was too small to have the right hammer cocked while broken open. Think I might have seen one in .410 once but not certain.

Yes, cleared means empty. If no empty comes out when checked, then it had to have been open at some point before being discarded. No longer matters how it got closed.

Doesn’t seem to if it’s good lube like spg or crisco & beeswax.

I have heard of accuracy problems at long range using over powder wads under hollow base bullets, I assume because the wad gets jammed in there out of kilter under pressure. You can just seat a hollow base bullet firmly on the powder and do fine, or go completely old school and fill the cavity with Crisco or other bullet lube.

I used to see a piece of thin wall pipe with one end crimped shut used like that when shooting single actions in "combat" shoots. A lot faster than loading from ammo dumped into a jacket pocket, and pretty much anything is faster than a full reload from a belt.

Not sure when they stopped totally, but when Phil Sharpe wrote his Complete Guide to Handloading in 1937 there were only 14 rifle and 26 pistol cartridges still being produced loaded with black powder. The .38-40 and .44-40 were included in his list of handgun cartridges.

I have used a lot of the Black Hills cowboy ammo when doing classes, and it has been great. Never particularly cheap, but good ammunition if you can find it. As said before, keep your brass...

A Winchester 1892 .44WCF and an 1897 solid frame, both made in1898. Now and then, not every match.

I believe the centerfire 1866’s were late production, chambered for the .44 Henry Centerfire (same dimensions as the Henry but centerfire), and most, if not all, were shipped to somewhere in South America that escapes my memory at the moment. Seems like very few show up in the states.

Our knockdowns (mostly US poppers) are 3/8" AR500 with 1/2" pipe stick welded to the bottom to mount in our bases. For static targets we've been using 3/8" and 1/2" mild steel for years, and they age pretty well with lead bullets and cowboy loads, but are getting too heavy for most of the folks willing to come out and help these days (not to mention being easily and heavily damaged by boneheads with rifles). We are gradually changing over to 1/4" AR500 targets with a small rectangular slot centered near the top so they can hang from a hook made of 3/8" AR500. Very much like what MGM sells for Steel Challenge if you want to see examples. We initially went with 3/8" AR500, but I saw another club using 1/4" 18"x24" targets that are aging very well in speed steel matches, in which they are getting worked over heavily with jacketed 9mm, .40S&W, & .45ACP, from both pistols and carbines. Since then everything I buy is 1/4" and they are much nicer to haul around. I just go to Pacific Steel with a cardboard template or drawing and they use a plasma cutter; I've not seen any issues with wear or such in the heat affected areas. For long range targets (and even Plainsman rifle targets) the 3/8" AR won't crater, but starts to bow pretty quick when it gets whacked with a few 405 or 500 grain bullets.

Can't answer definitively about the "antique" classification but will tackle the concern noted above about getting them back into the US. SImply fill out a customs form 4457 and have the guns verified by a customs officer BEFORE leaving the states. This form provides the proof that you took them with you so you will not be accused of importing them on your return.

I'm sure it's been longer than I think, but Numrich Arms (now Gunparts Corp) used to sell conversion kits to change your model 94 over to .44 Magnum. I think the "kit" may have consisted of nothing more than a barrel and carrier/lifter. If so, that will answer your initial question, at least for the larger cartridge.