I watched Last of the Mohicans (1920) silent on Amazon. Wallace Beery cast as Magua. Pretty interesting film. Selected for the National Film Registry in 1995. I don't know how to add it here.
You have provided answers to the most obvious questions. Do you have any factory rounds that you could try? It is possible that the chamber might be a little too tight.
I hate cutaways. A good bunch of firearms destroyed. A great collection, though. That fellow in the video should have known a bit more about some of the firearms he showcased; particularly target rifles from the Creedmoor and Sea Girt matches in the late 1800s.
Tom,
As Duelist I pick up the pistol one handed, if it's staged on a table. Same with the second pistol. Having pistols staged on the table does not require the use of both hands as it would if one only shoots duelist or CC with the dominant hand. Unless the rule, as stated above, changes, the pistol has to be picked up one handed.
Several actors were said to be very fast. In the fast draw competitions in the '60s the fastest was Jerry Lewis; so some have written. Another fast draw was Sammy Davis Jr. Both used six guns and rigs in their club acts and, in any event, were quite good.
After you have been reloading a while you will develop your own process. Some folks deprime and tumble (wet or dry), some clean primer pockets, some don't. I tumbled brass once and didn't see the point. Now I deprime by hand, inspect the pockets as well as the entire case, and clean the pocket if it looks too dirty. Not the fastest way to do it, but I don't shoot more than 2,000-2,500 a season now.