I have one that was made in 1906. I use .403 cast bullets from Dardas Cast Bullets and 16 gr. of 2400. Average velocity is about 1450fps. Most books,if you can find any info will go 6.5-8.5 gr of Universal Clays, Uniqye, W231. etc.

An old Lyman book goes 18-22 gr of 2400 and the old Sharpe Handloading manual goes 17-23.6 gr of 2400.

Most of the Cowboy loads are about 800 fps. The biggest danger, IMO is the old ballon head cases floating around that can be dangerous to load with modern powders, Every once in awhile you can find new brass form a few different vendors

The 38- 40 true diameter is .401 so you might not find any jacketed bullets that shoot well from the 40 cal pistol bullets. .001-002 over the bore in cast bullet shoots well and Dardas is the only bullet mfgr offering a .402 or .403 bullet.
Problem I had with the 40 cal pistol bullets was finding any that were not FMJ around here.

I had a smith in Washington state reline my barrel so my headspace is right on .I also had to add a new ejector.

My father hunted with one his entire life in Pa and killed many a whiteail with it. I have two boxes of commercial Winchester ammo for my brother found in Gander Mountain years ago

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Last edited by saddlesore; 07/31/16.
If God wanted you to walk and carry things on your back, He would not have invented stirrups and pack saddles