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We've always heard not to use it. I've never been there when one let go but a local gun dealer who was big into western living history a few decades ago said that he had seen them unlatch even when the shooter used a small initiator charge under a full load of black powder.
The original Walkers and the early fluetted cylinder 60 armies blew up with some regularity using black powder loads. The replica steel-soft as some of it seems to be, is stronger than the originals- or at least free of flaws and occusions. Still, Smokeless is to be avoided completely.
I know one prominent Single action authority who has loaded IMR rifle powder in the Remingtons. He will not publish this and considers himself probably lucky that the gun didn't blow up. He did note that the center of the individual powder sticks seem to burn out leaving the outside cylinder intact. He did not say, but I suspect that his ballistic results were very wierd.
I read a test by an Englishman who had gotten hold of a revolver made up by a European gunsmith. It was set up to use boxer primers, a charge of bullseye and front-loaded .38 wadcutters. English and Europeans are somewhat desperate to find shootable handguns and this was an attempt to add something to the targetshooting game over there. The accuracy results were not good and, as I recall, the shot to shot variations were pretty spastic.
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