Real Cowboys used black powder loaded .45s. The smokeless powder era didn’t really come in until the dawn of the 20th century and cowboying as we generally visualize it, had mostly disappeared into the dust of history. Smokeless powder became firmly entrenched in the first decade of the century, however, some never gave up their black powder cartridges and such loads were available right up until WWII.

It takes more time and know how to load black powder than smokeless. Until recently, my black powder cartridges were assembled on a single stage press. Things have been much simplified with the addition of two items to my reloading bench from RCBS and Lyman.