Originally Posted by
oldpaul
These loads are from original paper cartridges from the American Civil War that were disassembled and the powder and conical lead bullets were weighed and measured. The powder charges with similar weight bullets are somewhat larger than those from Wiki for your revolver. I guess the Adams could be a weaker design than the colt .44 but I doubt it. In any case, black powder is far more forgiving than smokeless but caution is still warranted.
This is from an article in The American Rifleman magazine, Feb 1975.
COLT ARMY .44
Hazard Powder Co. - 211 gr. conical / 36 grs. powder
Bartholow's - 260 gr. conical / 19 grs. powder
Johnston & Dow - 242 gr. conical / 35 grs. powder
Unknown - 257 gr. conical / 17 grs. powder
Unknown - 207 gr. conical / 22 grs. powder
Hotchkiss - 207 gr. conical / 22 grs. powder