Howdy Again
First off, let me apologize for saying the Italian replicas of Schofields will not handle Black Powder well. In all honesty, I do not own one and have been listening to the comments of others who have used them with Black Powder. In my defense, a lot of shooters agree with what I said.
Here is the cylinder from an original 1st Model Schofield that left the factory in 1875. Notice the prominent bushing pressed into the front of the cylinder.
Here is the way the cylinder lines up with the cylinder arbor under the barrel. When assembled, the extractor rod will slide inside the arbor. Notice the helical clearance threads on the arbor. These provide a place for any Black Powder fouling that got past the bushing to be deposited without binding the cylinder.
The bushing is larger in diameter than the arbor, and remains outside the arbor.
When the cylinder is fully seated, the arbor provides horizontal separation between the barrel/cylinder gap and the front of the bushing. So the bushing shields the arbor from fouling blasted out of the barrel cylinder gap. When shooting Black Powder, fouling that reaches the cylinder arbor, or the cylinder pin on a Colt style revolver, is the chief culprit in the cylinder binding up. Not fouling deposited on the face of the cylinder as many believe, the culprit is fouling that makes its way between the cylinder and the cylinder arbor/cylinder pin. Colt dealt with this problem similarly, also with a bushing on the front of the cylinder.
This photo shows a Schofield cylinder made by Navy Arms in front, and a cylinder with the traditional bushing at the rear. The Navy Arms cylinder is chambered for 38 Special, hence the smaller diameter chambers. Notice how small the bushing is on the front of the Navy Arms cylinder.
Here is a photo of the Navy Arms cylinder assembled to the barrel. While it is true the cylinder has not been seated quite all the way, it should be obvious how the shorter bushing does not provide as much horizontal separation from the barrel/cylinder gap as with the originals.
To further my honesty, I don't much like shooting my Schofields because it is more effort to remove the cylinder for cleaning. I much prefer shooting the New Model Number Three with Black Powder.These are chambered for the 44 Russian cartridge, not the 45 Schofield cartridge. The 44 Russian was the most popular chambering of these revolvers as well as the Russian Model the 44 Double Action.
Take down of the New Model Number Three is simpler than with a Schofield because S&W redesigned the barrel latch for that and later models, making removal of the cylinder easier. All one has to do is lift the latch, and rotate the cylinder while exerting a little bit of upward pressure to remove the cylinder. Removing the cylinder on the Schofield is a little bit more complicated, a screw needs to be rotated or removed, and the latch assembly must be rotated up as can be seen in previous photos to remove the cylinder for cleaning.
The bushing is just as prominent on the NM#3 as on all the Smith and Wesson #3 Top Break revolvers.
Notice the helical clearance threads on the arbor, as well as the interrupted thread at it's front. That thread is engaged when rotating the cylinder off the arbor.
When assembled, there is pretty much the same amount of horizontal separation between the barrel/cylinder gap and the front of the bushing as with the Schofield model.
My pair of New Model Number Threes can go through an entire CAS match without binding, and without needing any attention or cleaning at all during the match.
However, I will endeavor in the future to state that it is just my opinion that the Italian reproduction Schofields tend to bind up more quickly than the originals.
Big Lube Bullets: Since they have been mentioned, let me say that they are the only bullets I use in my Black Powder cartridge rifles and revolvers. I experimented for years with different combinations of bullet types, lube cookies, and every configuration imaginable to get my revolvers, and particularly my rifles to perform well with Black Powder.
In this photo, on the left is one of my Black Powder 44-40 loads, on the right is one of my Black Powder 45 Colt loads. Next to each are the Big Lube bullets I use in them. One of each bullet has been stripped of its lube, revealing the huge lube groove that contains enough SPG lube to keep the barrel of a rifle coated with soft lube for its entire length. These bullets will perform exceptionally well in a revolver too, they are all I use in my Black Powder revolver cartridges.
I use the same Mav-Dutchman 200 grain Big Lube bullet in both my 44 Russian and 44-40 cartridges.
So to Dave T: I suspect your new to you Model 2000 Schofield will do just fine with Big Lube bullets. I use the Big Lube PRS 250 grain bullet in my 45 Colt loads, I use the 200 grain J/P 200 bullet in my Schofield loads. Your choice. Disclaimer: I designed the J/P 200 bullet a number of years ago when there was no Big Lube bullet that weighed less than 250 grains for 45 Colt. I do not receive any money in any form for the design, it was donated to the Black Powder cartridge shooting fraternity and it has become a very popular bullet style. Next time you want to find some 45 Schofield brass, check out Starline. I always buy all my BP cartridge brass from Starline and they seem to always have 45 Schofield in stock.
Finally, a note about the 45 Cowboy Special cartridge, then I will shut up. Left to right in this photo are a 45 Colt, 45 Schofield, 45 Cowboy Special, 45 Auto Rim, and 45 ACP.
The 45 Cowboy Special was developed probably close to twenty years ago now, by a friend who use to go by the alias of Adirondack Jack. It was developed in response to those Cowboy Action shooters who were trying to load down the 45 Colt to recoil about like a mild 38 Special, so they could shoot really, really fast without having to deal with much recoil. The 45 Colt does not do all that well because of the huge amount of empty space inside when loaded with very light loads. AJ designed the 45 Cowboy Special to have the same rim configuration as the 45 Colt, so it could be chambered and fired in any revolver chambered for 45 Colt, but it was the same length and had the same internal powder capacity as the 45 ACP. Smokeless data for 45 ACP can be used with the 45CS because they have the same internal powder capacity. Of course those same gamers who were trying to load the 45 Colt minimally had to do the same with 45 CS in order to achieve about the same recoil as a 22LR. (Just kidding). Notice the 45 Auto Rim cartridge has a different rim configuration, the rim is .090 thick as opposed to .060 with the others, to allow for not using moon clips for revolvers chambered for 45 ACP, such as the Colt or S&W Models 1917.