Howdy
I will second the notion that a Remmie tends to bind up sooner than a Colt style C&B. The Remmie has no bushing at the front of the cylinder. In normal operation, fouling blasted out of the barrel/cylinder gap will tend to accumulate on the pin the cylinder rotates around. This is the main cause of binding in a C&B revolver (any revolver actually, particularly if shot with Black Powder).
Here is a photo of the barrel/cylinder area of one of my Remmies (that I bought in 1975). Yes, that is a cartridge conversion cylinder, but it does not matter, there is no bushing on the front of this cylinder either.
Here is the front of both a Remmie C&B cylinder and a replacement cartridge conversion cylinder. Notice the front of the cylinders is flat.
What this means is that the front of the cylinder, where the pin protrudes, is directly in line with the barrel/cylinder gap. Any fouling blasted out of the barrel/cylinder gap will be blasted directly onto the pin, and this is a major contributor to fouling.
Remington realized this design deficiency and they added a bushing to the front of their 1875 cartridge model, but the 1858 model and its replicas lacks this feature.
Here is a comparison of both a Colt style C&B and a Remmie. Yes, the Colt also lacks a bushing at the front of the cylinder, but there are two features that help keep the Colt shooting longer without binding. The first is, the arbor the cylinder turns around on the Colt is a larger diameter. This helps spread the fouling out more so it does not build up quite so thick as it does on the narrower pin of the Remington. The second feature is the helical relief cuts on the Colt arbor. These cuts provide a relief where fouling can be deposited without building up enough to cause binding. And the helical design of the relief cuts helps drive any fouling off the high spots and down into the grooves. You can see that I have cut some relief grooves in the cylinder pin of this Remmie. I fill them with Bore Butter before shooting the gun. Even with this adaptation, it does not help much and I usually have to clean the face of the cylinder of the Remmie after each cylinder full. I don't have to do that with the Colt style C&B.
With all due respect, I get a bit annoyed when somebody claims their technique (wiping bacon onto the front of the cylinder and the pin) is the 'correct' technique for doing anything. It is simply a workaround for an inferior design.
To discuss this point just a bit further, notice the fronts of these cylinders, left to right an Uberti Cattleman, Ruger Vaquero, and 2nd Gen Colt Single Action Army. The bushings on the fronts of these cylinders perform the function of deflecting BP fouling away from the cylinder pin. When loaded with a bullet with sufficient Black Powder compatible bullet lube, these guns can be fired for many rounds without the need to rub anything onto the cylinder face or pin to prevent binding.
These next two photos illustrate the concept. This photo clearly shows the prominent bushing on the front of my S&W New Model Number Three. Notice how far removed horizontally the barrel/cylinder gap is from the front of the bushing.
Here is a photo of the parts, disassembled. The bushing is pressed into the body of the cylinder, and it fits over the arbor which is pressed into the barrel assembly. Notice also the helical cuts on the cylinder arbor which will trap any fouling that manages to get past the bushing. This gun can be shot for dozens of rounds, without any attention at all to the cylinder, without wiping anything on the cylinder, and without cleaning anything, because it was designed during the Black Powder era with the lessons learned from earlier guns, like the 1858 Remington.
So. Having said all that, I do think the 1858 Remington design is an excellent gun for the modern Black Powder shooter. All that has to be done to keep it shooting is to remove the cylinder and wipe off the front and the cylinder pin with a damp rag every cylinder full or too. The design of the gun makes popping the cylinder out very simple and quick, which is why I like it for cartridge conversion cylinders. Much quicker and simpler to pop the cylinder out of a Remmie than a Colt style C&B.
My Remmies are also extremely accurate, easily just as accurate as my cartridge guns.
Yes, these are inexpensive guns, and there is not a whole lot of custom fitting that goes into them. The actions can wear and they can go a little bit out of time. And springs do occasionally break. But for the price, they are a great gun.