I don't understand why you are all shooting these huge loads.
Metallurgy was poor on the originals, but I think that the scaled up size of the Walker, making for the capacity for a lot of powder and having thin walls between the bores were causes for the failure of so many of them.
It seems like a waste of powder to me. I think the ball is out of the barrel while the big load of powder is still burning. I'm no ballistics expert, just an observer.
I have shot my Walker quite a few times, typically using a 30-35 grain load of fffg. Even with that load the falling loading lever is a hassle. If the design were successful the Dragoons and all of the other revolvers wouldn't have latches at the muzzle.
Don't get me wrong, being a native Texas I love the Walker for what it is, if not for what it does.
I have been fortunate enough to examine and handle several of them. Some of them were so valuable I wouldn't even touch them. At a gun show in Las Vegas I saw Walker's personal Walker, serial number 1020. It was picked up after Walker's death by another USMR soldier and brought back to the US. A few weeks ago I heard that sn 1019 had been bought an reunited with 1020. A fellow shooter in New Mexico once brought his Walker to the range at a monthly match. It was so worn the markings were almost illegible. It had repairs to some of the cylinders that had blown out, I hope at the Civil War Battle of Glorieta Pass. Another time in Las Vegas I saw a pair of Walkers with 95% finish. They were Company B, if I remember correctly, and about 5 serial numbers apart. After I recovered a bit and walked away I went back and asked the seller what he was asking for them, a rhetorical question, of course.....he said $250,000. As I was leaving he said he had the holsters under the table and I could see them if I liked.....I liked! Jelly-kneed is the best description for my condition. I saw 3 original Hawken rifles for sale that same day. For a buckskinner that was a real treat. I heard that the nicest one sold on that Sunday for $11,500. There was also a Winchester lever action rifle, an 1873, I think, that had interesting "turkey track" dedication on the receiver. That's engraving with zigzag motion of the tip of a knife point. The rifle was a gift to the doctor that cured the gift giver's son of diphtheria or some similar disease. It was signed "Bob Howard", Jesse James's alias when he was murdered. It was the gun show of a lifetime for me.
These shows were in the 1999-2001 time period. Those values were a fraction of what those pieces sell for today!
Back to the subject. After I load a bore in a BP revolver I put either a fiber wad or enough corn meal to just allow the ball to clear the barrel to revolve. I have heard that the wadding compresses a bit and lessens recoil, improving the accuracy and lessening the loss of muzzle velocity by shortening the time before the ball reaches the barrel.
Tell me again about the Easter Bunny.......