This afternoon I decided to do a little experiment using my Pietta 1851 Navy in .44. It is completely stock, about 25 years old. The experiment was to simply see if it would fire. No biggie, until you realize it has been loaded and riding around in my old, beater hunting truck since at least last November, so about 5 months or better. My truck is parked outside in all weather conditions, and we had lows this past winter from -15° F to highs in the low 70's°. It has snowed a good bit, rained a lot, and a couple of times I forgot to roll up my windows. My gun has been in the truck this entire time (safely before someone gets bent, only been shooting 60+years). Last fall I loaded it with .454 round ball, 30 grains of 3f Swiss, and #10 Remington caps. No lube or wads at all, and it has been riding in the pictured holster. All six shots fired with authority and no hesitation. Didn't shoot over my chrono, but have no doubt they were full power. Blasted right thru a fairly new, treated 2x12 at 35 yards. The small holes are from a .22 rimfire handgun, the dents from a hot loaded (.330 rb, 18 gr. 3f Swiss) 1849 Pocket Model, fired from point blank range. The .44 had zero issues with reliability or with blasting thru the 2x12 lumber at fairly long range.