My apologies to the OP but I find this thread depressing. What a sad outcome to such a historic and powerful cartridge.
Although the 45 Colt was loaded with a number of powder charges in the 19th Century the weakest of those was 28g of black powder behind a 250g bullet. This was the military load before they adopted the 45 Schofield round, with the same powder charge in the smaller case behind a 230g bullet.
The original load of 40g and a 255g projectile proved to be too much for the army but it was sold on the civilian market initially and re-introduced in the mid to late 1880s. Other civilian loads were 32g, 35g, and 38g.
The 38g and 40g loads pushing 250-255g bullets at over 900 fps, were the most powerful handgun cartridge available in the US until the introduction of the 357 Magnum in 1935.
Compared to that history the so called "cowboy" loads are something of an embarrassment.
YMMV,
Dave