I am sure the Walker will function quite well as a primary hunting arm for medium game at moderate range and defense against large game at close range.
On the 1858 Remington forums, in a thread about the Cattleman Carbine, someone showed just what a properly packed and sealed chamber containing 35 grains of Pyrodex-P or Goex Olde Eynsford powder with a 240-grain Kaido conical bullet seated atop can do. Velocity of over 1100fps, and with that Kaido round, that is more than a .357 Mag factory load. Loads consisting of swaged lead ball and over 35 to 40 grains of OE or Pyrodex in the Cattleman rifle yielded 1600fps. That would put the 16-inch barrel carbine well into the .41 Magnum category in terms of range and stopping power.
Most people here who know me knows that I carry an 1858 defensively as well as a hunting arm. I've had a chance to procure a couple cans of Olde Eynsford, which is an absolutely wonderful propellant and delivers the same high energy and relatively low recoil as Swiss. OE and Pyrodex are almost the same when loaded properly and fired through a chronograph.
38 grains of OE and a 140 grain Hornady roundball yielded 1300 feet/sec when fired from the 8-inch barrel 1858. That is, well compressed, with the nipple sealed by a section of plastic hospital O2 tubing to provide water resistance as well as a deterrant against cap fragmentation and gas blast from ignition cone. That is absolutely amazing, and since OE and Swiss actually replicates the quality of the "sporting powders" made in the 19th century, this may be very close to the performance that the Civil War and Old West shooters got from their caplock revolvers. There is an article in one of Dixie Gun Work's Blackpowder Annuals which describe how a plainsman rode into a herd of buffalo and killed two of them with a Colt Dragoon. If the above recorded velocities were indeed what could be delivered from 19th century powders, such a feat would certainly be readily accomplished.
