For almost 90 years, the Colt Dragoon 44 was the heaviest pistol load available (60 grains FFg powder), and it stayed that way until the .357 Magnum was invented in the mid 1930s. The Dragoon was a Black Powder (No-Case) hogleg. The Texas Rangers were the first to carry them as a service weapon, in the form of the Walker Colt, an early model of the Dragoon.
Here's a video of a scene from Lonesome Dove, and it's a story about old men and an old pistol getting some respect. Note the exaggerated motion needed to cross-draw that hogleg, but the actor does it perfectly. The only spoiler in that scene is that the pistol should have made much more smoke when it was fired.
The Colt Dragoon was also prominently featured in "True Grit", the first one with John Wayne.
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