When Fetterman, in 1866, violated his orders and ended up getting himself and all his men killed, his troops used muzzle loading rifles. Two civilian scouts with him had the latest .44 rimfire Henry rifles and made a great showing until they ran out of ammo, then they also were killed.
In tracing the empty cases in grass and snow, there were huge glouts of blood in front of where they were shooting, and lots of dead horses. The Indians had carried off their dead. I would not want to be hit with even one of these.
Then there was the Civil War Kentucky man who shot dead 12 guerillas with 13 shots from his .44 rimfire rifle.
That was before people knew that the round was too wimpy to be taken seriously in a rifle.