“Cartridge for the Russian version of the Schofield, I believe.”
There was no “Russian version” of the Schofield.
S&W’s Schofield single action revolvers were a minor sub-variant of their No. 3 Single Action. 5925 were produced to fulfill US War Dept contracts from 1875-77.
The great majority of the No 3 variants were produced from 1870 to 1912, for commercial sale and Imperial Russian contracts, and for a Turkish contract. Calibers of these ranged from 32 to 455 Mk II (British service cartridge). The plurality chambered 44 Russian, introduced in 1871 with the First Model Russian.
S&W preferred the 44 caliber over the various 45 calibers, which they produced only for special orders.
The Schofield was shoved onto the War Dept at the behest of George Schofield, USMA graduate and brother of John M. Schofield, also a West Point grad and highly placed in the post-ACW US Army (service academy cadets still learn some of his speeches). He insisted on incorporation of several pet “improvements” into the gun’s redesign/alteration, but there was no hope of widespread production and issue: before adopting Colt’s M1873 the Army purchased 1000 No 3 First Model Americans and wasn’t impressed. It sold off the Schofield variants as soon as it could.
The No 3 cylinder and frame were too short to accommodate the 45 Colt revolver cartridge that was already standard issue, so a shorter round was produced for service use, less powerful than that for the M1873 Colt Single Action but it could be chambered in the earlier sidearm.
So the Schofield was an afterthought.
‘Variant’ - ‘Version’... you say potayto, I say potahto.
Anyway, thanks for the background.