This is an old thread, but worth restarting. I have been shooting these pistols for 30+ years and have owned many, and shot apart 3 or more Colt brass frame BP CB replicas. The cylinder pin will pull out of the frame on the brass framed Colts, if fired with full power loads. The first one I tried shot apart almost instantly after a few cylinders of use. A brass framed Remington will also stretch at the frame after a lot of use, but will take a lot longer to shoot apart. What will happen with the Colts is, the gun will shoot apart enough that it fails to fire, because the hammer is bottoming on the frame and not smashing the cap and igniting it. The usual fix is then, to weld or braze up the hammer face, then it will start firing again. But continued firing will eventually cause the cylinder pin to pull the threads out of the brass frame. The gun literally falls apart in your hand, or fails to cock due to jamming. I had one shoot the barrel assembly right off the gun with cylinder pin and wedge attached, and fall on the ground in front of me.
This is why you should only buy a steel framed Colt replica, or Remington top strap design. The Ruger is the best of all due to high quality steel alloy used in the frame.
This problem presented a challenge that I decided to address a few years ago. What I did was, drill the frame of a brass Colt revolver, and press in a roll pin to hold the cylinder pin threads to the frame. I used this mod on 3 different pistols, and it worked very well. The first one was pinned from the side loading chamfer of the frame. The next 2 pistols were pinned from the top through the hammer channel in the frame, vertically. Taking it one step further, looking at the design flaws, the last pistol was pinned vertically AND a hardened aluminum plate bolted to the bottom of the frame and barrel, just ahead of the trigger guard front mounting screw. This plate was only as thick and wide as the trigger guard, and used the same screws as the trigger guard. The frame and barrel were d/t and the screws countersunk just like the triggerguard screws are. That Colt brass frame gun was very strong and could withstand repeated endless firings of full cylinders of 3F powder, with no ill effects or damage. Cleaning after firing just required removing the 2 screws holding the bottom support strap on.
Having said and done all that, a cheap $85 Navy Arms kit 1858 Remington, that I bought at Kmart in early 1980's, made by Fillipietta, was my first c/b pistol. It has literally 1000's of full cylinder chamber rounds fired through it and hasn't budged a bit, in 30 years. The Remington design is inherently stronger and requires no additional bracing or pinning.
As good as the Ruger pistols are, the Remington is certainly strong enough, and in many respects the Ruger is overkill and exceedingly expensive for a bp c/b shooter on a budget. The Ruger is basically a high end c/b pistol. The only real advantage it has over a Remington design, in actual use, is some added cylinder powder capacity, and adjustable sights- but you can add adjustable sights to a Remington.
The Remington 1858 is hard to beat, it's the best bang for the buck, and the first pistol I'd recommend to a beginner c/b shooter. The Colts are sexier looking, somewhat weaker by design, but also ok providing they have steel frames. The brass frame guns are basically just a cheap gun, somewhat like a Jennings 22 semiauto pistol is- you are going to have problems with a brass frame gun. Shooting 10 grain loads of blackpowder because the gun is weak, is like shooting a cap gun. The real fun starts at 30-40 grains of powder.