I need to look at Graham Wright's and the Hoyem books again, but pretty sure 230gr was the original weight (although as I understand it, others have been able to achieve good accuracy with heavier bullets). Re paper patching, I just got a copy of a cotemporaneus catalogue (1887-1890) reprint from Cornell and there is mention of Holland's semi-smooth rifling (which this appears to have). They purport reduced fouling and no need for PPing, describing a grooved lead bullet.
I have a couple of factory rounds and I'm inclined to pull one to see.
I'll be digging more into this and will share what I learn. Several people here have a lot of experience with this cartridge and have been kind to share their wisdom.

Back to TH44's comments- this was the first occasions I've had to contact H&H although have traded emails with Simon Clode and a lady at WR in the past. I've been pretty impressed with the attention and timeliness of their responses. Clearly this is an old rifle and I'm not a player for any of their new offerings. Just the same, I was left with the impression that my ?s were equally important. Pretty cool of them.