I've been playing RDR2 and all the guns seem to be spitting smokeless ammo. Which is reasonable by 1899. But the majority of the guns are designed for blackpowder ammo originally. I'm wondering if that's true to life or if older cartridges that stayed in production stayed smokey.
Since metallic cartridges became prevalent, after the Civil War, there's been a huge variety of them, and there has been a huge variety in what survives and it what form, so this is no a simple question. But we could have three rough categories, and though I can't list everything that would go in each, I can give some examples .
First, things that were smokey, and when smokeless powder came in, stayed smokey:
Most of the military cartridges circa 1880- like 11mm Mauser, 11mm Spanish, 10.4mm Vetterli Vittali, .455 Martini Henry.
Big game hunting cartridges like 44-100 Ballard, 50-110 Sharps, 44-95 Peabody , 450 Rigby
Things that were smokey and changed to be non-smokey and at least somewhat higher pressure:
303 British, 32-20, all shotgun shells, .22 LR
Things that were smokey and changed to be non-smokey but not much higher pressure:
45-70, 44-40, 38 S&W
There was at least one that could not make up its mind: 32 Winchester. Circa 1899, it was possible to buy smokeless ammo but very hard to buy smokeless powder for reloading it. Winchester had the bright idea of creating a cartridge that would be loaded in smokeless, but could be reloaded with black powder and still work. It did not work very well loaded with either.
Also, if you buy 45-70 or 44-40 now, though they are generally loaded low pressure for all the antiques made for them they can be re-loaded differently, if the guns are made to take the pressure. Loaded hotter, 45-70 can go from being an adequate deer rifle cartridge at closer range to something for dangerous game, like cape buffalo.
Last- as far as what amount of smoke would be coming from the average gun circa 1899: there were still quite a lot of black-powder guns around, because there were a lot of them made; and their ammo. Most militias would be using Trapdoor Springfields, after the US Army went to smokeless powder Krag rifles in 1890, and would use them until the Spanish-American War and the Militia Act of 1903 made them stop- and then those rifles and a lot of surplus black-powder ammunition went on the market. At about the same time, the Swiss dumped their obsolete Vetterli rifles and huge numbers were imported to the US and sold at very low prices- along with the ammunition. So, although smokeless powder ammo very quickly became common, black powder did not just disappear.
Frank C. Barnes: Cartridges of the World