Most of these gentlemen here have been shooting BP longer than I and are older than I am.
That being said, I love shooting my pair of Pietta 1860 Colts. I use .454 diameter ball, wonder wads under the ball over 30gr of FFFg powder, and #10 Remington caps.
I put a dab of TC Bore Butter on the Arbors of each revolver.
I started shooting a Pietta NMA 1858 before buying the 1860's with ball over Pyrodex Pellets (no lube at all). It worked fine but quickly gummed up.
Not too long ago I bought 1k wads and 1k 454 ball from DD4lifeusmc, overseas work keeps getting in the way of shooting.
What am I getting at - you should be fine to shoot ball over powder this time but to keep barrel fouling down - try some wads next time or down the line.
That being said, I love shooting my pair of Pietta 1860 Colts. I use .454 diameter ball, wonder wads under the ball over 30gr of FFFg powder, and #10 Remington caps.
I put a dab of TC Bore Butter on the Arbors of each revolver.
I started shooting a Pietta NMA 1858 before buying the 1860's with ball over Pyrodex Pellets (no lube at all). It worked fine but quickly gummed up.
Not too long ago I bought 1k wads and 1k 454 ball from DD4lifeusmc, overseas work keeps getting in the way of shooting.
What am I getting at - you should be fine to shoot ball over powder this time but to keep barrel fouling down - try some wads next time or down the line.