I have the Lyman guide. I am trying to prepare to fire a Colt 1860 Army. I like to shoot every gun I buy. I want to shoot it safely. I talked to a gunsmith who told me not to worry about shooting it but he hasn't actually seen it.

1st Question... Should I take to gunsmith?

2nd Questiion... I am so confused about the ball diameter. Gunshop told me .451.. read elsewhere as high as 457. I am planning on using it all of maybe a dozen shots. Matter much?

3rd question.. Lyman says to fire with caps only to clean out the holes. How load are we talking? Can I shoot them in my house without too much disturbance? I have ignited smokeless primers in my reloading room (on purpose and by accident) before so I can't imagine it being much louder.

4th question... Gunshop guy sold me Pyrodex. Issue?

5th question.. Any tips on cleaning?

Thanks so much for any advice!

#1.   If it seems to function fine and line up, there should be no reason to take it to a smith.

#2 .451s should work well, SOME will take .454 balls, but .451's should be adequate.

#3.  I'd just shoot the caps the same trip out to fire the revolver.    Make sure the cylinder is clean from grease,etc. and see if the flash holes look clean.

#4.  Pyrodex is what I shoot in my Remington and my friends shoot in their colts.  RS will work (rifle) and P is recommended (Pistol).

#5.  Lots of ways to do it, check a youtube video.   I dunk my Remington in hot soapy water, run a brush down the barrel and chambers, blow off the excess water then wipe-down with oil.   Never had it rust or gum up doing it that way.

No idea about pyrodex.  Never used it.

You need to fire the caps to clear oil out of the nipples and cylinder.

It is going to be VERY loud, so do it outdoors.

When you load the cylinder the throats will shave off excess lead from a ball that is slightly oversized.  That isn't a big deal but it doesn't help accuracy much.

There are wads you can use between the powder charge and the ball, but I usually just filled in the face of the cylinder with crisco grease.  I applied it with a popsicle stick.  The grease helps reduce the chance of a chain fire in the cylinders.

Cleaning blackpowder anything is straight forward.  You want to use a lot of warm water.  I used to take the grips off and clean every area that could be exposed to black powder residue (which is pretty much everyone on the gun).  Once the gun is clean dry it with mild heat and oil the bore and cylinders.  Monitor it for any rust that may form a day or so later.

Never let the sun set on a dirty blackpowder firearm.

#1) Nah...

#2) Shaving lead when you seat a ball is a good thing.  A tight fitting ball does more to prevent double fires than grease on the cylinder face.  The grease just blows off adjacent chambers due to cylinder gap blow by leaving you with the tight fit to prevent fire from reaching adjacent chambers.  One of the big sources of double fires is uncapped nipples on loaded chambers.  If the chamber is loaded it must be capped when firing the revolver.  I use 0.454 and 0.457 in my 1860.  They both work about the same but the 0.457 is more difficult to seat.

#3) I don't bother w/ firing caps.  I just clean the chambers w/ alcohol before taking it out making sure the alcohol flows though the nipples to clear any oil.  Pipe cleaners are my friend.

#4) Pyrodex is more corrosive than real BP so you must definitely clean it before the sun sets.  I've frosted my bore in the past just letting Pyrodex sit for 6-8 hours on a humid day.

#5) I use the kitchen sink I dunk everything that is going to be cleaned in soapy water and scrub it with a toothbrush / bore brush.  I dry it as well as I can w/ paper towels.  Then I place it in my oven preheated to about 180° for about 10-15 minutes to dry all the crevices.  Then I oil liberally.

If I'm shooting it next week I just clean the barrel and chambers and the exterior of the gun when shooting real BP and leave the action for later.  If I'm not shooting it for quite some time I'll disassemble the action and give it a thorough cleaning and oiling before putting it away.  I'm not sure I'd let the action set w/ Pyrodex.   If I'm not disassembling the action I just wipe it down w/ a damp cloth and apply oil liberally.

A day or two latter I'll check for rust and wipe off my liberal application of oil so it's just a thin film of oil.  I've never found rust.  Just the light etching of the bore when I used Pyrodex.  I went right back to real black and I haven't had a problem again.  I think the corrosiveness of real black is overblown.  It is corrosive but it's not like dipping the gun in acid.

Be prepared for it to shoot 9-12 inches high at 25 yards.  BP revolvers can be quite accurate as long as the fouling is kept soft.  This is where the lubed wads or greased chamber mouths prove their worth.

You want the heaviest grease you can find on the cylinder pin.  I use a very thick wheel bearing grease and get about 60 shots before cylinder rotation is too stiff to use w/o a cleaning.

Duelist1954 has tons more of BP vids.

I may have mentioned this here before; I am too old to have a good memory.

Try cleaning it with a solution of hydrogen peroxide, murphy's oil soap, and rubbing alcohol.
Mix 33%, 33%, 33%, or one part of each, equal amounts of each, in a container & stir
it up. Works amazing.

Don't take chances with chain fires, very good advice has been given related to that above.

Never tried Pyrodex before. It's like the old saying.....Once you go Black, you will never go back.

good advice so far.

My only suggestion.. if you are going to shoot black powder firearms - shoot them with black powder. Its half the fun.

Wow. Some great advice.

I have a lot to learn and think about. Thanks so much!

If you live near Pearland you could go to range with me. I have a Ruger old army that I shoot occasionally.

Really appreciate offer... Austin here. The only issue with TX is the distances!

OP, why do you question the safety of this pistol?  Is it not factory new?

If used, any experienced revolver shooter could look at it and tell you in under 5 minutes if it looks safe to fire ("mechanically good condition").

It's very used... 1862.

Shot both of my Pietta copies yesterday. Was ringing steel at 40 yds!!!  

Mommy!

Did we win or lose the Civil War?  Should not have cheated my way thru Gun History 101.

There were at least 620,000 losers, unfortunately. Seems no one won.

Shot my old army Saturday using conical and round ball. I think my powder measure is a 35 grain spout using fff

Finally got a chance to take the Colt out.

I ran 20gr of Pyrodex. LGS didn't have any size 11 primers. Only 10...They were a bit loose (PITA). 0.451" were way too small. .454 were a bit tighter but still not tight enough.

I was going to do the Lard thing.. but I ended up getting some lube and wads.

20gr was definitely not much at all. I was going to work up a little but those primers were a PITA. If I can get the right primer, I will try again.

I was still impressed with accuracy even though the barrel is a bit pitted.

Here is a pic of my girl:

So it's a genuine Colt made in 1862.  Pretty nice shape for a 153 year old revolver.  You should try to take some better pics.

Very nice! Now that you have shot it, clean it and put it away. Get a reproduction and shoot the
Pie out of it.

Agree.. Sorry. My camera on phone is going bad. Need a new phone.