Practicing something isn’t bad. Yep, the rod breaking did make it more interesting.I think it's better to learn how to do something by attempting it, and practicing it multiple times under controlled conditions, than having to deal with it for the first time in a real-world scenario, where an adverse outcome might have serious consequences.
Normally the barrel isn’t removed when dealing with a dry ball. With that said, you had a reason to take it apart, as you needed more leverage and needed to be able to put some significant force in pulling.
when you screwed the ball puller in, it may have expanded the ball a bit making it an even tighter fit. Hence the need for more force in pulling it out.
Since it is a pistol the grease option won’t be as messy due to the amount of grease you will use.
I would recommend getting the Co2 ball remover.
It will spit a 54cal ball out a good 10 yards or more… (yep, I’ve done the dry ball thing) I have also had similar results with the screw in ball removers with the exception of the puller pulled right out of the ball. That is when I bought the Co2 ball remover.
When you finally get the ball out clean the barrel reassemble the pistol, and go to the range and shoot it!!