as some of the others have already said, it sounds like your pre-lube patches are probably getting blown to heck. try some pillow ticking or #40 cotton drill, and some real BP. while i'm not condemning pyrodex in any way, my experience with it has been less than savory. if there is any degradation of your patch material, or patch/ball fit isn't good, pyrodex seems to accentuate the problem (i.e. burnt or blown patches = terrible accuracy) again, this is just from my own personal experience. good luck, and make lotsa smoke :thumbsup: