Sure, no problem. I shoot competition with the North South Skirmish Association. We're a competition shooting org that centers around American Civil War arms. We compete with pretty much anything that went back during the Late Unpleasantness. I have more than a couple guns for several classes of competition- Smoothbore, Musket, Carbine, Revolver. The groups I generally post are from one of my competition muskets. In the N-SSA, if you want to have a prayer of being competitive, you have to engage in load development and research and that means extensive testing into what works with your guns. As such, I've tested powders, caps, lubes, bullet designs, and sizing. In short, all the variables I can control within the rules of competition. I do my base testing at 50yd on a bench and bench method is a huge part of being consistent. Since our competition is all offhand, knowing how your rifle will recoil and where the point of impact is from the offhand position is extremely important. I use two types of sights but mainly shoot my P58 Enfield in competition. I sometimes shoot the 62 Colt but since the Colt has aperture sights, the "fog of war" on the range from shooting can make sighting uhmm, problematic, not so much with post n notch.
The basics of shooting minies aren't rocket science and we've covered them more than once- pure lead minies sized to .001 under measured bore size, real high quality black powder (often 3f but sometimes 2f), quality caps (reenactment caps are for blanks and not conducive to accuracy) and right lube applied the right way (I use a beeswax/lard/coconut oil/lanolin mix for most loads)
So here's a couple pix of some outstanding loads I've found-
Load data is in the pic, rifle is a 1st gen P58 Birmingham Parker Hale. Sights are post n notch. And yes, the flyer is the first shot, the next four are in that one hole. You will NEVER get this kind of accuracy and precision without paying close attention to the details and using methodical testing.
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Different musket, different bullet, different load. Musket is an 1862 Colt repop with aperture sights. Bullet is a Moose International Minie. Load data is in the pix, caps were RWS. The Colt doesn't seem to "throw" the first shot high. This group is a great example of having a too large flash channel. The flyer is a direct result of a broken nipple. There was a run of nipples that were heat treated incorrectly and they tend to shatter leaving a fairly large hole to the flash channel.
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Korean made "Zouave". I think it'll shoot just fine with this load
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This is a group shot offhand, rapid fire at 50yd from one of the "Zouaves" we use when teaching muzzleloading with the Scouts. Load is RCBS Hogdon sized .579, 45g 3f Scheutzen, Scheutzen caps, beeswax/lard. String was fired offhand, loading from the cartridge box, no wiping, just load, aim fire, repeat quickly.
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But to the original post, again, there are multiple threads on this stuff, "Search" is your friend. It's how I've stumbled onto quite a bit of very interesting information in my search for a good load for my guns. The information was a starting point, then consistent experimentation, observe, RECORD RESULTS, alter ONE variable, repeat. This method works in any muzzleloading or centerfire arm, only the details change. There's no rocket science, nor are there any real shortcuts.
