while a fair number of my fellow posters all want to blame the patent breech it's probably not totally the culprit. I own several of each and had just as much of your problems with each one. being new to this and not having any local help or no internet to consult I approached it just like trouble shooting any of the machines at work as a mechanic. The first thing was to pull the vent and make sure the channel was as large as it could be and still preserve the threads for the liner. then with a long ball burr on a dremel tool i worked on the inside corner of the flash channel of the patent breech making it not quite so sharp a angle. then I polished the inside of the liner and opened the cone and dished the pan side of it. These suggestions are if you have a t/c type patent breech (all of the snail mass produced hawkin type are of this style, or the cva style ) if you have a just vented barrel then you just need to look at the vent liner. to verify that its the liner pull the liner and install a plug 9 if you don't have a screw of the proper size wrap a couple turns of tape around your barrel pour your measure of powder down the barrel and seat it with out a ball now remove the tape and look at the powder is it all the way up to the outside ? if not you have found your problem and you may have to thump the butt on the ground before seating the ball some have to "pound" the lock with their fist after dumping the powder. remember that mas produced guns are just as good as any custom gun made or there wouldn't be so many of them around. If you haven't already done so check out Friendship there are lots of experts to be found there, but be aware of any advice that starts with its junk, get rid of it, buy only ******* brand !