I do have a question, maybe I'm doing something wrong. When I swabbed the barrel a few times with a patch with alcohol/windshield washing fluid the SSB's got very hard to load.

Two questions Rick

Are you using denatured or rubbing (isoprophyl) alcohol?
Are there additives in your windshield solvent ... ie... like for removing bugs or additional anti-freeze protection properties?

Well maybe I lied... I have one more question

How often were you swabbing?