Mike,
While a lot of people believe that no break-in is required for muzzleloaders, my experience tends to make me disagree. My Knight USAK got where it shot pretty good groups (around 2"
once I figured out what loads it liked. But it wasn't until I spent a day shooting patched round balls out of it that it really became a "tack driver". Now clover-leafed holes are the name of the game.
This makes since too if you think about it. All barrels tend to have rough spots and edges when new. Usually, regular shooting will bring these spots down to acceptable levels - but that is when using metallic bullets. When shooting plastic sabots, it is the sabots that take the abuse from the rifling and not vice-versa. Shooting round ball or regular conicals puts metal to metal back into the equation and helps with the break-in.
An alternative to RB or conical shooting would be to work the barrel with some Flitz or J-Bs bore paste to smooth the rough/high spots. Personally I prefer using the round balls as it is probably easier on the bore, plus..............shooting Round Ball is just plain FUN!
"Every moving thing that liveth, I give unto you as meat" (Gen 9:3)
Trust God..........but keep your powder dry!