Seat the bullet to the depth mark on your ramrod (which you make the first time you load a clean barrel with the specific charge) then apply 40 to 50 pounds of pressure, IF USING PYRODEX. For other substitutes and black powder, not as much seating pressure is required. I am very much against "tapping" or pounding the ramrod onto the ball or bullet. The idea, for accuracy, if to fire as pristine a projectile as possible. Tapping or pounding deforms the bullet, reducing accuracy. In the movies, you often see the "mountain man" whanging away with his ramrod after the ball is all the way down. This is nonsense, and is never done by anyone who wants to hit anything!!

Keep yore powder dry!!