My first worry wasalso, I was using too much of the lube. I would saturate the pillow tick until you could actually see the material absorb the lube. Perhaps that was too much. I am not sure. I also was cutting the patch at the muzzle. I have not used a store bought patch in many years now. Next time out I want to try some cornmeal as a wad, and also try reducing the load just to see what happens. I always have my moosemilk to fall back on should these other changes not improve the groups.