I am haveing the same problem.But after the 5th shot,,,I had to literally beat the ramrod with a block of wood to get it the last 4 inches... It is a real pain in the ass to do... I am useing .49 hornady balls and .010 patches... I am shooting low and to the left at 48 yrds..I adjusted the sights...Still hitting low and to the left..Is there a manual called,,Sighting in a ML for dummies...It is getting discourageing...If I shot at a deer I would blow it's legs off and then I would have to club it to death when I ran it down...