Get a hot shot nipple made of stainless steel, and use a hotter cap. I like the RWS 1075 Dynamite Noble or the CCI MAGNUM (make sure they are not the standard as they can cause problems) #11 caps. I never had much luck with Remington Caps. I use them as a last resort.

I was shooting Pyrodex RS out of a New Englander yesterday with perfect ignition. Also when you hunt with it, if you are leery of the powder, pull the nipple and put a few grains in the bolster and then replace the nipple. It will go off. Keep your powder dry, and you should have real good ignition.

Although, a friend shoots a Tradition's Hawkins rifle and it will not shoot Pyrodex for some reason. We changed out the nipple and used new Pyrodex but misfires were very common. I changed him over to a pound of Goex 2f and it solved all his problems.

As for your Elephant powder, that was one powder I had terrible luck with. It was hard to light, under powered, and fowled out the rifles faster then any other powder friends and I ever shot. In fact we disliked the powder so much, we finally took the pound we had and made flash lines for our amusement.