Hello all. Yesterday I got a chance to really shoot my Lyman GPR for the first time and had some difficulty getting it loaded.

I own the .54 cal flintlock version and was using Hornady .530 balls with a .005 patch. I figured a .005 "clearance" would suffice. But even after cleaning the barrel, I still had to put a lot of pressure on the ramrod to get the ball to go down. I was using pre-lubed Ox-Yoke Wonder Patches. The temperature was not very hot (for us), it was about 85 degrees at the time.

Should I use a smaller ball? Maybe a .520 with a .005 patch?

Thank you.