I do it in one step - wad and bullet go down together. It would be interesting to shoot two five-shot groups doing it both ways to see if a difference can be detected.

Interesting point Chet. The last time I shot the .58 GM/TC Hawken I was using felt wads. When I got home and compared the targets to some I shot earlier without wads, the ones without wads were better. I wonder if the wads were not going down flat as I seated them with the patched ball?