Hey fellas, I think I might be dealing with a real problem here. I purchased a .50 caliber Hawken muzzleloader made by Thompson Center some time ago. It has a 1:48 inch rate of twist. I have solely shot round balls out of it since I got it. I purchased round balls for it at a local gun show at the time. The round balls are made by the Buffalo Bullet Co. They measure .490 and the box says that they are swaged ( not cast ) I am using patches that are lubed that measure .010. I purchased the Hawken ( new in box, unfired ) When I brought it to the range I was a little taken back on how hard it was to push down the (patched ball) I own 4 other muzzleloaders and NONE have ever been that hard to load. I usually use sabots and conicals or maxiball styles in my other muzzleloaders and they have never had this much resistance pushing the projectile down the barrel. I use a starter to press all my bullets down on all my muzzleloaders then use the ramrod to finish pushing until it fully seats. I finally seated the patch and round ball and fired it. It fired beautiful and I went to reaload, the same thing, but this time it was a bit harder to load. I got it seated and fired it, again, beautiful. Feeling further resistance, I decided to clean my barrel just as I do with my other muzzleloaders, ran dry patch and brush and another dry patch then 2 pre soaked patches with ( black off muzzleloader solvent/ cleaner) until they came out clean and then ran 3 dry patches down until they came out clean and dry. I loaded the barrel again and started the ball and patch down the barrel. It was still as hard to push as the first time. I got it seated and fired it off, again it fired beautiful and was accurate at 50 yds. I cleaned the barrel again in the same manner and began to load it again. I started the patch and ball with the started and began pushing it down with the ram rod. This time the bullet felt harder to push than the previous times and got stuck about 3/4 the way down. I ended up breaking my ramrod and pullung the charge with one of my other ramrods. I took it back home, cleaned the gun, purchased another ramrod. The next weekend I brought it to the range, the same thing happened but only after 2 shots!!! This time my attempt at pulling the charge was unsuccesful and I had to bring it to the gunsmith. I told him what had been happening and he measured the barrel for me and I told him the size balls and patches I was using and he said that I shouldn't be having this problem. This is the 3rd ramrod I have broken and I now have a fiberglass rod that bends like crazy everytime I drive the patch and ball down. I am just wondering what the heck could be going on. I have talked to alot of guys that use .018 in there .50 cals with round balls. How can they use larger patches with no problem? I have also heard Thomson Center makes their Hawken model with shallow grooves. Could this be part of the problem?