Ok, I just went and got the .50 cleaning jag out of my kit. I was actually able to find some of the old lubed patches that I was shooting with and ran a couple down the barrel with the jag. They were etremely hard to get down the barrel. Infact, I paid extra close attention while I was pushing the patched jag down the barrel. although it gave a pretty hard resistance the whole way down the barrel, there was 2 spots were the patched jag got stuck for a short second or so and moved past. I noted that it kept getting stuck in what seemed to be the same spots. Every patch came out clean. I ran a 50 cal brush down through it over and over. Probally 50 times or more back and forth. I soaked up a dry patch with (black off cleaner ) and the patch that was soaked with black off (only) slid down the barrel with great ease ( very great ease ) I also noticed that the patch had a little bit of black on it. So I did what you said and doubled the patch, I soaked both with Black off cleaner and ran it down. It was snug but not as snug as the lubed patches were. When I pulled out the double patch, I could not believe my eyes. There was what appeared to be black powder residue that was in the grooves, but it was hard like metal , but brittle. Was it possible that when the hawken was new, it had some special lube or oil inside the barrel that needed to be cleaned out before I shot it the first couple times? I never cleaned any of my other muzzleloaders right out of the box. I am hoping I didn't screw something up really bad. It seems that one of the areas that were getting stuck has broke free completely but the other area is still a but sticky with a doubled up patch, maybe I should keep cleaning it more to see if more of the black hardened material keeps coming out.