I have a Lyman percussion gun that I gave up on because I couldn't get it to fire in damp weather. As it worked out, pretty much every time I had that gun out for deer, it was damp out. Well my younger brother has killed two deer in two outings with a borrowed gun so I can't let him show me up.

Anyway, I have a Knight and an Encore now and have really gotten the BP bug. So I now wish to get the Lyman going with patch and ball for next season. I was using pre-lubed conicals and have never used a patch. I understand you seat the ball in the center of the patch and ram it on down, but what size ball and patch do I need? I have seen balls at .490 so do you get a .01 patch or a .005 patch since the patch is basically doubled when surrounding the ball? Is 90 gr of powder sufficient? My goal is to take a deer within 70 yards.