I'm an admittedly beginner/novice muzzleloader. I picked up my first, a traditions 50 cal Hawken caplock muzzleloader ~3 years ago, and love shooting it. (and learned a few tidbits lurking here from you all over the years)
I have a couple questions that I'm wondering what you think:
a.) When I shoot my muzzleloader I usually find that I get a lot of fouling in and around the bolster… I've taken to dry-wiping with a patch between every shot because that seems to keep the barrel cleaner and give me more consistent shot pattern (at least for ~5 shots)
Do you think I'm just ramming debris into the bolster doing this or is this just the nature of the beast in terms of muzzleloaders? (BTW I usually shoot pyrodex R/S 75 grains)
It seems like after ~6-7 shots I start getting "hiccup" hangfires.
Of note, when plinking, I used to used to rest my firearm on my coat (to keep from scratching or chipping the beautiful hardwood finish) but found it would leave powder burns on my coat from near the area of the lock…
--I notice many muzzleloader users don't seem to wipe between every shot or with after 2-3 or more shots... Is there a reason not to wipe?

b.) I had an "incident" shooting this gun a few years ago. Was plinking in a gravel pit and managed to have a distraction while loading the muzzleloader. Recovered my senses and fired my shot; I was surprised that the gun kicked like mule nearly knocking my glasses off my head (whereas normally my Hawken gives a gentle love-tap for recoil) and noticed my bullet hole WAY off the target (which was surprising because I'd been getting a good pattern on the target) I reached for my ramrod to wipe the barrel and noticed it was nowhere to be found…
Long and short, I assume I accidentally left the ramrod in place, fired it with my bullet--to this day I've found no remains of the ramrod anywhere--I believe it may have simply ascended up to heaven. It's either that or the aliens got it…

So anyways, when you're all done snickering, I'm curious as to whether you think I've done any damage to my firearm.
There is no visible bowing/cracking etc… and it shoots with a good pattern. Do you think my "incident" may be in any way contributing to my issue described in a.) above?