HL: I don't find it that difficult. But it is time consuming. But what I have found that my rifle shoots more accurately with the paper patched bullets and I have far less lead fouling in the bore afterwards. Without paper patching I was getting significant lead fouling. It was driving me crazy. I could even notice the accuracy deteriorating on the range after as little a 15 shots.
The rifling on the Sharps is deep with sharp corners (no pun intended) on the lands and groves. When I would brush the bore after letting solvent set in there for a few mins I would run a tight patch down and you could see all the small flecks of lead on the patches. It would take an hour to get it all out.