Thanks Ron. I have to give most of the credit to the rifle though.

Thanks for the warning. I wasn't looking forward to the beating I would take from this rifle if I shot some conical's out of it anyway. The gun only has a solid rubber recoil pad on it. I had to put a slip on recoil pad on it to shoot it yesterday.

Here are a couple of the patches from shooting round balls with the .54 caliber Traditions Deerhunter. I don't see anything wrong with them. If anyone does, please let me know. To the left of them are a couple oy the MMP .451-.452/.54 caliber sabots I was shooting with the same rifle. The cups look a little stressed but they worked great. Any opinions or views on them would be appreciated.
The first photo is of the bullet end of both.

The second photo is of the powder end of both.

patches do have some holes in the centers. I'd try a wad between the patch and powder.

Pluckit,

Your patches look like they have a little bit of tearing around the diameter of the ball. That can be caused by minute burrs on the rifling lands. The one on the right looks like it has some burn through in the center...not sure as it almost looks torn. Looks like you could also go with a little bigger patch, you may not be getting enough material around the ball and some of the gasses may be blowing by because of it. I would expirement more with different patch size and different lubes and maybe try a .535 ball instead of a .530 before you give up on roundballs. One of my Renegades favors a .535/.015 patch combo. If you try some solid conicals, try some with and without a felt wad between powder and conical to see if you get a better group either way. You might also need to put the JB paste to that bore.

BPS

I think that .018 pillow ticking is a pretty thick patch
to use with a .530 ball in a Traditions rifle. The rifling
isn't usually deeper than .006 - .008 which may leave
some excess patch thickness.
Maybe that's the reason for the patch being cut,
the load is just too tight.
Have you tried a .015 patch?

I will say that it took a good smack on the bullet starter to get the ball and patch started in the bore. A few good smacks as a matter of fact. I never considered that the patch and ball were too tight. I guess I should find some thinner patch material and start all over again. I sure would like to get this rifle to shoot round balls. I would really be a happy muzzle loader shooter if I could.