Loading Procedure

[Daryl]

What you did, Pete was not throwing the rod on the ball 3 times. That was the military rule & was done with a steel
rod. Big difference. Too, the steel rod, seems to me, was enlarged and cupped on the end, so it would not flatten the
ball but would most certainly compress the powder, changing it's consistency in shooting. I mentioned all of this to
simply note some 'people' are "teaching" beginners to do this to the point the wooden rod is almost bouncing out of
the barrel. THAT is not good & possibly dangerous in hot climates.

[OldMtnMan]

Yes, you're right. Another thing I thought of the way I did it. There's some overlap of the patch material on the top of the ball. That would help cushion the blow a little bit.

[Darkhorse]

I've never knowingly bounced my ramrod on a ball. I have loaded and shot so many times that I just seat the ball and know when it's right or not.
I don't think it's a real negative thing to do though.
Once on a raw and windy day in November I was easing along an old logging road when a doe ran across the road in front of me. I got ready just in case and shot a doe when it followed the first. I immediately loaded my rifle and found I could only seat the ball a little over halfway. I walked to a nearby tree and holding the RR with my left hand and the rifle in the right I struct the tree with the rr until my line on the rr showed it was fully seated. That's what I call "hammering in the ball".
On another day while hunting in a swamp bottom I shot a buck. I tried loading my rifle and could'nt start the ball. The butt just pressed down into the mud every time I applied pressure. I ended up standing on a fallen oak and was able to finish loading there.
Shoot enough deer and you experience a lot of stuff. I wouldn't think twice about bouncing the rr a little bit.

[OldMtnMan]

I'd probably swab before doing that.

The term bouncing is done after the ball is seated on the powder. It's just a different way to compress the ball on the powder. Not to get the ball down the bore.

[Hungry Horse]

IMO, crud rings come from patch lubes with ingredient that won’t tolerate high heat. I have shot many trail walks that have between twenty, and thirty, shooting stations without swabbing, using bear grease, or venison tallow, or a combination of the two. Most of the modern patch lubes have one or more ingredient in it that won’t tolerate high heat, and or pressure.
 The other crud ring creator is a rough bore at the breech, from shooting very heavy charges, or phony black powder substitutes.

 Hungry Horse