Daryl, I suppose 8 seconds would seem like 8 hours if you have a wounded charging moose coming at you.
I see you have your ball in your cartridges. Do you just use the paper as your patching or is the ball patched. I've seen some Brit cartridges made from greased lined where there was a string tied just below the ball and another atop the ball.
The pointed end is torn off, then shoved into the bore, small end down, ball up. I used 'about' .003" paper- 2 wraps, with a .682" ball. They were very snug in the bore & very accurate as well.
I had to choke up on the rod (the end 1 to 2" below my hand) to get them started, but once into the bore, they went down easily with one push. The paper wadded up between the ball and the 165gr. 2f charge. I used both pure lead and 1970's WW alloy (still have 60 pounds of that) for the balls.
Due to the low pressure generated in the large bore rifles, paper ctgs. work very well and do not blow past the paper, thus igniting it. Nothing but confetti - or chunks of paper ejected.
Friends here have tested these down to .50 cal, but I think .54 was the smallest they worked well in. It's all about fit, pressure, depth and/or maybe shape of rifling.
IIRC the English army at one time, used to issue (starting) pegs made of iron to help load the Baker rifles(or rifles earlier to those). At one time a loading "mallet", was issued and carried by every second soldier of the rifle company. It had a short starter rod of about 10 to 12" as a handle for getting the patched ball well down the bore before the rod was used to seat it. I doubt very much is this 'technological advancement' was 'lost' on the Americans. By the 1850's Remington was selling barrels abroad with turned muzzles for "Guide Bullet Starters". There is a photograph reprinted in Firearms of the American West 1803-1865. The photo is dated 1853 I think and is of the San Francisco Gun Club Target shooters. Evey one of them has a Remington (or other) barrel turned for a guide bullet starter.
These are mine. I like the taper - easier to handle and they sit in the muzzle, draining powder into the breech while I pull the rod out of the pipes.