You need to experiment as to what works best under the REAL bullet. I heard you needed an overpowder wad or card beneath a conical bullet for decent performance. I bought some felt by the yard in the Walmart fabric section (about $1 worth), soaked them in lube (2:1 beeswax/Vaseline) and punched them with a sharpened 1/2" pipe nipple. They worked well. I also tried an overpowder card using cereal box cardboard.
That worked well too and is easier to carry around than lubed wads so that's what I settled on.
I use 2:1 Beeswax/Vaseline in the lube grooves of the bullet itself. I simply hand lubed a bunch and keep them in a ziplock bag. The lube gets soft in hot weather but never flows, it's just sort of like chapstick.
and use a short starter with a mallot to start the bullet into the muzzle. Yeah I know you are supposed to be able to use a rod only to get the bullet down the muzzle, but my CVA Optima Pro 1:28 twist has a tight bore and starting it with this makes the loading a lot easer.
I got into muzzleloading just as a change of pace from regular rifle/pistol/shotgun loading and shooting and I don't hunt (yet) so I was looking to load as economical as possible. Blackhorn 209 is the best BP sub, but it is also the most expensive. I worked up loads with Alliant Black MZ which looks very similar to the APP Shockey Gold "kitty litter". I've been able to meter it fairly consistently and got pretty good results. This is at 50 yards.
The tears in the targets are not keyholes, they are simply rips in the paper due to no cardboard behind it.
Hope that helps.
