How to load a muzzle loader

Well, #8 is not considered safe practice.

The practice of short strokes on the ram rod will cause the power to be packed, but will also cause the powder to get crushed so that FF becomes FFF or worse FFFF.

Nobody would put flash powder down the barrel before the ball, because it burns much faster.

Recommended practice is to push the ball until it is seated and do it in one stroke. You ram the ball 3/4-ish the way down and have a final single stroke to seat the ball and then you stop. No bouncing the rod, no extra jabs to firmly seat the ball, just stop.

I know it is an NMLRA chart, but it is old. We started teaching the single push to seat a decade ago. It wasn't published as the proper practice till later.

NRA TC

How to load a muzzle loader - guide