I have two .62 cal. roundball rifles that can be hard on patches when loaded up for elk hunting and solved the problem by punching out a wad from the papermache cartons eggs come in. Seated over the powder with the patched .610 ball lubed with bearoil (or any of the good commercial lubes) has given me no burnouts or torn patches. Used this last year to take a very nice elk with 85.0grs of Swiss 2ffg. Had a nice shot at 45 yards that took the top of the heart and lungs, penetrated completely the off shoulder and was recovered under the skin. The bull never took a step and after about 5 to 8 seconds just collapsed. Tried to raise his head and shortly thereafter twitched his hind leg and died. The great thing was I called in three bulls and as they all were 6X6 and same body configuration, Between 35 and 50 yards, I just took the one that presented me with the best shot. This was a reproduction of the 1829 Purdy caplock photographed in McIntosh's "the big-bore rifle". It only weighs seven and a half pounds so too heavy of a load recoils plenty much. At 85grs the accuracy is excellent and seems to be enough for big bodied elk. My flintlock early Hawkin fullstock also shoots very nicely with 90 to 95grs of Swiss 2ffg and the papermache wad between the powder and patched roundball. It seems to work for me, give it a try.