The Shenendoah lube is certainly worth a try. The fellow who developed LV is apparently not well and may not produce any more.
: Many people fairly new to muzzleloading seem to have difficulty with snug combinations. The reasonas are usualy mechanical. Too sharp a crown and too thin a patch and not enough lube.
: Since your bore dirties and is difficult to load, we look at your combination. The .010" patch is a dead givaway to the cause and root of the problem.
: I shoot a .400 ball in my .40 rifle. The ball is actually .002" larger than the bore's actual diameter. With that slightly oversize ball, I use a .019" thick denim patch. I can load the .022" denim patch tht I normally use with the .395" ball, but it's a bit tight and isn't needed for 5-shot, 1/2" accuracy off the bags at 50 yards. The rifle likes the .019" patch.
: Since you have difficulty loading, even with that thin patch you are using, this tells me the crown on the muzzle is too sharp to allow a thicker patch. Thin patches don't work - period. The crown needs to be radiused as I indicated before. Also, measure the borer, land to land. The ball will load easily with a .020" patch, if the ball is .005" smaller than the bore.
; The .010" patch is also too thin to hold enough lube to do the job it is supposed to do. LV has a 'secret' ingredient in it that coats the bore and makes any fouling from the previous shot easily pushed down on top of the next load's powder. The coating prevents the fouling from sticking to the bore. Now, we know your patch is not thick enough and won't hold enough lube. Also, patches must be WET, not just damp.
: Since you haven't re-crowned the muzzles, they are the main culprit to laoding a proper combination. There never was a production gun sold, that had a proper crown that would allow loading a snug combination. Over the last 35 years, I've looked at about all production guns and not one was crowned properly - custom guns, some, but still, not all.
; The proper crown allows the ball the swage slightly, and the patch to fold into proper creases to give a perfect fit every time. A poor crown rivets the ball, cuts the patch and won't allow a good thick patch to be used.
: I have heard of guys saying they can't load anything tighter than a .010" patch with a .495" ball in a .50, yet you can almost push that inside the bore with your thumb.
; I use a short starter, always have. The side of the starter's knob has a peg with a cup on the end. The peg sticks out about 3/8". I put the peg's cup on top of the ball and patch, then smack it with one blow on the other side, with my plam. The ball and patch goes into the bore 3/8" in perfect shape, no more than a ring on the surface from the brass peg. The long shaft, with it's cupped end is placed on the ball and with one smack, driven the length of the shaft - normally 5" to 6". From there, in two or three pushes, the ball and patch are shoved down to the powder with the same amount of compression of powder each time.
: Note that if you have to wipe the bore at any time during shooting, this means fouing is always building from the first shot, then the second etc and the bore NEVER maintains a consistant condition. If the bore never maintains a consistant condition, your accuracy will suffer. The patched ball must CLEAN the bore as you load the next shot. The saying goes "You clean der last, ven you loads der next." LV lube makes that so easy, I can't understand why anyone would have difficulty- other than that blood crown. Why, oh why, are people so resistant to improving their rifles. Pedersoli NEVER does this right - and other things as well. It doesn't matter if we're shooting .32's or anything up to the .77cal Bess. We shoot all day without having to wipe the bore - not once. That's up to 100 shots with never having to wipe and the 100th loads as easily as the very first one.