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First of all, I should say that I have very limited experience on this subject, however, I can say this: 40-odd years ago, I had the opportunity to use a Thompson-Center 50 caliber percussion Hawken. It was a lot of fun. Never the less, unless the powder was tamped down before seating the ball, it would misfire, again and again. It seemed to happen nearly everytime. I would get it to fire by pulling the nipple and trickling a small amount of very fine powder into the hole, replacing the nipple and firing. A few times of that routine was enough to get me to tamp the powder everytime after that, ending the problem. But what do I know? That was a long time ago in a world that seems to be gone but for an occasional dream. I figured that's why it was done in the film Across the Wide Missouri, where the ramrod ended up being shot through the Indian as there was no time to load the ball.
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