Muzzleloading Safety - this could happen to you.

CLICK HERE FOR LINK to a good article about muzzleloading safety.

Flintlocks: How to Shoot Them

CLICK HERE FOR LINK to an informative article "Flintlocks: How to Shoot Them" by Paul Vallandigham.

 *** WARNING ***  Please note that one of our most knowledgeable readers says "This article has information that can be interpreted in the wrong way & thus be the cause of an accident.  Leaving a gap between ball & charge for the purpose of supplying more oxygen is not common sense, and it can result in the barrel bulging or exploding.  One is better off ramming too hard than too little.  Modern black powder does not crush easily outside of a mortar & pestle.  Experienced shooters may understand those instructions, but a novice is more likely to err on the light side after reading that info rather than the firm side."

We agree, unfortunately there are a few words in this article like "Leave extra air" & "extra oxygen" which could be interpreted wrong by an inexperienced shooter.  What the author really means in the article is to seat the ball on the top of the powder at a consistent depth with a marked ramrod, but don't ram it down too hard and crush the powder.
However most muzzleloader shooters recommend seating the ball firmly against the powder, even if it does crush some of the powder.