My old pancake wouldn't move it.

This was a double load. I had forgotten it was loaded and loaded it again. This despite the fact that I have my ramrod marked to show loaded status. A mind is a terrible thing to waste LOL

I found the one that hit the edge of the bench right away but I didn't find the second ball until months later.

Pete-I agree with you on all counts. It amazed me to see and hear what some folks did with their ML's.

I bought a lot of used ML's in my day. One thing I would always do prior to purchase was to use the ramrod to try to judge if there might be a load in there or not. I was looking at a nice TC one time and did the ramrod thing and found it had a load in it. Showed the seller who promptly turned white, then red. Wound up buying that gun for 1/3 of what he was originally asking. Went home, took out my ball puller and voila! Cleaned 'er up and sold it for a really decent profit.

Moosetrot

we teach the kids , you pull the ram rod and check it for loaded as the first thing you do

just like you would do if someone handed you a rifle or pistol. open action check clear then still treat it like it is loaded.