I’d use bh209. I shot a bunch out of my optima with the standard breech plug and bh209. Since it’s grains, I measure it on my own. Cabelas usually has the leading tubes for like 5-10$ for a pack of 3-6.

Depending on what powder you use is really going to dictate your cleaning.

If using something clean like bh209, I just clean it like any other gun and run a dry cotton swab down the barrel as the last step.
If it’s pyrodex, real BP, or a dirty powder, I’d buy a shitton of cleaning wipes and foaming barrel cleaner. You can also just clean the dirty ones up with soap and hot water, but my wife frowns upon me cleaning guns in the bath tub.

As previously mentioned, get you a started rod. Also get the tip that matches your bullet. You’ll be using a bit of force to get the bullet started so you don’t want the flat tip meant for a round ball to smash a ballistic tip you may have.

When I hunt with my muzzleloader, I usually just carry what you see in the pic below.

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