Wow, i must be a lucky guy, My sidekick is pretty easy to start and seat sabots. As a matter of fact, I usually do not have to use a short starter at all, I can start the bullet/sabot to flush with the barrel with heavy thumb pressure. Although, I do have pretty tough fingers and thumbs! after starting them by thumb, I usually just choke up on the rod(firm grasp about 4 or 5 inches above the muxxle, and send the bullet home with smooth short pushes(i.e. I choke up 4 or 5 more inches at a time until the bullet/sabot is firm against the powder charge. With app shockeys gold powder I can do this all day without even patching between shots.