Welcome to- The Fountain Pen Community!

Well, I've finally gotten the 404C Stylist FP I acquired awhile back writing the way I want it to. It was working reliably, but the ink I had in it was on the dry side, and made it feel draggy to write with. Today I flushed the thing out, switched to a new-style empty cartridge (vs. the old poke-a-hole-in-the-plastic style), and filled that with Noodler's Black Swan in Australian Roses. As with the previous ink, it did take a bit of coaxing to get ink flowing from the section portion of the feed to the nib portion, but once it did the pen became a beautifully smooth bold writer with gorgeous shading.

It occurred to me during this adventure that the start-up problem *should* be negated by using a converter and filling through the nib: what has to be lacking is a liquid "bridge" between the two parts of the feed that just isn't happening with the cartridge, but should with a converter. It's also possible that shaving just a bit off the nib end of the section would allow the two parts of the feed to come closer together and allow the "bridge" to form more easily.