Who shoots muzzleloaders?

I know a few of you do and I know James is building a smokeless rifle.

I have a .45 cal CVA Kodiak, an Accura 50 cal V2, an Optima V2 .50 cal pistol and a .45 Woodman Patriot .45 smokeless. I have a couple older sidelocks that I don’t shoot much anymore, but these listed get a workout at the range and during deer season. I’ve shot quite a few deer with the CVAs, the Patriot is relatively new to me but quickly becoming a favorite to shoot…. for maybe ten rounds, then it starts to get a bit punchy. I’ve taken as many deer with the pistol as with the others combined.

I shoot Blackhorn 209 powder in the woods, T7 3f granular at the range mostly. I’ve converted the breech plugs on all three CVAs to use vent liners, which gives a lot longer life than factory plugs and the consistency while shooting equates to some super good accuracy.

If you do muzzies, jump in here and lets talk about them.

I have three muzzleloaders. First is an 1860 Colt Army revolver that was made in Italy. Fun to shoot, lots of smoke and fire and sparks. But it’s the least accurate firearm I’ve used. If we were in a gunfight you’d be in considerably more danger if I just threw it at you. But it was interesting learning the ins and outs of a percussion revolver. Next I built a .50 caliber CVA “Mountain Rifle”, an approximation of the Hawken style. It’s percussion and has a very slow twist, 1 in 60, it handles round balls well but won’t stabilize longer bullets. The round balls have a terrible ballistic coefficient so it runs out of gas and accuracy beyond 75 yards or so. I did take a deer with it, standing broadside at 30 yards and he just dropped. Fun gun to shoot, that distinctive roar and a big cloud of smoke. Finally I have another kit gun, this was a 12 gauge shotgun sold by Navy Arms. Double barrel percussion. I like this gun a LOT. It fits me like a glove and I can hit with it. Many Pheasants and Grouse were dropped with that gun. Unfortunately the Italian made locks had a design flaw. Part of each lock was made from cast metal and fails eventually. Those locks are no longer made and it took a long time to find “old-new” replacement parts and it was expensive too. So that gun is now on the shelf and I had to learn how to hit with with modern shells.

SR

I have several. My favorites to shoot are my .54 flintlock and my .62 smooth-bore flintlock. Also a .50 and .54 side lock. and a T/c .50 inline and my double barrel 10 ga side lock so you can say I like black Powder.

Lol

I have an old pistol, I think maybe a 45 cal, that someone built from a kit. Never fired it. I also have an TC Omega that I have harvested a few deer with. I shoot Powerbelt’s and use the 777 pellets. I am confident to about 250 with my scoped unit. I did 1 shot drop a 10 point buck at 180 yards, with open sights before scopes were legal ! Impressed my self even !!! Of course the puff of smoke and then watch for the deer to be running away… never ran away. Got down and walked over and it laid right where it stood.

I have a Thompson/Center .50 cal, Bone Collector edition, with a good Nikon Omega 3-9×40 scope. The scope has a BDC reticle, which I don’t use, but it’s also camo, which is cool and matches the gun. I used it to kill a nice bear at 80 yards; went about 25 yards before dropping. You really focus on THE shot when you only have one chance at it. I’ve also carried it for Wis muzz seasons; 0-0 on that so far, but it’s nice to have an option for another season.
I won the gun from a fishing club raffle. Wife never got over how a $20 raffle ticket gun ended up costing >$500 with accessories!

I purchased an optima v2 long range about year and a half ago, love that thing. Have yet to harvest a deer with it but accurate as heck out to 200 yards shooting powerbelts with 150 grains of white hot pellets and a vortex scope on it. I have yet to practice past the 200 mark with it but I’m sure it capable. I do have an older wolverine as well, uses #11 percussion caps and have to use powder in that one. Fun shooting the smoke poles!

I have been looking at that cva optima v2. What does it have for a safety? My boy is left handed and the right handed crosbolt safety are a pain for him. We are in shotgun zone so smoke poles it is for us both seasons.
Is there any other muzzleloader options for left-handed shooters?

Cock and shoot. The hammer cannot fall on the firing pin unless the trigger is pulled and held and the hammer gets forced foreword. It’s a safe gun.
There are a couple Knight left handed, bolt options but they’re pricier than heck.

The Optima V2 is a super good entry level rifle. As a rule one can expect outstanding accuracy from them with simple loads, like with pellets and powerbelts. If one spends more time with the guns, using granular powder and sabots and pistol bullets even better results will be the norm. If you go the powder route I’d suggest you start with T7 in ffg and fffg granulations. Start with 80 grains of the fffg and 90 of the ffg. A 250 grain, .451 XTP pistol bullet or the 300 grain .451 XTP with a black sabot on either will deliver excellent results. You can work up 10 grains at a time to around 110, 120 grains and you’ll find the sweet spot somewhere along the way. If the plain black sabot loads tight after wiping the barrel after each shot try a crush rib black sabot. You’ll need to wipe the barrel with a damp patch [not wet] after each or every other shot using T7 or Pyrodex powder or pellets or true black powder. If you opt for Blackhorn 209 Powder you’ll need to get the blackhorn plug but you will not need to wipe the barrel between shots and you have several days worth of forgiveness on cleaning after you’ve shot the gun. Blackhorn likes a very firm tamp on the bullet and you’ll want to use shotshell reloading primers, NOT the muzzleloader specific primers.

On the home front, I have that Woodman Patriot dialed now and will be taking that to the woods at least 50% of the time. The Optima pistol will travel the other 50%.

What? 3 weeks until opener? I hope it cools off a bit. But I am ready.

Jimmy Jones wrote:

Cock and shoot. The hammer cannot fall on the firing pin unless the trigger is pulled and held and the hammer gets forced foreword. It’s a safe gun.

Sold!

We checked out his buck stalker on Saturday and I can’t believe the mess the pellets made! (I am sure they are too old) I really want to go back to the powder now again. He has falled a couple of doe with the buck stalker so he knows how to run them.
BTW the youth hunt starts on Thursday so have to make due with what he has for now.

Thank you for your help.

Brandyman….

I shot BH209 powder while hunting as it offers way more reliability and less fuss than any other powder. Plus it’s the most powerful of all the subs. With the exception of a couple proof shots just prior to the hunting season using BH 209, I shoot T7 fffg exclusively on the bench at the club I belong to. The T7 fffg offers identical grouping and velocities with the same identical bullet/sabot/powder charge size [110 grains by volume for T7 or 77 weighed grains, 110 by volume, of BH209. Everything is identical.

T7 fffg shoots so much cleaner than Tf ffg powder or the pellets. The crud ring that T7 is notorious for is substantially less shooting fffg T7 even when using the full powered primers used in shotgun reloading. You’ll get rid of a lot of the mess and fuss that comes with pellets and the ffg powder by shooting fffg.

I’d round up a pound of T7 fffg and a bottle of Bh209 powder and a powder measure. I’d sight the gun with the fffg, then fire a couple of proof shots using the bh and then go hunt with the bh. While the 8 ounce jug of bh will cost big time it should last for several seasons by using the t7 for general shooting and the bh for the woods.

@brandyman where are you located? I have basically a full bottle of T7 FFFG that I probably won’t use.
DT

Thank you, DT! No worries, we will not have time to get to the range before this weekend much less get that optima picked up.
Thank you for all the info. Once harvest is done here and i have some free daylight we will be messing with powders for sure.
I have a traditions that I have had for years. I like the accuracy even with magnum loads, but i have yet to fire on any deer.

50 CAL Lyman Great Plains Hunter 32 inch barrel , 50 cal Lyman pistol , 50 cal New England Arms , Savage 50 CAL Smokeless , custom 45/70 H&R converted to 45 cal smokeless . Love the smoke less muzzle loaders load them and clean at the end of the season .

Bought my first front-stuffer in 1972. Have owned more than I could possibly count. 45’s, 50’s, 54’s and 58’s…even had a Savage Smokeless model. My fav for many seasons was a 45cal T/C Hawken. It was pure poison to 125yds on whitetails. Have a pair of CVA Firebolts that are my current favs. One uses 777 and a 200gr SST. The other uses 777 and the 175gr PRB Dead Center. Wish thse Firebolts could use the BH209 powder. They will hangfire, sadly.

There it is…..

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