Need to set up a CVA Optima V2

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Farmingdales Finest

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I was at an NWTF dinner last night and won the Optima V2. It is the one with the stainless barrel, Realtree camo and comes with scope mounts. I know absolutely nothing about muzzleloaders. I have hunted with a bow exclusively since the mid 90’s.

What do I need? I saw there is a starter kit that CVA offers, with my reading today I think I will get either a Vortex or Burris scope. I would have originally thought about a Leupold but I got a RX1200 in 2020 and it has crapped out in less than 3 years using it 2 months a year and only to confirm distance when shooting 3 D. I had a Bushnell Yardage Pro 500 that lasted 18 years and finally started crapping out below zero.

What bullets, pellets and other accessories does one need when starting out?

Thanks in advance.
 
I was at an NWTF dinner last night and won the Optima V2. It is the one with the stainless barrel, Realtree camo and comes with scope mounts. I know absolutely nothing about muzzleloaders. I have hunted with a bow exclusively since the mid 90’s.

What do I need? I saw there is a starter kit that CVA offers, with my reading today I think I will get either a Vortex or Burris scope. I would have originally thought about a Leupold but I got a RX1200 in 2020 and it has crapped out in less than 3 years using it 2 months a year and only to confirm distance when shooting 3 D. I had a Bushnell Yardage Pro 500 that lasted 18 years and finally started crapping out below zero.

What bullets, pellets and other accessories does one need when starting out?

Thanks in advance.
3x9x40 1in tube will fit that base. Locktite the screws in the base. How far are you planing to shoot. Out 100 yards or more? I would start with sabots and pellets and see how it groups.
 
3x9x40 1in tube will fit that base. Locktite the screws in the base. How far are you planing to shoot. Out 100 yards or more? I would start with sabots and pellets and see how it groups.
Having been a bowhunter my entire life I really can't imagine shooting more than 150 yards and probably much less for any animal. I have killed about 150 whitetails with a bow and the majority have been 12-15 yards and only one longer than 40 yards.

Any specific load combo's there is so many combo's it's kind of overwhelming?
 
Any specific load combo's there is so many combo's it's kind of overwhelming?
Keep it simple to start. Pick up some 209 primers, a jug of T7 ffg granular, a powder measure, some black .50/45 sabots, and a box of 240 grain .451/.452 XTP bullets or 300 grain XTPs and ample patches or chop a t-shirt into 2-1/4" squares. Maybe a few plastic charge vials.

Set the measure to 90 grains. Fill with powder, give a soft tap or two then top off and pour into the charge vial or the barrel. Put a bullet in the sabot and run it down the barrel until firmly set on the powder. Place the primer in the breech plug, cock and shoot. Run a damp patch down the barrel, flip and run again....this knocks down the crud ring that can make a second shot hard if not impossible to load. Now you're ready to shoot again.

Start at the 90 grains. You can increase the charge 10 grains at a time until you find a level that is as accurate as you feel you can get. I think most people find the sweet spot between 90 and 110 grains using the volume measure.

Allow time to clean the gun very shortly after shooting it. Don't wait days when using any black powder or sub, other than the BH209 sub which will allow some relaxed time to clean by a few days. Find a drill bit that fits into the flash channel which is the narrower hole immediately behind the primer pocket in the plug. Use this to hand turn and ream out the carbon in the plug at each cleaning and its easier to do before using any water to clean the plug. Some Dawn dish detergent and warm water will suffice as a cleaning solution.

This will get you on the range and in the field. After you've shot the gun and feel fairly comfortable with it you may want to check out the BH209 powder. Yes, its expensive, however there are some benefits to it that cannot be found with any of the blacks and other subs: cleaning can be delayed until the end of hunting season in most instances, as long as its not more than a couple weeks, as opposed to within a day of firing. The powder does not absorb moisture as blacks and other subs can be prone to. Using it will require the use of full power primers, not those sold as "muzzleloader" primers. Accuracy can generally be tightened up a hair using BH209. BH is solvent clean-up. not the water and the plug's flash channel will still need to be reamed, again before getting any solvent on the plug. In many cases, if not most, you can use the same T7 powder charge using Bh209 that you've gotten you best accuracy from. Velocity I feel is just a hair higher using BH than the same charge of T7. Definitely higher than Pyrodex. If T7 granular or Bh209 mare not locally available, I'd recommend true black over Pyrodex. Personally, I will not recommend using pellet powder of any kind feeling that it takes away any real flexibility in working you load levels up. Again , personally, all of my hunting inlines shoot BH209 in the woods using the same exact volume charge of T7 [fffg] that I shoot at the range. The fffg T7 gives me just a hair more umph.

Congrats on the win! Read a bit more here, get the goodies together and have fun shooting!

I'm just going to add here, when you hgit the range, stay focused on what you're doing! Don't go there to talk while you're in your loading sequence. If you get distracted, pop that breech plug and make darned certain the gun is empty before you dump another charge down the pipe. Als, carry some masking tape with you and when you fill the barrel with a load, leave the rod in there and wrap a layer of tape round it at the muzzle so you can tell if the gun is charged or not. This is a witness mark. Change the tape location each time you change the powder charge. When you reach a charge/bullet /sabot combination that you're happy with, make that mark a bit more durable by using some electricians tape.
 
Just go to muzzleloader.com order your supplies. I use 240 grn xtp bullets in a sabot 50cal. And whitehot pellets ,209 federal primers. You can oder the bullets with the sabot together 20 per pack. I use 3 pellets per shot out of my accura v2 50cal at 100yrds my pattern are touching shooting off of a bench. Watch videos on YouTube also the videos will clue you in on your weapon
 
Keep it simple to start. Pick up some 209 primers, a jug of T7 ffg granular, a powder measure, some black .50/45 sabots, and a box of 240 grain .451/.452 XTP bullets or 300 grain XTPs and ample patches or chop a t-shirt into 2-1/4" squares. Maybe a few plastic charge vials.

Set the measure to 90 grains. Fill with powder, give a soft tap or two then top off and pour into the charge vial or the barrel. Put a bullet in the sabot and run it down the barrel until firmly set on the powder. Place the primer in the breech plug, cock and shoot. Run a damp patch down the barrel, flip and run again....this knocks down the crud ring that can make a second shot hard if not impossible to load. Now you're ready to shoot again.

Start at the 90 grains. You can increase the charge 10 grains at a time until you find a level that is as accurate as you feel you can get. I think most people find the sweet spot between 90 and 110 grains using the volume measure.

Allow time to clean the gun very shortly after shooting it. Don't wait days when using any black powder or sub, other than the BH209 sub which will allow some relaxed time to clean by a few days. Find a drill bit that fits into the flash channel which is the narrower hole immediately behind the primer pocket in the plug. Use this to hand turn and ream out the carbon in the plug at each cleaning and its easier to do before using any water to clean the plug. Some Dawn dish detergent and warm water will suffice as a cleaning solution.

This will get you on the range and in the field. After you've shot the gun and feel fairly comfortable with it you may want to check out the BH209 powder. Yes, its expensive, however there are some benefits to it that cannot be found with any of the blacks and other subs: cleaning can be delayed until the end of hunting season in most instances, as long as its not more than a couple weeks, as opposed to within a day of firing. The powder does not absorb moisture as blacks and other subs can be prone to. Using it will require the use of full power primers, not those sold as "muzzleloader" primers. Accuracy can generally be tightened up a hair using BH209. BH is solvent clean-up. not the water and the plug's flash channel will still need to be reamed, again before getting any solvent on the plug. In many cases, if not most, you can use the same T7 powder charge using Bh209 that you've gotten you best accuracy from. Velocity I feel is just a hair higher using BH than the same charge of T7. Definitely higher than Pyrodex. If T7 granular or Bh209 mare not locally available, I'd recommend true black over Pyrodex. Personally, I will not recommend using pellet powder of any kind feeling that it takes away any real flexibility in working you load levels up. Again , personally, all of my hunting inlines shoot BH209 in the woods using the same exact volume charge of T7 [fffg] that I shoot at the range. The fffg T7 gives me just a hair more umph.

Congrats on the win! Read a bit more here, get the goodies together and have fun shooting!

I'm just going to add here, when you hgit the range, stay focused on what you're doing! Don't go there to talk while you're in your loading sequence. If you get distracted, pop that breech plug and make darned certain the gun is empty before you dump another charge down the pipe. Als, carry some masking tape with you and when you fill the barrel with a load, leave the rod in there and wrap a layer of tape round it at the muzzle so you can tell if the gun is charged or not. This is a witness mark. Change the tape location each time you change the powder charge. When you reach a charge/bullet /sabot combination that you're happy with, make that mark a bit more durable by using some electricians tape.
This is what I was think about getting after reading here, seeing some video's on Youtube and the owners manual. I would start with two of the white hot pellets and the 348gr. PowerBelt's based upon what the owners manual said.

Curious what people think? I will likely only use it for hunting about 1 week a year for whitetail's.

 
This is what I was think about getting after reading here, seeing some video's on Youtube and the owners manual. I would start with two of the white hot pellets and the 348gr. PowerBelt's based upon what the owners manual said.

Curious what people think? I will likely only use it for hunting about 1 week a year for whitetail's.

Every thing listed here will work and kill anything within 150 yrds.
 
Every thing listed here will work and kill anything within 150 yrds.
Also that gun performs really well with whitehots pellets. Start with 2, 3 will kick hard. Make sure that you keep the scope about 4 fingers away from your eye when shooting 3 Pellets it will wake you up.
 
I just started sighting in my optima today with white hots. 2 pellets is easy. 3 hits like my 20ga slug gun. Crud ring was manageable but built up quickly if not cleaned every other shot. Biggest problem was blowback from the primer pocket. Luckily I had the o rings already. I was getting as much smoke from the breech as the barrel. Not really but it was alot before using the o rings.
 
I just started sighting in my optima today with white hots. 2 pellets is easy. 3 hits like my 20ga slug gun. Crud ring was manageable but built up quickly if not cleaned every other shot. Biggest problem was blowback from the primer pocket. Luckily I had the o rings already. I was getting as much smoke from the breech as the barrel. Not really but it was alot before using the o rings.
What do you mean the o rings already? I guess this is something that one needs to buy in addition to the rest of the stuff listed above?
 
You need to take out the firing pin bushing and clean the carbon out or the firing pin will bind up. You need to stop the blowback from getting into the firing pin. Some people use oring . I don't I just shimmed my bushing out about .015 from the face of breach and no more blow by. My friend had the same problem and he took out the bushing and cleaned all the parts and used blue loctite on the threads and screwed the bushing in all the and backed out one full turn, his gun stopped blowback. Not all primers are the same , they vary in length width and diameter and hotness. You will need to get or make a speachial flat tip screwdriver to get out the bushing . Look.at Pic. To get and idea. You need about .004 crush fit on the primer when you close the gun. If you get orings for primer pocket you will have to slam the gun really hard to close the breach. You will marr or damage the face of breach and the action will get sloppy. I've hade the same problem as you. If you get the blowback to stop you will enjoy the cleaning the gun, it not fun having a locked up firing pin and taking all that chit apart. You will need some drill bits and torch tip cleaners to maintain the breach plug carbon build up
 

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I was at an NWTF dinner last night and won the Optima V2. It is the one with the stainless barrel, Realtree camo and comes with scope mounts. I know absolutely nothing about muzzleloaders. I have hunted with a bow exclusively since the mid 90’s.

What do I need? I saw there is a starter kit that CVA offers, with my reading today I think I will get either a Vortex or Burris scope. I would have originally thought about a Leupold but I got a RX1200 in 2020 and it has crapped out in less than 3 years using it 2 months a year and only to confirm distance when shooting 3 D. I had a Bushnell Yardage Pro 500 that lasted 18 years and finally started crapping out below zero.

What bullets, pellets and other accessories does one need when starting out?

Thanks in advance.
Is your head swimming yet? The problem here is solutions are vast and almost all are viable. This thing is that loose when it comes to what works. Each rifle is different as to what it prefers but in my mind muzzleloaders are kind of like touring Harley Davidson motorcycles... how do you plan on using it? Specifically, at what maximum range do you foresee your targets being? If you're in dense woods and no shot goes beyond 50 yards then there's that. You get where I'm going here. I can yell you this. There have been more deer harvested with 240gr Hornady XTPs than all others combined. They buck brush and they kill deer. Powder and primers are secondary. Pick a bullet and find a load that provides accuracy that you're comfortable with.
That's the short answer.
 
A good load for the Optima V2 50 is with the BH209 breech plug installed. Usually between 100gr(V) and 110gr(V) is where accuracy is at. Fed 209A primers, MMP black sabot and Barnes 250 Expanders or TEZ (if that's the flat base one). When I first got my CVA Optima V2 50 that's what Carlos recommended when I called him.
 
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