Questions on “In the field” with your MZ

[Harley469]

New and been reading a lot. I’ll be starting with White Hots and Power Belts in a Optima V2.

Let’s say you’ve shot/sighted in your rifle, cleaned it, and put it away. Cleaning included a light oil patch down the bore before storage.

Now, you’re ready to go hunting. Once in the field, you take it out to prepare it for the days hunt. You run a dry patch or two down the tube followed by one or two caps discharged to dry the bore out. This is where I’m confused. If you’re hunting a few days, do you not want a light coat of oil left in the barrel for rust prevention? Thanks for your help.

Your white hots and Powerbelts will "probably" work just fine- I used White Hots with my old Accura V2 and I thought they were dirtier than Triple Seven pellets, but they will fire your bullet. As for your bullet choice, I have read plenty of bad things about Powerbelts over the years, but when I used my Accura I used 3 50gr pellets of Triple Seven and a 270gr Powerbelt Platinum. I shot plenty of deer with that combination without issue. My father still used that same combination in his Accura and my daughter uses 2 50gr pellets and the 270gr Powerbelt Platinum in her Traditions Youth Buckstalker. All that being said, I have never used any other Powerbelt bullets. I have a number of muzzleloaders and it most certainly isn't a "one size fits all" scenario. If you are looking to keep things simple and just want to use that muzzleloader to gain a few extra days of deer hunting each year, what you are doing should work just fine.

In regard to cleaning, storage, ect.: A couple weeks before season starts make sure your gun is zeroed in with precisely what combination of powder and bullets you are going to use. You most certainly can experiment with Blackhorn, 777, whatever. Most guys rave about Blackhorn but I don't like it because I think it is "greasy"/dirtier than Triple Seven. Regardless of what I am using, my personal preference is to run a couple dry patches down the barrel after firing a shot. In a hunting scenario you may not have time to do this-no big deal. Once you have the gun zeroed and you know you aren't going to use it again until hunting season, don't oil the barrel for that two week period unless you want to take one shot before going out into the woods, then you can oil and then take that shot. You want that barrel fouled slightly going out to hunt. Some guys will fire a primer or two. I personally will fire a shot the day before taking it hunting. If after hunting your gun is still loaded (either didn't shoot at anything, or loaded an additional shot) you are perfectly fine storing that gun with the bullet and powder overnight for the next day of hunting. I will not keep it loaded for more than a couple weeks and then take that gun hunting with the powder and bullet that are in it. In all honesty, I have fired shots from my muzzleloaders where I have had powder and a bullet in there for a month and accuracy hasn't suffered, but you don't want it to sit loaded too long simply because of degradation to the gun. With newer black powder substitutes this isn't going to be as harmful to the barrel, but you don't want to degrade the barrel at all, except due to shooting it. When you are going to store it long term, just clean everything thoroughly (barrel, breech plug, firing pin, ect) and run a oiled patch down the barrel, and put some anti-seize on the breech plug. Make sure you place it in storage with the barrel pointing down so any excess oil does not run into the breech plug.

One last note- your CVA requires a special breech plug for Blackhorn powder/loose powder in general. They are sold with the breech plug for pellets. If you plan on using loose powder then get the loose powder breech plug, it's about $20 I think. And whatever breech plug you use- KEEP IT CLEAN. They made it so it is easy to remove and wipe the junk away, which you should do after about 5 shots. You will want to get a nipple pick to run through the flash hole of the breech plug the keep the fire channel clear of debris.

Sounds like a lot of work, but really isn't once you get accustomed to it. Here in IL, where the only longer-barreled firearms permitted during deer season are shotguns and muzzleloaders, I strictly use a muzzleloader due to the fact that it is much more accurate at a much greater distance, assuming it is an in-line with a scope, like your CVA. Good luck.

 

[Bushfire]

I haven't read every post so forgive me if it's been said, but I've always found inline much more forgiving than caplocks or flinters. Much of what you would have read on these forums will be relating to caplocks.

I think I fired 1 shot through my inline last year and none for a couple of years before that so memory is a bit rusty but I think one dry patch and then pop a couple of caps was my routine. All I know is I've never had a hangfire or fail to fire. 209s run a lot hotter than no 11s.

The only one that stumped me, was hunting I'm the rain, saw a deer and shot. When I had to reload it was impossible to keep the rain out. Deer was dead so didn't need another shot that night pushed the load out and it was soaking wet.

 

[Rvrrat14]

Your white hots and Powerbelts will "probably" work just fine- I used White Hots with my old Accura V2 and I thought they were dirtier than Triple Seven pellets, but they will fire your bullet. As for your bullet choice, I have read plenty of bad things about Powerbelts over the years, but when I used my Accura I used 3 50gr pellets of Triple Seven and a 270gr Powerbelt Platinum. I shot plenty of deer with that combination without issue. My father still used that same combination in his Accura and my daughter uses 2 50gr pellets and the 270gr Powerbelt Platinum in her Traditions Youth Buckstalker. All that being said, I have never used any other Powerbelt bullets. I have a number of muzzleloaders and it most certainly isn't a "one size fits all" scenario. If you are looking to keep things simple and just want to use that muzzleloader to gain a few extra days of deer hunting each year, what you are doing should work just fine.

In regard to cleaning, storage, ect.: A couple weeks before season starts make sure your gun is zeroed in with precisely what combination of powder and bullets you are going to use. You most certainly can experiment with Blackhorn, 777, whatever. Most guys rave about Blackhorn but I don't like it because I think it is "greasy"/dirtier than Triple Seven. Regardless of what I am using, my personal preference is to run a couple dry patches down the barrel after firing a shot. In a hunting scenario you may not have time to do this-no big deal. Once you have the gun zeroed and you know you aren't going to use it again until hunting season, don't oil the barrel for that two week period unless you want to take one shot before going out into the woods, then you can oil and then take that shot. You want that barrel fouled slightly going out to hunt. Some guys will fire a primer or two. I personally will fire a shot the day before taking it hunting. If after hunting your gun is still loaded (either didn't shoot at anything, or loaded an additional shot) you are perfectly fine storing that gun with the bullet and powder overnight for the next day of hunting. I will not keep it loaded for more than a couple weeks and then take that gun hunting with the powder and bullet that are in it. In all honesty, I have fired shots from my muzzleloaders where I have had powder and a bullet in there for a month and accuracy hasn't suffered, but you don't want it to sit loaded too long simply because of degradation to the gun. With newer black powder substitutes this isn't going to be as harmful to the barrel, but you don't want to degrade the barrel at all, except due to shooting it. When you are going to store it long term, just clean everything thoroughly (barrel, breech plug, firing pin, ect) and run a oiled patch down the barrel, and put some anti-seize on the breech plug. Make sure you place it in storage with the barrel pointing down so any excess oil does not run into the breech plug.

One last note- your CVA requires a special breech plug for Blackhorn powder/loose powder in general. They are sold with the breech plug for pellets. If you plan on using loose powder then get the loose powder breech plug, it's about $20 I think. And whatever breech plug you use- KEEP IT CLEAN. They made it so it is easy to remove and wipe the junk away, which you should do after about 5 shots. You will want to get a nipple pick to run through the flash hole of the breech plug the keep the fire channel clear of debris.

Sounds like a lot of work, but really isn't once you get accustomed to it. Here in IL, where the only longer-barreled firearms permitted during deer season are shotguns and muzzleloaders, I strictly use a muzzleloader due to the fact that it is much more accurate at a much greater distance, assuming it is an in-line with a scope, like your CVA. Good luck.

Thank you sir for the detailed reply. I’ve since decided to try the Hornady Bore Driver FTX bullets. I can try it out on hogs this springtime.
I’ve read where some guys use Barricade as the final patch and that it can be shot over without running a patch. My ranch is in a humid environment most of the year and I worry about protecting barrels during wet fall/winter hunting seasons. Sounds like the Barricade may be a good thint. Again, Thanks for the tips! Well heeded.