I've had it out about 5 times total. Of those times, I'm aware of at least twice it has had serious jam up issues. It's almost like the thing requires the use of Powerbelt bullets because the tolerances are so tight.
I remember one time I managed to get a sabot load jammed in there and literally broke the included ramrod trying to push it down. Rubber mallet didn't help. I did manage to push it back out from the breech once I got home and used a sturdier rod.
The other time, I was shooting away without issue using .490 roundballs and t-shirt material patches. No issue, fairly accurate out at 25 yards or so. I finally got daring and switched to pillow ticking patch. BIG MISTAKE. That plugged the barrel that there was no way I was going to get the ball to move out or further down the barrel at the range. Finally wound up taking the gun home and debating whether I needed to squirt Kroil or some such down in the barrel to help lubricate the projectile further to get it out. I think I held my breath and used a piece of steel rod to drive the ball/patch out. Amazingly there weren't any scratches I could see in the rifling or anything once I finally got the ball out.
Why round ball? Because I don't feel like paying literally 2$ a shot or more using overpriced CVA powerbelts. The pistol loves those sure, they are basically modern minie balls with a plastic instead of round skirting. The .490 round balls seem fine WITH A TSHIRT patch. But anyone using thick patch material is setting him/herself up for major problems if you use a thick patch. I've even gone so far as to track down and buy .480 round balls to avoid this issue in the future.
I did call CVA about the jamming when the sabot load got stuck, and was cautioned to clean it every shot when using Goex. "Too dirty a powder." I beg to differ. I think the tolerances on that barrel are way to tight. I'm not shooting Bull Elk with the thing at 150 plus yards. I wanted an additional 25-50 yard muzzleloading pistol.. just ... because. I also like it uses reliable 209 shotgun primer ignition.
I kind of regret getting the thing, and if I could do it over I'd go for another Lyman plains pistol and keep my powder charge around 40 grains. I don't intend to shoot the Optima with 150 grain magnum charges anyway, typically I use between 70 and 100 grains of FFFG. There is likely efficiency loss even at those loads. The included ramrod however is a tad short, and is intended for 100 grain or higher charges.
Curious as to other peoples experiences with the Optima V2 pistol.
