New purchase, paralysis by analysis

[northwoods87]

I'm looking at picking up a muzzleloader in the near-ish future, mainly to extend my hunting season by a bit but also for something new to fiddle with at the range. I'm getting stuck on my options though & looking for some community feedback on the best way to go. Right now I'm hung up between a 'plain' CVA Optima V2 with the nitride barrel, an Optima V2 LR (nitride as well) with thumbhole stock, and Accura MR-X with the nitride barrel. It sounds like for the relatively modest upcharge, nitride is worth it vs. plain SS, right? My pros and cons are working out to:

• Regular Optima V2 - lowest cost & is going to serve my needs absolutely fine, it sounds like. Comes with a scope mount but is set up for iron sights as well, so I'd have the option of either (and it'd be nice to have an iron sighted option, especially for late muzzleloader season. I don't have to worry about fogging up a scope that way). Cons - not the best cheek weld for a scope, although probably no worse than my 'regular' Model 700 rifle
• Optima V2 LR - *man*, does that one feel nice in the hands. With the thumbhole stock, cheekweld through a scope looks great. Cons - scope only, and I'm not sure about the thumbhole stock while wearing heavy winter gear / gloves.
• Accura MR-X - Most expensive, but feels (and looks!) great. Can go with either a scope or irons, and with the adjustable comb on the stock, I'll be good with either as far as cheek weld / alignment goes. The light weight might be nice for public land hunting where I'm trekking in a ways. Downside is that it's the most expensive of the bunch by far.

I know I'm over-analyzing this, just trying to make the smart choice. I think I'm mainly hung up on the irons / no irons question, my 'regular' hunting rifle is a scoped Remington 700 mountain rifle, so it'd be nice to have something with irons available for both the days during regular gun season that aren't scope friendly, and to have the option of which way to go during muzzleloader season. For some reason I can just really appreciate the light weight and slimmer profile of an iron-sighted rifle. Is there anything I'm not thinking of here, or other advice I should be taking in to account?

 

[eekjellander]

I'm looking at picking up a muzzleloader in the near-ish future, mainly to extend my hunting season by a bit but also for something new to fiddle with at the range. I'm getting stuck on my options though & looking for some community feedback on the best way to go. Right now I'm hung up between a 'plain' CVA Optima V2 with the nitride barrel, an Optima V2 LR (nitride as well) with thumbhole stock, and Accura MR-X with the nitride barrel. It sounds like for the relatively modest upcharge, nitride is worth it vs. plain SS, right? My pros and cons are working out to:

• Regular Optima V2 - lowest cost & is going to serve my needs absolutely fine, it sounds like. Comes with a scope mount but is set up for iron sights as well, so I'd have the option of either (and it'd be nice to have an iron sighted option, especially for late muzzleloader season. I don't have to worry about fogging up a scope that way). Cons - not the best cheek weld for a scope, although probably no worse than my 'regular' Model 700 rifle
• Optima V2 LR - *man*, does that one feel nice in the hands. With the thumbhole stock, cheekweld through a scope looks great. Cons - scope only, and I'm not sure about the thumbhole stock while wearing heavy winter gear / gloves.
• Accura MR-X - Most expensive, but feels (and looks!) great. Can go with either a scope or irons, and with the adjustable comb on the stock, I'll be good with either as far as cheek weld / alignment goes. The light weight might be nice for public land hunting where I'm trekking in a ways. Downside is that it's the most expensive of the bunch by far.

I know I'm over-analyzing this, just trying to make the smart choice. I think I'm mainly hung up on the irons / no irons question, my 'regular' hunting rifle is a scoped Remington 700 mountain rifle, so it'd be nice to have something with irons available for both the days during regular gun season that aren't scope friendly, and to have the option of which way to go during muzzleloader season. For some reason I can just really appreciate the light weight and slimmer profile of an iron-sighted rifle. Is there anything I'm not thinking of here, or other advice I should be taking in to account?

I can not think of a day not being able to shoot with a scope but had many times I wished I brought one with me ! Probably why everything has that new fangled thing (scope)where permitted and not irons , back in the day they pushed see thru mounts( scopes not great back then) now you don't have that as scopes evolved unlike sales of see thru mounts /Ed

 

[michiganmuzzy]

I would go with the MR-X in .50 hands down. Ive had the others and they're great, but the MR-X has it all and then some. The LR th stock has been fine for me with and without gloves(even mittens). But the adjustable stock would seal that deal for me.