Optima V2 accuracy challenge

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Treepotato——-, just wandering if your going to send the rifle back to CVA? You have got a bunch of us guys curious as to the outcome.
 
Treepotato——-, just wandering if your going to send the rifle back to CVA? You have got a bunch of us guys curious as to the outcome.

Yes, I plan to send it to CVA this weekend if time allows. I'll keep y'all updated on what comes of it. Fortunately the hunting season isn't close so there should be time to get ready even with this delay.
 
I'm shooting 300 gr bullets because I prefer full pass through penetration, and plan to eventually use on game larger than deer. I've also tried both CCI 209M and Federal 209A primers; no change. At this point I've spent hundreds on powder and bullets; it's going back to CVA. I'll figure out the next step after CVA returns a rifle to me (whether it's a replacement or the same gun).

I have always shot Hornady 250 SST, and I have never not had a complete pass through. I loaned one of my rifles to a friend, to go to New Mexico elk hunting, and he shot a cow elk at 210 yards, and had a complete pass through, with the same bullet.
 
If I may ask-What was the powder and charge on that 210 yd Elk shot?
 
If I may ask-What was the powder and charge on that 210 yd Elk shot?

That was when I was still using the 777 pellets. It was 100 gr 777 pellets (2), CCI209 primers, 250 gr SST Hornady. I quit the 777, because to get consistency, I had to totally clean the barrel after every shot. Blackhorn 209 solved that mess.
 
I have always shot Hornady 250 SST, and I have never not had a complete pass through. I loaned one of my rifles to a friend, to go to New Mexico elk hunting, and he shot a cow elk at 210 yards, and had a complete pass through, with the same bullet.
 
That really surprises me a 250 grain bullet would have enough energy to get a complete pass through on a Elk over 200 yards with only 2 fifty grain 777 pellets. Not saying it diddnt happen just very surprising
 
That really surprises me a 250 grain bullet would have enough energy to get a complete pass through on a Elk over 200 yards with only 2 fifty grain 777 pellets. Not saying it diddnt happen just very surprising
About 830 fpe at 200yds using the Hodgdon published velocity of 1785fps.
 
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Been they this. 2 things come to mind.
90-110gr BH209, Harvester “smooth” sabots....not crush rib. Then a Barnes TEZ250 or a Hornady Monoflex 250
Also are you cleaning both the large & small passages of the breech plug?
Do this & it should come to life. Ran into this on an Apex & I was ready to wrap it around the tree. The sabots made a HUGE difference.
Good luck

Greg
I should have added this in the beginning. One other thing you may want to consider is not using the scope mount it comes with the rifle. They have been known to not be perfectly true. I would recommend a one piece DNZ mount as well.
 
I have always shot Hornady 250 SST, and I have never not had a complete pass through. I loaned one of my rifles to a friend, to go to New Mexico elk hunting, and he shot a cow elk at 210 yards, and had a complete pass through, with the same bullet.
I use the 250 gr Hornady SST low drag bullet with the provided sabot and 100 gr of Pyrodex pellets in my Optima V2 when I took my first deer with it in December. Also I use CCI 209M primers. I shot the deer in at 30 yards. The bullet passed thru the rib cages. The doe wheeled and ran towards me then went down close by.

Afterwards I was thinking I just killed a doe with a muzzleloader, earling in November I took one with a 270 cal rifle, then two days later I took one with a crossbow making it a triple trophy year. I thought I think the state game and fish commission hands out rewards for this. So I went online completed the applications and received the award with a letter. The letter stated to my surprise that I had accomplished a feat that only a hand full of the 330,000 licenced hunters in the state accomplish per year. Well I was surprised so few go for it. To actually take three dear by each of the three legal methods. Actually I took a fourth by a 2nd crossbow. So I have a one up I guess.

LIfe is good!
 
I use the 250 gr Hornady SST low drag bullet with the provided sabot and 100 gr of Pyrodex pellets in my Optima V2 when I took my first deer with it in December. Also I use CCI 209M primers. I shot the deer in at 30 yards. The bullet passed thru the rib cages. The doe wheeled and ran towards me then went down close by.

Afterwards I was thinking I just killed a doe with a muzzleloader, earling in November I took one with a 270 cal rifle, then two days later I took one with a crossbow making it a triple trophy year. I thought I think the state game and fish commission hands out rewards for this. So I went online completed the applications and received the award with a letter. The letter stated to my surprise that I had accomplished a feat that only a hand full of the 330,000 licenced hunters in the state accomplish per year. Well I was surprised so few go for it. To actually take three dear by each of the three legal methods. Actually I took a fourth by a 2nd crossbow. So I have a one up I guess.

LIfe is good!

I know we've gotten OT some, but its great that your state recognizes that accomplishment. Congratulations! In MI they'll give you a "Successful Hunter" patch if you take the deer to a check station. I would suggest that here in MI, many have accomplished taking a whitetail with all legal means in a single year. MI sells in around 1M deer licenses each year.
Myself, I decided many years ago that I wanted to take a whitetail with all the legal methods. I've met my goal thankfully. Archery (traditional & modern), shotgun, rifle, pistol and of course many with a muzzleloader (traditional & modern).
 
I should have added this in the beginning. One other thing you may want to consider is not using the scope mount it comes with the rifle. They have been known to not be perfectly true. I would recommend a one piece DNZ mount as well.

Curious, what do you mean by "not perfectly true"? I did find my base screws were loosening after awhile, but I took care of that by taking the base off, degreasing, and remounting with loctite. There didn't seem to be any noticeable off bore axis orientation of the base, and when I remounted the base and scope it hit the same POI as it did immediately before taking the base off. As long as the scope base/rings are solid enough to not shift around, and as long as a scope is able to reasonably adjust to get POI where it's needed, I'd think that to be sufficient to get good groups. Is there something else I need to consider? Always willing to learn something new...
 
I know we've gotten OT some, but its great that your state recognizes that accomplishment. Congratulations! In MI they'll give you a "Successful Hunter" patch if you take the deer to a check station. I would suggest that here in MI, many have accomplished taking a whitetail with all legal means in a single year. MI sells in around 1M deer licenses each year.
Myself, I decided many years ago that I wanted to take a whitetail with all the legal methods. I've met my goal thankfully. Archery (traditional & modern), shotgun, rifle, pistol and of course many with a muzzleloader (traditional & modern).
FYI!
As a follow up to my statement about Arkansas State Game and Fish Commission Triple Trophy program the award letter started the reason for the program was to encourage hunters to harvest more does for improved herd management.
 
Curious, what do you mean by "not perfectly true"? I did find my base screws were loosening after awhile, but I took care of that by taking the base off, degreasing, and remounting with loctite. There didn't seem to be any noticeable off bore axis orientation of the base, and when I remounted the base and scope it hit the same POI as it did immediately before taking the base off. As long as the scope base/rings are solid enough to not shift around, and as long as a scope is able to reasonably adjust to get POI where it's needed, I'd think that to be sufficient to get good groups. Is there something else I need to consider? Always willing to learn something new...
I had a frustrating experience with an Opitma Pro. I tried just about everything to improve the shot spray but 209BH powder.
One thing that helped the most was to use a good bench rest. At least the bench rest helped minimize the shooter's error.
Since I now have the Optima C2 that does very well I have no desire to try with the Pro model.
 
There were issues with the CVA mounts not being true thru the saddles casing scope tube torque & twist. A DNZ mount will be perfect & you’ll notice a huge difference in quality as soon as you see it.
With the possibility of a problem that’s all I need to go to a different/better mount.
 
There were issues with the CVA mounts not being true thru the saddles casing scope tube torque & twist. A DNZ mount will be perfect & you’ll notice a huge difference in quality as soon as you see it.
With the possibility of a problem that’s all I need to go to a different/better mount.

Ok, that makes sense. I don’t notice that with my mount, but when I get my gun (or a replacement) back from CVA I’ll keep this in mind if the lack of accuracy continues.
 
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