Paramount 40 with Parker 250 grain ELR Bullets

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I have a Paramount 40 hunter and with a little fine tuning it shoots really well, but not with the Powerbelt ELR bullets they recommend. I would not recommend these bullets. Recently I found that when using the CVA muzzle brake the "belt" was coming apart in the brake causing a real issue with performance. This was confirmed by CVA who stated that the initial bullets had a manufacturing defect.

I sent Bob Parker an email asking about the Parker 250 grain 40 cal bullets they produce after reading about them on this blog. Bob called me less than 15 minutes later(on a Sunday) and explained how to use his product. These are metal to bore bullets...no sabot or belt. The bullets basically are sized by you to fit your gun. I was somewhat leery of doing this but he convinced me it was the right way to go, so I bought the bullets and the sizing tool. I just went to the range today and I have to say the results were outstanding. I didn't have time to chronograph these but they shot sub moa at 100 yards with 120 volume BH 209...5 shots. I only had access to the hundred-yard range so I have no idea what it will do at longer ranges.

Bob Parker tells me that a Paramount 40 was used by Barry Brakebill to win the Long Range National Championship Muzzle Loader event at Friendship just recently using these bullets. Not sure what Barry did to upgrade the gun but will find out.

As far as the rifle itself I've had no issues with it. I've read about blow back from the breech plug but have not experienced that. Now when I load this rifle up near max powder that may change. I have a Leupold Mark 4 scope on gun which is probably overkill but I am a long-range rifle shooter and had the scope so I am using it.

Any insight anyone could offer would be helpful on improving what appears initially to be pretty good performance.
 
I look forward to more of your experiences with the 40 Paramount, when it comes to absolute accuracy bullet to bore sizing is where it's at!
 
Bob Parker is A++. Called and he answered the phone and then called back the next day as well. You cannot get better than parker production for customer ser
I just got around to listening to that podcast with Barry last weekend. I believe he was using:

78.5 grW BH209 and he replaced the factory trigger with a Jewel trigger
Thanks for that information and very interesting. I was using 120 g volume or approx 84 by weight. I will try 78.5 next time at the range and provide MV and performance data. That follows because what I found is that lower charge weights improve overall performance. Additionally you don't use as much 209 which is hard to come by now and the recoil is not as bad. Did he say anything about changing out the breech plug and do you know if he was using a brake?
 
You may want to listen to the interview. IIRC, he was using the OEM plug with Variflame and large rifle (non-mag) primers.

There’s a lot he didn’t say (as you would expect). He didn’t specify what lot of powder he was shooting so I don’t think you can expect to duplicate his load by just weighing out 87.5 gr. As has been said many times the weight by lot varies. For me, for example, currently shooting some lot 31 - 120 grV weighs 89 grW. The point is, as he and you said, a charge less than max often gives the best precision (and you have to find that for your rifle.)

Barry says most guys want to tell the rifle what to shoot - you have to let the rifle tell you what it likes! 👍🏻
 
I haven't listened to the interview but your points from that I couldn't agree with more ,,I never chase velocity I'm always looking for accuracy not velocity sometimes you get both that's great but often times it's those accuracy nodes that are in the light to medium to 3/4 range that are much more consistent,, learn to listen to your rifle means you have to spend a lot of time with it.
 
I haven't listened to the interview but your points from that I couldn't agree with more ,,I never chase velocity I'm always looking for accuracy not velocity sometimes you get both that's great but often times it's those accuracy nodes that are in the light to medium to 3/4 range that are much more consistent,, learn to listen to your rifle means you have to spend a lot of time with it.
I did just listen to the interview and it was very interesting. I was particularly interested in his comments regarding load pressure [pressure applied to bullet when pushing into the powder or felt patch) toward the end of the interview. He also stated the the CVA ELR Powerbelts were being updated and that he was waiting to test them. Barry works for CVA and really couldn't say anything negative, but there is a reason he didn't use them and went to the Parker bullets. I can say from my experience they have two disadvantages for me. 1) One as a hunting bullet for bigger game they are only 225 grains. 2) The belts. They come apart when the bullet exists the muzzle making them not usable with a muzzle brake and they they seem to leave more residue in the barrel making cleaning more often necessary. Neither of these issue are there with the 250 gr Parker bullets. Maybe CVA is going to fix this in the next go around.

Maybe this is the reason Levi at LR Customs states that "I will not sell a brake to a user that uses Powerbelt 40 or 45 cal bullets" on his website.
 
I did just listen to the interview and it was very interesting. I was particularly interested in his comments regarding load pressure [pressure applied to bullet when pushing into the powder or felt patch) toward the end of the interview. He also stated the the CVA ELR Powerbelts were being updated and that he was waiting to test them. Barry works for CVA and really couldn't say anything negative, but there is a reason he didn't use them and went to the Parker bullets. I can say from my experience they have two disadvantages for me. 1) One as a hunting bullet for bigger game they are only 225 grains. 2) The belts. They come apart when the bullet exists the muzzle making them not usable with a muzzle brake and they they seem to leave more residue in the barrel making cleaning more often necessary. Neither of these issue are there with the 250 gr Parker bullets. Maybe CVA is going to fix this in the next go around.

Maybe this is the reason Levi at LR Customs states that "I will not sell a brake to a user that uses Powerbelt 40 or 45 cal bullets" on his website.
I saw in practice session that the elr didn't knock a Ram down , but i can honestly say that I have seen it with lead ones
 
Where is it legal to use a 40cal for elk? I thought NM was 45cal minimum. Most PACNW are 50cal minimum.

A .40 would be legal for elk in UT, AZ and WY for sure. And…it starts to get more complicated if you’re using a muzzy during an any weapon season…

Nm is .45 for elk
 
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Here its just 40cal and expanding bullet no matter what season. In Colorado 40cal is illegal during ML elk hunts but legal during regular hunts.....Figure that one out.

I think we get like 2-3 elk tags up for grabs using firearms or MLs now. A few more for archery. They just opened it a year or so ago.
 
Here its just 40cal and expanding bullet no matter what season. In Colorado 40cal is illegal during ML elk hunts but legal during regular hunts.....Figure that one out.

I think we get like 2-3 elk tags up for grabs using firearms or MLs now. A few more for archery. They just opened it a year or so ago.
No rhyme or reason to it….
 
While Arizona might allow a .40 bullet to be used on elk, they're big, tough animals and I think that regardless of how well one can place shots with even premium bullets of .40 caliber, ethics should be considered. Many states feel a .45 cal is not enough.

There's a huge difference in what a gun/bullet does on paper at a range and what it does on a truely big game animal.
 

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