Hello!
I'm brand new to muzzleloaders (and your forum) and just got a CVA optima V2 (open sights) shipped to me.
I sure was excited when it came on Thursday, but this morning I noticed that the scope mount hole closest to the breech plug has a hole there, but also that there are practically no threads in it at all. I don't have any calipers or anything at home right now to confirm this yet, but, since the gun is new, I suspect that they oversized the hole before running the tap in. If I squint I think I can see where the tap barely swiped the hole, but that's about the extent of it. It's possible that I'm looking at the helix from the drill and they completely forgot to tap it, but I suspect the former.
Background:
1) Like I said, this is my first muzzleloader. I've shot other 'cartridge rifles' a fair amount.
2) I'd like to have this rifle be accurate enough to be able to have some fun at the range, to hunt here in Colorado (where they apparently don't allow scopes anyway), and just see if I like the whole muzzleloader experience.
3) I always meant to and still do, but I haven't actually gotten around to hunting yet. So, zero experience there.
4) It's important to me to be able to ethically harvest some meat, meaning I want to be able to place consistent shots in a deer's vital zone for example. From my research, it seems doable to work up to this kind of accuracy and consistency with a muzzleloader even with iron sights if I'm not taking shots much more than 100 yards. I don't mind passing on some shots to make this happen.
5) I'm going to be graduating soon, so I don't have that much extra cash and I might be moving to a state that does allow scopes for hunting, or else I wouldn't really worry about ever putting a scope on.
6) I do have a bit of experience with and access (for the moment) to mills, lathes, etc., but going down a path that takes a lot of work (really it's the time isn't it?) or is going to possibly weaken the barrel, making it less safe to shoot doesn't really appeal to me since I ultimately could just send to thing back. I've done some machining, but not gunsmithing. Also, the 301 and 304 stainless I've worked with was less forgiving than the carbon steel in my experience. Apparently, the barrel is also '416 stainless' or something like that.
Questions:
1) Do my plans for hunting and target shooting sound reasonable to you guys?
2) If I find that this optima is really a tack driver (or if I move to a state that allows scopes for hunting), I could see myself thinking maybe I should have put a scope on it after all. I could see myself wanting to take shots out to 200+ yards in that case. I would probably want to just use the Dura sight dead on scope mount that CVA suggests. Do you think I'd really need that 4th thread to keep the scope from moving around too much to do what I'd want to do with an average amount of use and abuse? Are there any 'good enough' fixes that you guys could recommend for my purposes? Just epoxy the screw in there?
3) If I ever wanted to go ahead at having the hole drilled and tapped slightly larger, is this going to weaken the barrel even if I keep the hole depth the same? It seems like this hole is right over where the powder get pushed down to in the barrel. Starting to remove more material than is stock there gives me pause.
4) Do you think it's worth it to send the gun back considering what I want this gun for? I haven't had to do this yet with any of my other rifles. Does CVA seem to be pretty good in this respect? I would hope to think they'd just swap out for a new one, but I haven't asked yet.
Looking forward to hearing some of your opinions! Thanks!
I'm brand new to muzzleloaders (and your forum) and just got a CVA optima V2 (open sights) shipped to me.
I sure was excited when it came on Thursday, but this morning I noticed that the scope mount hole closest to the breech plug has a hole there, but also that there are practically no threads in it at all. I don't have any calipers or anything at home right now to confirm this yet, but, since the gun is new, I suspect that they oversized the hole before running the tap in. If I squint I think I can see where the tap barely swiped the hole, but that's about the extent of it. It's possible that I'm looking at the helix from the drill and they completely forgot to tap it, but I suspect the former.
Background:
1) Like I said, this is my first muzzleloader. I've shot other 'cartridge rifles' a fair amount.
2) I'd like to have this rifle be accurate enough to be able to have some fun at the range, to hunt here in Colorado (where they apparently don't allow scopes anyway), and just see if I like the whole muzzleloader experience.
3) I always meant to and still do, but I haven't actually gotten around to hunting yet. So, zero experience there.
4) It's important to me to be able to ethically harvest some meat, meaning I want to be able to place consistent shots in a deer's vital zone for example. From my research, it seems doable to work up to this kind of accuracy and consistency with a muzzleloader even with iron sights if I'm not taking shots much more than 100 yards. I don't mind passing on some shots to make this happen.
5) I'm going to be graduating soon, so I don't have that much extra cash and I might be moving to a state that does allow scopes for hunting, or else I wouldn't really worry about ever putting a scope on.
6) I do have a bit of experience with and access (for the moment) to mills, lathes, etc., but going down a path that takes a lot of work (really it's the time isn't it?) or is going to possibly weaken the barrel, making it less safe to shoot doesn't really appeal to me since I ultimately could just send to thing back. I've done some machining, but not gunsmithing. Also, the 301 and 304 stainless I've worked with was less forgiving than the carbon steel in my experience. Apparently, the barrel is also '416 stainless' or something like that.
Questions:
1) Do my plans for hunting and target shooting sound reasonable to you guys?
2) If I find that this optima is really a tack driver (or if I move to a state that allows scopes for hunting), I could see myself thinking maybe I should have put a scope on it after all. I could see myself wanting to take shots out to 200+ yards in that case. I would probably want to just use the Dura sight dead on scope mount that CVA suggests. Do you think I'd really need that 4th thread to keep the scope from moving around too much to do what I'd want to do with an average amount of use and abuse? Are there any 'good enough' fixes that you guys could recommend for my purposes? Just epoxy the screw in there?
3) If I ever wanted to go ahead at having the hole drilled and tapped slightly larger, is this going to weaken the barrel even if I keep the hole depth the same? It seems like this hole is right over where the powder get pushed down to in the barrel. Starting to remove more material than is stock there gives me pause.
4) Do you think it's worth it to send the gun back considering what I want this gun for? I haven't had to do this yet with any of my other rifles. Does CVA seem to be pretty good in this respect? I would hope to think they'd just swap out for a new one, but I haven't asked yet.
Looking forward to hearing some of your opinions! Thanks!
