I'm going to order a new muzzleloader. I can't decide which, so I'm asking for people's thoughts and experiences. I'm going to finger them all again this weekend.
It's between a Traditions Ultralight Vortek, Traditions Persuit Ultralight, a CVA Accura MR, and a CVA Optima V2. I don't like knight rifles for whatever irrational reason or I'd probably be all about their ultralight.
It will be used in the North Eastern US (where I will be moving soon) for attempts at bears and whitetail deer. I will use it in many of the states (NY, MA, VT, and CT mainly). I will backpack with it a lot, so I want a light rifle. I've already bought a Meopro 3-9 to slap on what I get. I kind of want to get something I won't feel too bad about beating the crap out of. As far as I can tell, a scoped inline with sabots is legal in all those states.
Basically, I'm going to hike around a lot during rifle seasons and want something with me. I don't want to take one of my nice center fires all the time, so I might as well finally get a modern inline blackpowder gun like I've been putting off. If I drew a muzzy tag in the north west, CO, etc, I already have a nice gun I could borrow for that which is compliant with appropriate loads. This will only be used in the north east. Plus I kind of just want to get a bear with a muzzleloader. The only dedicated muzzleloader seasons I'll use it with is the early in NY, and CT's.
Rifle wise, I already own a NULA for smokeless and a Lyman great plains rifle. I've often borrowed an Accura V1 and a higher end of the spectrum TC dedicated muzzleloader. I'm leaving the NULA with my dad since he's a little partial to it.
I will only shoot Blackhorn 209.
Is the nitride that awesome and worth the extra money vs stainless? I mean, if I were shooting pyrodex, I'd love it, but we've never had an issue with blackhorn in a stainless rifle. I won't shoot it much at all once I work a load up. I'll probably only pop it off once every week or two to put a fresh load in.
How is the accuracy in general on the CVAs vs the Traditions? I've found a little bit on this, but not much.
Is the Accura's polished barrel that much easier to clean and that much more accurate vs the Optima?
I'm not that concerned about recoil. I can properly shoot an ultralight rifle while getting my crap rocked. I feel like a lot of folks can't. These muzzle loaders won't be nearly as bad as some of my centerfires.
One other question. That rubbery stuff on the stocks of TC's, Accuras, etc. Has anyone ever had that start to break down? It seems to me like it would over time. I'm a little leery of getting a stock with those grippy spots on it.
Any other thoughts or advice? Anyone want to tell me to get something completely different I haven't thought of?
Thanks!