I'm Hooked

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warbirdlover

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SIL took me out to shoot his CVA Accura .50 cal stainless black powder rifle this morning. He uses the Powerbelt bullets and 100 gr. of Blackhorn 209 powder. I couldn't believe the groups this thing could shoot.

I'm going to get the CVA camo stock "Wolf" with the cheapo scope to start out. I'm hoping this will do the job for now.

This would let me hunt in all the special blackpowder hunts around the state and not just during the one week of rifle season. I could also use it to hunt in the shotgun only counties.

Opinions please...
 
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After consultation the doctors are in agreement....

...His wallet is definitely going to have to come out.

Welcome to the asylum.
 
Can't give you any advice on the CVA Wolf,don't own one. But the Optima is a decent inline. As far as shooting the Powerbelt's, I have two CVA's and a Remington 700 inline the shoots them well. A Knight that does just okay with them and the T/C Encore doesn't shoot them well at all.
Used to have the Accura and gave it to my brother. Liked it very well.

Shooting the Powerbelts since before they became Powerbelts(they were once called 'Blackbelts' by Big Bore Express out of Idaho ), I will say if you get to using a powder measure of much north of 110grns. the accuracy tends to start failing rather quickly. To many fliers. Stay around 90-100grns. and if your rifle will shoot the PB's, you'll be happy.
 
SIL says the pellets don't work well with the Powerbelts either and it really fouls up the barrel fast. Those big .50 holes were all touching each other on the target at 100 yards. I'd say that's pretty good.
 
FWIW,

Just don't care for pellets.

I've found that all three of my rifle's that shoot the PB's like 90grns. loose powder or 75grns. Triple Seven. My choice of hunting load is the 250grn. PB bullet with 90grns. American Pioneer Powder(APP). APP burns fairly clean.

I've not tried the Blackhorn 209 powder but have read nothing but positive things about it(except it's price :rolleyes:)... and understand it requires a hotter primer compared to some of the other powders.
 
SIL used 100 gr of the Blackhorn powder and the 295 gr. copper aerotip PB bullet with a Winchester blackpowder 209 primer.

And the stainless CVA Optima .50 is on sale at Fleet Farm for $205!!

And one question. Can black powder rifles be shipped directly to you or do they have to go through someone with a FFL?
 
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While some shooters get good results with Powerbelts, I've seen many more that can't get them to groop worth a crap. Don't be afraid to experiment with other brands. My personal favorite is the 250grn Hornady SST (which also happens to have a much higher BC than most other ML bullets so it's flatter shooting). It is the same bullet as the TC Shockwave (which is made by Hornady) but uses a different color tip and sells for less money.
 
Your right about trying the Hornady SST's Doyle.

The Knight I said, "did just okay" with the PB's shoots the SST's very well as does the Encore.
 
<<SIL took me out to shoot his CVA Accura .50 cal stainless black powder rifle this morning. He uses the Powerbelt bullets and 100 gr. of Blackhorn 209 powder. I couldn't believe the groups this thing could shoot.

I'm going to get the CVA camo stock "Wolf" with the cheapo scope to start out. I'm hoping this will do the job for now.

This would let me hunt in all the special blackpowder hunts around the state and not just during the one week of rifle season. I could also use it to hunt in the shotgun only counties.

Opinions please...>>

Since you asked for opinions:

For special blackpowder only seasons there should be

• No scopes
• No inlines
• No 209 primers
• No non-loose powder
• No lasers
• No plastic stocks
• etc

You want to hunt in a primitive-equipment season you should use primitive equipment.

Now, before anyone gets too upset, he DID ask for opinions and that's mine.
 
What's an 'etc'? Don't believe I've ever used one of those.

Primitive only? Like stone axes primitive?
Click to expand...

Maybe the 'etc'. means the car/truck we drive back and forth to our hunting location ???

Maybe primitive should be using long bows/arrows and spears made by the individual hunter out of the best hickory or wood native to his/her surrounding tipped with granite arrow heads or bone from other animals trapped in a homemade snare ?...

...or should we be allowed to use actual b/p long guns and do these have to be match lock, flint lock or side locks shooting nothing but round ball we cast ourselves out of our homemade molds?

You want to hunt in a primitive-equipment season you should use primitive equipment.
Click to expand...

Then we have the clothing problem as well as the rest of our hunting equipment such as gutting/skinning knives or even a flashlight to aid in tracking that monster deer shot just before sunset that didn't fall where you shot it. Even with the Indian blood coursing through my veins, homemade torch's would seem a bit dim to follow a blood trail with my fading eyes.

Surely primitive would consist of buckskin and moccasin's we made ourselves along with our knives that we would have to make...maybe out of bone?
And we better never get caught taking our game to a processor. That would never be primitive. :rolleyes:
 
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Now the proud owner of a CVA stainless Optima with camo stock. Put my Nikon ProStaff BDC on it. Now for the 10 day muzzleloader season starting Monday. Will wait to sight in and let the deer settle down after rifle season.
 
Congratulations on a fine setup.

In case you didn't know...Make sure to click onto Nikon's 'Spot On Ballistic Site' and take advantage of their help in zeroing your rifle/scope combo.
It's kinda neat to be able to plug your gun and load data into their program and it tells you (very close to) where your different reticles will hit with that load.
 
I used that Nikon BDC data for my .300 Win Mag Ruger and it works perfectly! I hadn't thought of using it on a black powder due to the limited range but I'll see what they say.
 
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