Inline Recommendation

D

DustinS

Inactive
I am thinking about getting into black powder hunting. I am looking for a inline to get started with. Does anyone have any recommendations for a good starter gun? I am looking at a CVA Optima 209 Magnum. I just want some input before I make the purchase.
 
Just my opinion;

Choice #1; T.C. Black Diamond while you can still find them in catalogs. Might have to go to a gun show as factory is not listing these. You will have the choice of ignition systems. You should be able to pick one up quite resonably.

Choice #2; Knight: American or Wolverine.

Choice #3; Traditions: Lots of choices here.

Welcome to a great way to hunt and if you really get the bug, buy a "Side Cocker"
 
I have owned dozens of smokesticks from several different companies, and I can't really bad mouth any of them. They all have a little something I either didn't like, or liked a little better than the last one.

I finally ran onto a Savage ML II smokeless muzzleloader, that seems to be the best of all worlds. It will shoot all powders from Black to smokeless, and has the strongest chamber, and best barrel of any of the others. They are the ONLY muzzleloader that is pressure tested from the factory to exceed more than twice the recommended loads. They are a bit pricey (580.00 to 600.00) but I could have saved myself a lot of money, if they had been available when I bought my first one.

Just my .02
 
I've owned three CVA rifles over the years and have always found them to be exceptionally accurate. My current CVA is the Optima Pro 26" nickel/black synthetic. I've shot 4 deer (and two coyotes) with it at ranges up to 85 yds. in the last two years. With Hornady SST speedsabots and 150gr of 777 pellets I get 1" or better 100 yd groups from the bench.

Prior to that I owned a CVA Hunterbolt that I took 5 deer with at ranges up to 120yds. (someone stole it out of my truck prompting the purchase of the Optima).

Prior to that I had a CVA Staghorn that I had taken 7 deer with at ranges up to 225 yds (Used a haybale for an improvised rest, paced and confirmed by rangefinder and shot witnessed by my father in law). This was the most accurate muzzleloader I've ever fired and had a VERY sweet trigger. I wanted a 150 gr. capable gun though and the Staghorn was a bear to take down and clean so I sold it and bought the Hunterbolt.

I'd say go with the Optima if you like how it feels. I like mine and my father in law has the same gun and has been pleased as well.
 
"Prior to that I had a CVA Staghorn that I had taken 7 deer with at ranges up to 225 yds (Used a haybale for an improvised rest, paced and confirmed by rangefinder and shot witnessed by my father in law). This was the most accurate muzzleloader I've ever fired and had a VERY sweet trigger."

i have the old Staghorn with the two piece barrel. It is limited to 100 grains of Pyrodex. This gun has had the action glass bedded and the barrel floated: It is more accurate than most centerfire rifles to 150 yards.

i've killed many dozens of hogs and deer with that cheap old gun. My load is 100 grains of pellets or granular Pyrodex and the 240 grain Hornady XTP in the short black sabot.
 
My Staghorn was a one piece barrel. It actually started life as a Prohunter or something like that, then CVA had that barrel recall and my new barrel said Staghorn on the side. It was bone stock from the factory. No bedding or other work done to it. The best feature of that gun was the trigger, which was VERY light. Had it not had the notch safety for the bolt as well as the lever safety behind the trigger guard I would not have felt comfortable hunting with it.

My father in law and I were using haybales in a big field as blinds on evening when 2 does walked out in the lower corner of the field near a pine thicket. I belly crawled from bale to bale to cut the distance between me and them from 400 yds to 225. Last bale and after that it was open territory from me to them. One shot, deer buckled a bit and scrambled 40 yds into the trees.

I miss that gun......
 
I bought a CVA at Walmart this week. Everything was marked down due to the end of the hunting season. Including bullets, pellets etc. Seemed like bargains to me.
 
I bought a CVA at Walmart this week. Everything was marked down due to the end of the hunting season. Including bullets, pellets etc. Seemed like bargains to me.
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Yep, Good plan.

When the CVA hunterbolt referenced in my post above got stolen it was the middle of the weeklong blackpowder season here in Central NC. I usually take that entire week off. With the way our state is split into regions, the Eastern blackpowder season had already passed. So instead of having half my week be ruined by a stolen gun, I drove 45 minutes east to a walmart in the eastern region, bought the CVA Optima at a savings of about 65 bucks and went hunting with it the same afternoon.
 
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