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Muzzleloader Advice

sep0667

sep0667

Land of the Whitetail
I know I can search through the older threads, but want to start a new one. I'm in the market for a new muzzleloader. I have never had a muzzleloader before. I've been wanting to get one for the past couple years and its time.

Any brands or model that seem to have a strong consensus to suggest or to stay away from? .45 or. 50 caliber? I guess the only feature that I would really like to have is a thumb hole stock, but that's not a necessity.

Any and all advise welcome!
 
Had a tc pro hunter for 3 yrs, could never get groups like I expected and consistency just wasn't there. I sold the tc and bought a 50 cal accura v2 last nov. I shoot 90 grains by volume of blackhorn and Barnes 250 gr bullets. After owning a couple of different muzzleloaders in the past I can finally say i can shoot 3 in groups at 100 yds. I know some shoot much better and with smokeless even better yet but for me I'm very happy with the cva. Best of luck in your search.
 
buy a cva hunter, took mine outta the store for $299 after taxes. sent it off to a guy, he threaded it and installed a breech plug for $190. so under $500 you can have a smokeless gun. money is a issue for me but there are ways to get a smokeless gun without breaking the bank.
 
i have a TC pro hunter with an after market barrel and it is crazy accurate. I absolutely love my gun, now with that being said if i was going to get one today.....no doubt it would be smokeless...spend the money and do it right the first time...now if you maybe you dont have 1500$ for a gun then go to any place and buy a CVA for 200$...play with some different loads and find what works best and youll have yourself a nice 150+ yard gun
 
If you're looking to go budget just to try it out, go with a cva wolf or optima. The next recommended step up would be a cva accurate V2. Any of the CVA's will take a blackhorn breech plug. Blackhorn 209 is the powder to shoot unless you go smokeless. Last option and the highest price would be a smokeless muzzleloader. Phenomenal guns!

Sent from my SM-G930R4 using Tapatalk
 
I'll also say that I have been impressed with my CVA Accura V2. The gun has a great trigger and shoots great. I shoot Blackhorn 209 with the Blackhorn breech plug and have had great results. I really like the combination.

My gun will really stack Hornady SST with Harvester Crush Sabots, but I wasn't impressed with the performance of the SST. Switched to Barnes TEZ and have had great results on deer, groups opened up a little, but I haven't played much with powder and sabot combinations on the Barnes as much, still very acceptable groups.
 
If you buy a CVA Hunter in .45-70 for conversion, beware the loads used. It cannot handle the loads people use in converted
bolt action rifles.
 
Got a T/C encore shooting the shockwaves they are amazingly accurate but when shooting a deer the entry and exit is like a pin hole..tried using barnes but need a sledge hammer to load them even with bore butter..bought a pack of Powerbelt .50 caliber aerolite 250 gr havent shot them yet but I hope they do more damage and are as accurate and easy to load as the shockwaves
 
ArrowSlinger said:
Got a T/C encore shooting the shockwaves they are amazingly accurate but when shooting a deer the entry and exit is like a pin hole..tried using barnes but need a sledge hammer to load them even with bore butter..bought a pack of Powerbelt .50 caliber aerolite 250 gr havent shot them yet but I hope they do more damage and are as accurate and easy to load as the shockwaves
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Did you try the TMZ or TEZ from barnes?
 
ArrowSlinger said:
Got a T/C encore shooting the shockwaves they are amazingly accurate but when shooting a deer the entry and exit is like a pin hole..tried using barnes but need a sledge hammer to load them even with bore butter..bought a pack of Powerbelt .50 caliber aerolite 250 gr havent shot them yet but I hope they do more damage and are as accurate and easy to load as the shockwaves
Click to expand...
Try a different sabot from Harvester. I think it's hard to beat the Barnes bullets for accuracy and what they do to a deer. Even though I'm shooting a 45 Encore, all the deer I've shot with the barnes expander 195gn have all been pass throughs with good blood. TC's are known for a tight bore that's why you need to try the easy load sabots from Harvester.
 
iowavf said:
Try a different sabot from Harvester. I think it's hard to beat the Barnes bullets for accuracy and what they do to a deer. Even though I'm shooting a 45 Encore, all the deer I've shot with the barnes expander 195gn have all been pass throughs with good blood. TC's are known for a tight bore that's why you need to try the easy load sabots from Harvester.
Click to expand...
I'll look into them I just couldn't believe how hard the Barnes loaded compared to shockwaves...shockwaves are a great accurate bullet but when all u find is 2 pin drops of blood in complete snow covered ground for 100+ yards it's kinda frustrating..guess I'm maybe use to rage broadhead blood trails but I believe there has to be a better bullet that leaves bigger hole out there
 
Another vote for the CVA Accura, I bought mine the year before they came out with the V2. My only complaint is the barrel release built into the trigger guard, it makes it uncomfortable to carry rested on your arm. Also do not take the trigger out to clean it, it is not a one piece unit and parts fly everywhere when you pull it out. It took Brownells master gunsmith 3 hours to put mine back together, in his words don't ever take that f'n thing apart again.
 
I love my T/C Triumph. It will shoot 1 1/4" groups at 100 yds, 4" groups at 200 yds. I shoot 120gr Loose 777FFG with a 250gr shockwave. I agree with others who are not impressed with the performance of the shockwave/SST bullet. No expansion on the last 3 deer I have killed with them. Thankfully 2/3 were DRT. they are crazy accurate though.
 
I upgraded from my TC encore to the Remington 700 UML. Well I still have the TC as my backup gun. After spending a couple hours on the range with the Remington 700 all I can say is wow. I started out by trying to zero the gun at 100 yards and upon doing some research I realized Remington recommends a 150 yard zero. Using the factory recommended Remington Accutips along with 200 grains of T7 powder the ballistics are pretty spot on. 200 yards had about a 5" drop and even though I haven't been able to fire out to 300 it shows about an 18-20" drop at the distance. Pretty pricey but worth every penny IMO. Be ready to feel it in your shoulder the next day after spending time on the range. Feels like firing a Barrett 50 cal and definitely shakes the ground around you.
 
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