Well I guess it's official!

[Hunter8282]

I bought my first muzzle loader!

After a long drawn out decision process, I decided to go with the new CVA Optima. So far I have just given the outside a good wipe down. Need to spend some time becoming familiar with it and buying the accessories I need to shoot/clean etc. Also need to read through the manual as I mentioned this is my first ML. I am sure I'll have many questions to come in the future and hope you don't mind me asking them

 

[frontier gander]

You're going to LOVE it!! Especially that breech plug!

 

[saxman1]

From FG's reports I believe you have made a good choice.
I'm looking forward to the new offerings from Knight for my next one although the APEX looks real good

 

[GM54-120]

From FG's reports I believe you have made a good choice.
I'm looking forward to the new offerings from Knight for my next one although the APEX looks real good

They both look similar to me. I like the lines of both of them and the new BP seems to work well. Shoots clean and BH209 friendly.

 

[Hunter8282]

I am planning to just start right off with BH209 powder and find a good hunting bullet and fine tune the amount of powder.

Any suggestions on a good hunting bullet (mainly for MI whitetails)? We don't have to shoot conicals here. I was thinking something in the Barnes lineup.

Thanks!

 

[GM54-120]

I am planning to just start right off with BH209 powder and find a good hunting bullet and fine tune the amount of powder.

Any suggestions on a good hunting bullet (mainly for MI whitetails)? We don't have to shoot conicals here. I was thinking something in the Barnes lineup.

Thanks!

Im partial to the sub 300gr Barnes but many like them. I prefer the 250gr Barnes or the 285gr Spitfires although many people dont get acceptable accuracy with boattail Spitfires. Knight has the Spitfire 285gr on sale right now for $13 per 18 with EZ load sabots.

IMO though Whitetales usually dont need a "premium" $1+ bullet for a clean kill.

The BEST deal going right now is at www.wideners.com . They have Nosler Partitions in 260gr and 300gr for less than $24 a box of 50. Its a premium bullet at an affordable price (when on sale). Thats half of retail and ive bought many boxes of them.

Barnes and Partitions almost never fail...period. If they shoot well for you, they will devastate any game in NA.

Another affordable option is the Harvester Scorpion Gold PTs. They offer a 260gr and 300gr in 45cal. Its one of the best deals for the money (for a pointy bullet) and all of mine shoot them well. Bulk 50 packs are in the $23 range plus shipping...ask for some samples too..it helps offset the cost of shipping.

A good lower recoil bullet is the Speer 45LC GoldDot Defense bullet. It has a very deep hollow point and expands well at lower velocity.

Ive got a huge stock of media to destroy (with mentioned bullets) this weekend if the weather holds out and will post the results by Monday.

Let me know if you want a sample pack in a PM. I have a huge stock ATM of 40cal and 45cal bullets and 50x45 or x40 sabots. I can make you up a mix 50 pack and you can see what you and the gun prefers. Price will depend on the samples, plus $5 in shipping.

 

[BuckDoeHunter]

Congrats on a nice looking rifle and from all the reports, I'm sure it will shoot great!

Barnes bullets are one of the best. They are pricey, but with all the expense of getting ready for deer hunting, why not GO with the best. They are a buck or more a shot but I usually only want to shoot once at a deer. We took 6 deer this last hunting season and all took only one shot. The furthest one ran was maybe 40 or so yards.
There are good lead hunting bullets out there but I don't like worrying about lead fragments in my meat, I have many young children and just want to be the safest I can. From what I've seen so far, Barnes bullets don't fragment and come apart at all like some bullets.
We shoot them with 80 grains up to 110 grains of BH 209 powder. My favorite hunting load is a 250 or a 290 grain TEZ flat base with a MMP HPH#12 sabot.

 

[ronlaughlin]

I am planning to just start right off with BH209 powder and find a good hunting bullet and fine tune the amount of powder.

Any suggestions on a good hunting bullet (mainly for MI whitetails)? We don't have to shoot conicals here. I was thinking something in the Barnes lineup.

Thanks!

Something in the Barnes line would do just fine, but they are quite expensive. If you are some like me, that would have a tendency to keep the quantity of shooting down. If you are new to the game of muzzle loader shooting, it wouldn't hurt to shoot a lot, and then shoot some more.

An economical way to purchase bullets and sabot is to buy them separately like these sabot,

http://www.grafs.com/index.php/retail/c ... uctId/5481

and these bullet,

http://www.grafs.com/index.php/retail/c ... ctId/17366

By purchasing your bullet and sabot this way you are able to get 50 shots for about the same cost as 20 Barnes. This same Gold Dot bullet you can use for learning on paper, and for killing them whitetail. If you insist on using Barnes for hunting, which won't be any better than the Gold Dot, it will only take a hand full of shots to switch your sights from the Gold Dot to the Barnes. If you desire to avoid lead, you will just have to bite the bullet, and use the Barnes.