Newby looking for loads for CVA Accura V2

[iabhtr]

Hi guys , forgive me if I have less than intelligent questions , my Accura V2 will be here Tuesday , just looking to see what some of you are using for loads that shoot this rifle , I am going to use Blackhorn 209 , CCI mag 209 primers , to start bought 1 pack of 15 Barnes 290 TMZ just to get my feet wet , would welcome any and all thoughts as to stuff to try , I know I will need to finetune loads to this gun , just looking for a good starting place , Thanks in advance for anything you are willing to share , Dan

Guess I shouldve said this will be a whitetail gun

 

[MrTom]

First off you'll need a bh209 compatible breech plug. Easy to find on the internet. Next pick up a bottle of Hoppes gun solvent for cleaning....the stuff used on shotguns and cartridge guns. Pick up a powder measure that goes to 120 grains too.

For a starter load I use 90 grains of powder for the first three shots. 100 for the next three. 110 for the next three and maybe 120 grains for the next three. I'm fairly confident that you'll find the sweet spot between the 100 and 110 grain loads. Then shoot to sight the gun in.

 

[iabhtr]

Thanks Tom , yep got the 209 breech plug coming with the gun , did pick up some cleaning solvent at my local Scheels , any suggestions on different bullets , sabots ? I was going to start out pretty similar to what you suggested

 

[DJ_Brutus]

Welcome! Lots of info on CVA loads on here - use the search function and you’ll see plenty of recent threads/posts.
One of the most popular loads (and has worked well for me too) is .452 Hornady XTP (non-mag) or .452 Speer Deep Curl, both in 300gr, though you could go 250gr as well. Most use a Harvester black Crush Rib sabot, but a Harvester smooth short, or MMP HPH-24 sabot work well for some too. And you may find a slightly tighter or looser sabot than those may work better. As Tom said, try 90-120gr by volume of BH209 and see what is best for you.

 

[deermanok]

That's half the fun of muzzleloading, trying different powder charges and bullet combinations. Best of luck with the new rig.

 

[ShaunJ]

I have the CVA Accura V2 Long Range. I love this gun. I got it in July.
I have a Blackhorn breach plug. Just make sure you clean it good after you're done shooting. Mine got gunked up and wouldn't fire, I blame shooting 777 with it though. It was my own fault, for not cleaning it properly.
I use 120 grains of Blackhorn with 300 grain Powerbelt Aerolites for hunting. I use the 295 grain Aerotips for target practice.
This is my first year hunting. And got my first deer last night. With that 300 grain Aerolite, it had an entrance and exit hole. And broken ribs on both sides. The deer didn't get 10 feet before it dropped.

 

[Jbrown69]

Hi guys , forgive me if I have less than intelligent questions , my Accura V2 will be here Tuesday , just looking to see what some of you are using for loads that shoot this rifle , I am going to use Blackhorn 209 , CCI mag 209 primers , to start bought 1 pack of 15 Barnes 290 TMZ just to get my feet wet , would welcome any and all thoughts as to stuff to try , I know I will need to finetune loads to this gun , just looking for a good starting place , Thanks in advance for anything you are willing to share , Dan

Guess I shouldve said this will be a whitetail gun

I have a V2 as well. You will like it. Easy to clean and accurate. Mine shoots a number of different bullets well so have fun finding your best combo. I use 100 grn by volume BH 209, CCI m primers, 300 grain scorpian Golds and harvestors short smooth black sabot. Most likely you will find that there is some primer blowback. Read or search here in modern muzzleloader how to fix that. Have fun.

 

[MrTom]

Thanks Tom , yep got the 209 breech plug coming with the gun , did pick up some cleaning solvent at my local Scheels , any suggestions on different bullets , sabots ? I was going to start out pretty similar to what you suggested

The Barnes bullet/sabot you mention in your opening post is a dandy bullet. XTPs and Deep Curls are great and affordable bullets in the .44 cal and .45 calibers in the 240grain to 300 grain range with the charges I mentioned. Harvester or MMP sabots will cover your sabot needs nicely. Swift A-Frame bullets in the sizes and calibers just mentioned are clean shooting and killing bullets but are spendy. Barnes and Lehigh make some super nice hunting bullets that have excellent accuracy, I myself use the Barnes XPBs in two guns for hunting. Personally I'd avoid anything Power Belt if you are looking for a dependable hunting load. Power Belts can be quite accurate on paper but can be a whole other animal on deer hide where they can lack big time on dependable terminal performance. Right now stores will start marking down pre-packaged bullet/sabot combos and many of those are put together using great bullets and sabots so finding something to shoot to start may be best by going this direction.

Jbrown mentions blowback which you may or may not encounter. Try different shotshell loading primers to see which shoot the cleanest. I use Winchester shotshell primers in all of my guns and they are clean shooters, no blowback. If blowback is an issue you'll find some former threads that name a McMaster-Carr company o-rings to fit in the primer pocket of your breech plug that work very well at eliminating the blowback for mere pennies each and last for 40-50 shots. I shot CCI primers and had blowback. Winchester shotshell primers took care of the problem.

Right now the biggest problem most people are seeing is product acquisition. Bullets are hard to find as are primers. In a pinch I guess muzzleloader specific primers could be used but expect hang-fires and mis-fires with the 209 powder because they have much cooler ignition temperatures and 209 powder likes hot. If 209 powder is hard to find I suppose you could shoot T7 but skip the pellets as they severely limit your ability to really seek out an optimal load. The T7 granular powder is very close in over-all performance to that of the 209 powder so if you cut your teeth on the T7 you will find little need to adjust anything when you shift to BH209. Personally I'd go out of my way to find the 209 powder and if you do and find two containers, buy them both.

 

[iabhtr]

Thanks for all the thoughts guys , luckily I have a small mom n pop shop 8 miles away that is well stocked on BH209 & primers , bullets on the other hand around here seem hard to come by , probably be going on line to get sabots and bullets , sabot wise the suggestions so far are exactly the ones I was going to try , bullets on the other hand I had no clue , so a big Thank You for the suggestions , and as stated , should be fun working up a load for this beast

 

[Neumonic]

I have a new as of last year Accura V2 and absolutely love it! So far mine shoots everything well, Barnes and Harvester is what I have been shooting the most and what you have will do well with 100 grains of BH209.
I sighted in recently with 260’s and 90 grains then yesterday decided to use 300 grain harvesters with the hornady xtp mag bullets with 100 grains of BH and literally only had to go down 4 clicks to be spot on. Enjoy!
Top two shots were the first, second two around the bull were the last two after adjustments.

 

[ShaunJ]

Do you have the regular Accura V2? Or the Accura V2 LR (Long Range)? The Long Range has a 30" barrel. The extra 2" keeps it straighter, for longer distances. It's deadly accurate. I'm not a fan of using sabots. Just because I feel it leaves more plastic residue in the barrel that can be a pain to clean, opposed to using straight 50 cal bullets.

 

[MSalyards]

I shoot an Accura v2 with sabots and have NO problem with any residue. My load is : 84 weighed grains of BH 209 (120 by volume),a 300 gr, Speer Deep curl in a Harvester black crushrib sabot .452 bullet. And a CCI 209m primer. I have never had a misfire in 1000's of rounds fired. But clean your breech plug every 10 - 15 shots with the drill bit that's recommended. Your mileage may vary.

Mike

 

[GM54-120]

The extra 2" keeps it straighter, for longer distances

How does it do that? If that were the case then guys at the Friendship inline matches would be using 30" tubes. A good 27" barrel will do anything that 30" will do and lose less than 60fps. Wanna guess the #1 winning Hunter class production rifle at Friendship?,,,,Give you a hint.....Its got a 27" Green Mountain barrel.

The Accura V2 BTW is a 27", not a 28". The Plains Rifle is a 28"

I feel it leaves more plastic residue in the barrel that can be a pain to clean

Again this is more of a myth than truth now days. How can i shoot sabots over 2500fps and not see the horrible fouling i keep hearing about? In my experience its easier to remove than copper fouling. Bore quality has far more impact on fouling than barrel quantity.

 

[MSalyards]

And another thing, while measuring your 27" barrel in the Accura. After I subtract a couple inch's for the breech plug and a inch for the QLA I have 24" of usable rifling. And it still shoots!

 

[mnoland30]

A benchrest shooter once explained to me that a shorter barrel shoots more accurately because it is stiffer. My 10" Contender shoots better than most people's rifles. That said, I have the V2 LR .45. It gives me 75 fps greater velocity than my 24" Encore barrel. That makes a difference on trajectory and terminal ballistics. My friend has a .50 V2 MR, and uses the Barnes 290 gr. and two pellets of 777. She loves the accuracy. Another buddy raves about the Barnes Expanders for elk or deer. The owners manual says to clean the firing pin each time you use the gun. That is a pain. Cleaning the BH 209 breechplug also is a pain. I found cleaning my old Kahnke rifle with the #11 cap much easier.

 

[ShaunJ]

Wow... I guess I picked the wrong thread to post in. He asked for load combinations and I gave him my opinions. Because that's what everyone's take in here is. An opinion. It seems we have a couple of smart scientists in here trying to make me look bad. Longer barrels stabilize the bullet more when it exits the barrel. That's the whole point of the longer barrel. And it's why they have barrel length laws for hunting with shotguns where I live. Fair sport. CVA makes a 30" barrel and call them LONG RANGE rifles. I guess they just make that stuff up, just because they feel like it.

 

[ShaunJ]

• Rifling: When the bullet travels through the barrel, the rifling (helical grooves in the barrel) forces the bullet to spin by converting some of its forward kinetic energy to angular momentum. This gives the bullet gyroscopic stability. Remember, a gun without rifling is a musket - without spin, the bullet trajectory is unstable, like a 'knuckle ball'.
• Barrel length: A longer barrel extends the time time interval where chamber pressure acts on the bullet's mass. Therefore, a longer barrel increases the exit velocity of the bullet and the effective range of the bullet. Friction limits the allowable barrel length.
• Bullet mass: Increased bullet mass increases the bullets inertia (resistance to external forces). Therefore, the bullets trajectory is less effected by external forces such as cross-winds or contact with obstacles (like brush, etc.).

 

[BuckDoeHunter]

110 grains Vol. BH209, 250 grain Barnes TEZ in a Harvester smooth black sabot, Winchester 209 primer. This load combo shot very well out of my Son's Accura. Looking forward to some range reports when you get a chance.

 

[iabhtr]

Measured up 9 powder charges ,( all the tubes I had ) 80 grains by weight to start , got the gun today , cleaned all the factory grease off , put the 209 breech in , scope mounted but have to bore sight it yet , so some time tomoro will run those 9 first rounds thru it , get a feel for the gun , then start experimenting with load once I get the scope in the ball park

 

[GM54-120]

I guess they just make that stuff up, just because they feel like it.

You are correct. CVA does that all the time with the mythical sabot residue in the manual. You wont gain over 60fps with that added 3" of barrel. That is meaningless. You want to spin it faster use a faster twist. That skirt on a PB is plastic too. If a 30" was "the bomb" why didnt their top of the line Paramount come out in 30" instead of 26"? They call it "long range capable too" and the Paramount 50cal uses a faster twist....Hmmm.

Its called marketing and a 30" offers nearly nothing in the long range game unless we start talking about peep sights and real black. A long sight radius is helpful and real black might make use of the longer barrel....BH209....not so much. There is solid data all over to back it up and countless wins at Friendship.