# CVA Optima Loads



## oopsagain (Mar 5, 2005)

I recently purchased an Optima and not happy with performance so far. I've tried 90 and 100 grains with 777 pellets and 200 and 250 TC sabot bullets.. 

I need to cut down learning curve.. Any help on loads would be appreciated..

If I can't get it any better it's back to my 45 cal flintlock. . Darn


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## Dirtyworm (May 3, 2013)

100 grain triple 7 and 295 grain HP by power belt. 

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## catfishhunterjames (Mar 29, 2010)

I use 120 grain pyrodex rs with a .223 power belt hp, and I sight it in a 100 yards.


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## BigV (Nov 11, 2004)

oopsagain said:


> I recently purchased an Optima and not happy with performance so far. I've tried 90 and 100 grains with 777 pellets and 200 and 250 TC sabot bullets..


My first suggestion would be get rid of the 777 pellets.
Pellets (777 and Pyrodex) are notoriously inconsistent and can be off by as much as 10% to 15% +/- by weight. 

Do some research to determine if your rifle will shoot Blackhorn 209 powder. Blackhorn cleans up with standard powder solvent not water. It is clean burning and will not build up residue inside the barrel allowing for 20 to 25 shots between cleaning.

Give harvester crush rib sabots a try as most folks get much better accuracy using them.

Muzzle loaders require trial and error to find that "perfect" combination of bullet, powder charge and sabot that will shoot the best in your rifle.

If your planning to use it for hunting, I would suggest using a bonded copper bullet as bonded bullets will not fragment on impact like copper coated bullets will. TC makes a 250 grain bonded shockwave that works well.


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## mudkings (May 11, 2010)

Yeah try different powder and bullets and see what u have. That being said I shoot 100 gr. Of triple 7 pellets with 245 grain powerbelt with zero problems. The only gun I use on deer. Deadly. Lol. mine is the optima pro which will take 150 grains of powder but ive never needed it.

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## supercanoe (Jun 12, 2006)

I shoot 2 50 grain pyrodex pellets and 250 grain hornady sst sabots in my optima. All of my bullets punch through one ragged hole at 50 yards.


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## powerstrokin73 (May 21, 2008)

+1 for the Harvester Sabots and TC Shockwave/SST's. The Harvester sabots made a big difference for me in my T/C Encore.

Evin


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## Lundy (Apr 5, 2004)

BigV said:


> My first suggestion would be get rid of the 777 pellets.
> Pellets (777 and Pyrodex) are notoriously inconsistent and can be off by as much as 10% to 15% +/- by weight.
> 
> Do some research to determine if your rifle will shoot Blackhorn 209 powder. Blackhorn cleans up with standard powder solvent not water. It is clean burning and will not build up residue inside the barrel allowing for 20 to 25 shots between cleaning.
> ...


+1

Try BH 209, good powder, consistent, much cleaner and easy cleanup as compared to T7, Pyrodex. Just follow instructions for load measurement

Try a couple of different sabot bullet combo's. A slightly tighter (harder loading) combo will normally shoot much better than a looser (easy loading) combo.

Select a bonded or all copper bullet if there is any chance (always is)of your shot placement being slightly off target.

You spend a lot of dollars on a gun and accessories, hunting gear, countless hours scouting, etc, etc, etc. I think you really want to know that when you finally take that one shot that it will go where you want and the bullet will perform as you want.

Good hunting to you, kill a big one


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## zipperneck52 (May 1, 2004)

I would suggest you check out www.maxmuzzleloader.com for some great info on loads, bullets, sighting in & a whole slue of info on black powder shooting. They've done a ton of testing on all types of guns and loads looking for "best" shooting set-ups for each gun. It could help you pick out what will work consistantly for you.


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## buckeye dan (Jan 31, 2012)

If you want to stick with pellets then try this powder:
http://www.imrpowder.com/white-hots.html

With these bullets (240,260,300 grain options):
http://www.harvestermuzzleloading.c...ion=com_virtuemart&Itemid=3&vmcchk=1&Itemid=3

Using these sabots:
http://www.harvestermuzzleloading.c...category_id=7&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=18

Using Remington Kleanbore ML primers if you can find them. The triple 7 ML primers will work but they are filthy.


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## GOLDFISH (Mar 10, 2006)

I have a cva opt and love it. I shoot 100 gr. pydro with tc primer and the red Hornady can't think what grain that is anyway shoots tight tight groups and 100yds. 

I know it says powerbelts work best in the manual but that is nothing more than politics on making money I would say they paid cva to put that in there


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## supercanoe (Jun 12, 2006)

The red hornadys are the sst. Same load that I shoot. My dad is shooting them his optima now too after he saw how well mine were grouping. He shot power belts before and shot ok groups, but had a lot of flyers. Me and my neighbor were shooting his TC one day in the backyard. He loaded up a power belt and then opened the breech to put in a primer. The power belt fell out fell out the end of the barrel onto my patio. That's a bad sign.


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## Lundy (Apr 5, 2004)

GOLDFISH said:


> .
> 
> I know it says powerbelts work best in the manual but that is nothing more than politics on making money I would say they paid cva to put that in there


There is a very good reason for that. CVA owns Powerbelt


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## BigV (Nov 11, 2004)

Lundy said:


> There is a very good reason for that. CVA owns Powerbelt


Powerbelts (in my opinion) are not a good choice for a hunting projectile. They are copper coated and not bonded and as a result the copper jacket will separate from the lead core on impact. The lead then fragments into pieces and prevents a clean pass through shot. This is especially true in close range shots at 50 yards or less. Once the bullet slows a bit, the separation is less likely.


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## Lundy (Apr 5, 2004)

BigV,

I only was saying CVA owns them and that is why CVA pushes them so hard.

I personally would never use or recommend their use for deer


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## BigV (Nov 11, 2004)

Lundy said:


> BigV,
> 
> I only was saying CVA owns them and that is why CVA pushes them so hard.
> 
> I personally would never use or recommend their use for deer


I agree 100%.
I didn't know that CVA owned the rights to Powerbelts.
Thanks for the information.


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## GOLDFISH (Mar 10, 2006)

Lol Lundy I did not know they had ownership of powebelts, But I knew the only reason it was in the manual was money driven.


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## oopsagain (Mar 5, 2005)

I tried 240 grain XTP's and 250 grain Shockwaves with 2 50 grain 777 pellets.. At 50 yards all were nearly touching each other.. At 100 the XTPs were an inch apart 3 inches left.. There was a breeze right to left.. The shockwaves ... well one was 5 inches high and one was 4 inches low right.. 

The 777 pellets are soooooooooooooo filthy shooting.. I had to swab gun everyother shot. I thought blackpowder was dirty the 777 caked so bad I couldn't get 3rd shot to seat correctly.. 

I am going to try Blackhorn powder.. It has to be at the very least cleaner shooting...


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## oopsagain (Mar 5, 2005)

Blackhorn powder is the nuts.. clean shooting ++++++++++, was getting good groups at 100 yrds.. need just a little more tweaking and I'll be all smiles


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## Lundy (Apr 5, 2004)

oopsagain said:


> Blackhorn powder is the nuts.. clean shooting ++++++++++, was getting good groups at 100 yrds.. need just a little more tweaking and I'll be all smiles


Awesome results

Glad you like the 209.

T7 is a sugar based product and builds up (famous crud ring) like crazy in some guns preventing proper seating without a good cleaning.

My friend shoots an Omega and really fought the crud ring.

I have been hunting almost exclusively with a MZ for the last 15 + years. I really disliked need to always clean the guns after each range trip or hunting trip.

I went to a custom Savage MZ that shoots smokeless powder. Now I clean my guns once a year. I checked zero on November, hunt all of the gun seasons and clean in January

Hope you kill a big one


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## BigV (Nov 11, 2004)

I also hunt exclusively with my muzzleloader. I have been through many different ones over the years trying to find the perfect gun. A few years back I purchased a TC Omega with a fluted barrel and thumbhole stock. I spent the money on having my stock pillared and bedded along with a trigger job. That went a long way in improving accuracy and consistency from shot to shot. Blackhorn 209 is the best powder I have ever used. I never liked the idea of using water to clean my gun. Now with the BH I use regular powder solvent. I am confident in my muzzleloader and would not hesitate to take shots well beyond 150 yards. 
Another great advantage is that BH 209 is non hydroscopic and will not readily absorb water like other powders. 
The down side to BH is that not every gun can use it, it's harder to ignite than other black powders and a fouling shot is necessary to insure accuracy on the first shot.

If you have not tried it, you should.


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## dakotaman (Oct 19, 2005)

I have the Optima Pro and use the 777 primers, 100gr. of 777 pellets, and Nosler SHOTS, in what I believe to be 240 grain. They are incredibly accurate and deadly on impact. The most accurate coincidently out of my gun were the powerbelts. However I recovered them from two deer. Both failed to exit the animal, were deformed, not mushroomed, and the plastic nose was still stuck in both bullets not allowing for proper expansion. I played around with numerous loads, primers, and bullet/sabot combos until I found my sweet spot. It is not the cleanest shooting load, but I will forgive cleanliness for dependable accuracy and deadly terminal performance.


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## Ring (Dec 7, 2013)

CVA wolf, 2 white hots and a 350gr hornady FPB's 

4 shots @ 100y 1.2"


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## bobk (Apr 30, 2004)

White Hots were junk out of my encore. I will stick with Blackhorn. I'm a fan of loose powder so I can tweak the loads to what my gun likes. Not an option with sticks.


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