Poor man's muzzleloader advice

[Hunthigh1]

Hey muzzy guys! Help, I know nothing!

I'm looking to pick up a muzzleloader this season to extend my opportunity on Washington multi season deer tag, and for future use in idaho and montana.

I am not rich and cannot justify spending much money on this. My centerfire rifle and my bow are both used, old, ugly and cheap, but i still manage to pile up a nice mature 4 point every year when i lived in montana and idaho.

My requirements are as follows:

Must be legal in all states in the west, i move around alot.
Must be cheap I want to spend as little as possible
Must be reliable (is this possible?)
Lighter is better, i go steep and deep when hunting.
/
Should i buy a used gun, or look at something like the CVA Wolf NW?

Thank you for your help!

 

[rlmmarine]

I haven't hunted with a muzzle loader in the states your in but the realrequirements are
Must be a
Inline, more reliable and accurate
209 primer, cheaper and more reliable
Removable breach, far easier to clean

Trust me on these

I use a Tc encore pro hunter, and the bone collector
Both are great guns

 

[LASTINLINE]

i have owned a few CVA inlines.i think the CVA NW option would be a great choice. there arent many lightweight muzzleloaders out there and that one is little over 6lbs.

 

[duckhunter175]

CVA all the way-- figure out which breech plug and sights will make you legal where you hunt.

Owned 3x different CVA Accura and Optima-- all shot lights out with BH209 and Harvester bullets/sabots-

 

[blackdawg]

Cva Acura northwest edition, purchase the 209 firing pin and blackhorn breechplug, picatinny rail, Williams peep and a decent scope then you can hunt virtually all states in US.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Hunthigh1]

The CVA accura is still out of my price range. Can i get by with the cheaper WOLF model?

 

[blackdawg]

I have had a Wolf, hardest gun I have ever owned to try and shoot straight at 50 yards with a scope, cost me a few big bucks, unloaded it. The Accura V2 for me is an incredible upgrade. If you had to wait a bit to get the coin together more than likely you will not have to do as I did and spend the coin twice. Muzzleloaders lose value the fastest of any firearm I know about, I had to virtually give the Wolf away.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[colersu22]

Another option is just hunt with your bow during muzzy season, that’s what I did last year when I had a multi season tag since I didn’t want to buy a muzzle loader when I don’t plan on hunting with it. I went out all 3 seasons and just used the now for archery and muzzle loader and took a rifle for modern, completely legal in Wa and saves you the coin.

 

[ezmorningrebel]

poke around some gun shops and see if you can find a used one. i bought my tc triumph for about $250. the previous owner had put some shitty tasco scope on it that i'm sure that gun wrecked. my guess is they couldn't figure out why it wouldn't group and traded it in.

 

[fishslap]

You might look at a traditions pursuit buckstalker. Open sights but I have a scope setup for it with the quick connect bases for states where it's legal. I don't muzzleloader hunt a ton so I went with something cheap, simple, and reliable to start. First time I took it hunting I killed a small 4x4 buck with it on a leftover tag in Colorado.

 

[OXN939]

Hey muzzy guys! Help, I know nothing!

I'm looking to pick up a muzzleloader this season to extend my opportunity on Washington multi season deer tag, and for future use in idaho and montana.

I am not rich and cannot justify spending much money on this. My centerfire rifle and my bow are both used, old, ugly and cheap, but i still manage to pile up a nice mature 4 point every year when i lived in montana and idaho.

My requirements are as follows:

Must be legal in all states in the west, i move around alot.
Must be cheap I want to spend as little as possible
Must be reliable (is this possible?)
Lighter is better, i go steep and deep when hunting.
/
Should i buy a used gun, or look at something like the CVA Wolf NW?

Thank you for your help!

CVA Wolf. Got mine at Dick's last year for like 200 bucks, and it is surprisingly accurate. Decent trigger, really all perfectly usable components. Should fit the bill exactly.

 

[loggerchas]

CVA Wolf. Got mine at Dick's last year for like 200 bucks, and it is surprisingly accurate. Decent trigger, really all perfectly usable components. Should fit the bill exactly.

Ditto^^^

I will add that I also installed the Williams peep sight and removed the factory rear sight (from Brownells I think) and tightened my groups immensely. 2 deer and 2 elk with that setup (Aerolite PB showed much better performance on game than Aerotips, lots of options out there now just be careful knowing state regs on what projectiles are legal.) It's what I will be taking again this year for deer and antelope.

One little tidbit - when hunting, wrap a piece of electrical tape around ramrod and barrel, leaving a folded tag end on the bottom for quick removal. When hiking in brush on a Saturday afternoon the ramrod can come out just a little bit and rotate just 1/4 turn immediately before a nice buck jumps up from its bed to stand in front of you at 30 yards and when that projectile hits it, it makes a horrible sickening sound as the bullet deflects and the damaged ramrod flies out 10 feet in front of you to land in the dirt. That horrible sickening sound is closely followed by the potentially horrible words you might utter when you miss that snap shot at the dandy buck.... More words may soon be uttered when you realize that without that plastic end piece the ramrod is too short to load properly, and you are hours from a small town sporting goods store which is closed on Sundays, and...and...and....

Or so I hear this is what **can** happen...

 

[Hunthigh1]

Ditto^^^

I will add that I also installed the Williams peep sight and removed the factory rear sight (from Brownells I think) and tightened my groups immensely. 2 deer and 2 elk with that setup (Aerolite PB showed much better performance on game than Aerotips, lots of options out there now just be careful knowing state regs on what projectiles are legal.) It's what I will be taking again this year for deer and antelope.

One little tidbit - when hunting, wrap a piece of electrical tape around ramrod and barrel, leaving a folded tag end on the bottom for quick removal. When hiking in brush on a Saturday afternoon the ramrod can come out just a little bit and rotate just 1/4 turn immediately before a nice buck jumps up from its bed to stand in front of you at 30 yards and when that projectile hits it, it makes a horrible sickening sound as the bullet deflects and the damaged ramrod flies out 10 feet in front of you to land in the dirt. That horrible sickening sound is closely followed by the potentially horrible words you might utter when you miss that snap shot at the dandy buck.... More words may soon be uttered when you realize that without that plastic end piece the ramrod is too short to load properly, and you are hours from a small town sporting goods store which is closed on Sundays, and...and...and....

Or so I hear this is what **can** happen...

ouch! thanks for the pro tip!!

 

[Hunthigh1]

I think i may "pull the trigger" on this used CVA!" Should i be concerned about what looks like a little corrosion or powder marking in the photo?

http://www.rokslide.com/forums/guns-classifieds/98775-cva-optima-v2-nw-edition-50-cal-muzzy.html

 

[elkduds]

I picked up a used CVA Optima a couple years ago for well less than $200. Light, very accurate, dead reliable. Wouldn't trade it.

 

[Finn16]

For years I avoided CVA due to personal bias. I finally decided to try a CVA Optima V2 and was blown away by the accuracy. I should have bought one a long time ago. I did look at the Accura V2 but liked the stock on the Optima better.

 

[LASTINLINE]

Cabelas has the NW Wolf version for $229. why buy used muzzy. Ebay has the $100 for 80$ gift cards.

 

[Hunthigh1]

well, thanks all. I picked up that CVA optima used with a williams sight attached. We'll see how it goes! plenty to learn.

 

[gdpolk]

I ran an add for a 209x50 inline in my local Armslist, paper, and Craigslist. I got into a nearly like new CVA Optima Pro (NRA 95% cosmetic condition, but missing the cheap open sights) with scope bases for $60 cash.

I put a used, like new Leupold VX3 1.75-6x on it in Burris Signature rings. After buying all the start up equipment, primers, bullets/sabots, and BH209 powder I am all in for under $400 with 100 rounds to feed it. While I know this isn't the absolute cheapest way to muzzleload, but it has opened up another season and opportunities for permit hunts for me without a ton of money.

My gun shoots ~1-1.5" 100yd 5-shot groups, and the optic can let me clearly see from dark thirty to dark thirty. At 1.75x it has a wide enough field of view to hunt the thickest of brush and when dialed up to 6x I can see what I need to hit medium/large sized game animals in the vitals out to distances beyond what I'm comfortable guessing the trajectory at. What more could a man reasonably ask for?

 

[ATX762]

I think used was a great idea. Most people barely shoot them and a little corrosion at the base of the barrel where that crud ring usually builds up won't hurt anything.

But as previously mentioned, definitely keep in mind that your ramrod is basically your lifeline. Tape it in, do whatever, get another one to use at the range, etc...but without it the gun don't work, kind of a like a release in archery.