New Accura on it's way- advice needed

[jc502]

I just purchased a .50 cal CVA Accura (V1) on clearance from Cabelas. I have a long history shooting a traditional muzzleloader but zero experience shooting a modern/inline. Here is what I am leaning toward at the moment

-Triple 7 - I want to shoot granular powder so as to be able to work up a load in 10 or 5 grain increments for this particular gun, as opposed to 50 grain from pellets

-some type of handgun bullet and a sabot

Any thoughts or advice would be appreciated!

[ENCORE]

Originally Posted by jc502

I just purchased a .50 cal CVA Accura (V1) on clearance from Cabelas. I have a long history shooting a traditional muzzleloader but zero experience shooting a modern/inline. Here is what I am leaning toward at the moment

-Triple 7 - I want to shoot granular powder so as to be able to work up a load in 10 or 5 grain increments for this particular gun, as opposed to 50 grain from pellets

-some type of handgun bullet and a sabot

Any thoughts or advice would be appreciated!

You can't go wrong with the Hornady 300gr XTP bullet, if you're looking for a handgun bullet. If you're set on triple 7 then you should be good to go. Just work up the load....

However, if that rifle is capable of shooting BH 209, I'd shoot it and the Barnes 250 or 300gr TMZ (don't forget alignment tool). You'll find that BH does just what it says it does. No swabbing between shots and its still easy to load. I've fired up to 21 shots without swabbing and no difference in accuracy. Read the directions, as 120grs by volume is a max charge. http://www.blackhorn209.com/

http://barnesbullets.myshopify.com/pages/muzzleloader

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I would also concur with the Blackhorn 209 powder, I have been shooting it since it has been available, going on 2-1/2 years now. I have had range sessions for 40+ shots without swabbing, no loss of accuracy or crud ring to deal with like you get with Triple Se7en.

The thing to remember with the CVA Bergara barrels is they generally run in the .500" to .501" range, so keep that in mind when buying saboted bullets. The TMZ's in the Barnes yellow sabots measure .506", and .501" in the blue sabots Barnes packages for Knight. Harvester makes a Crush Rib Sabot for these Barnes boat-tail bullets as well, I think it measures somewhere in between the other two.

Lots of good bullets out there that can be paired with proper sabots, I personally like about .003" over bore for saboted bullets. This keeps things tight, but not so tight you can't push them down the bore. Tighter is generally better than loose for accuracy.

A friend assembled this graphic from some pics and information I and other guys gave him, he did have a typo on the 290 gr TMZ/PBT and labeled it a 300 gr, other than that it is correct. This should give you an idea of where to start, and what ones to stay away from for loading. There is also a primer length chart that I made that might also be helpful. IMO you want a slight crush fit, around .002" to .003" max for your primer for best results at combating blowback. The rims of most of the primers are slightly flared back and will compress slightly when locking up a tip-up (break open) rifle.





http://www.modernmuzzleloader.com/ph...pic.php?t=9798

Those Bergara Barrels are very nice barrels, and IMO are the most consistant barrels on current production inline muzzleloaders.

Good luck finding the loads that work best in your rifle, that is the fun of wringing out a new rifle IMO. Triple Se7en is a very consistant powder, but you will have to swab the bore after every shot for best accuracy, that crud ring is really tough. If you do go with BH209, make sure you have a 3mm drill bit to clean the carbon out of the flame channel in your breech plug. Just turn it by hand down to the small flash hole in the bottom. That carbon is some hard stuff, and if not removed will greatly reduce your pressure and flame going into the powder causing hang/delayed fires or even misfires.

[jc502]

Awesome- lots to digest here and pour over. I was thinking Triple 7 mainly because I want powder not pellets, so I am open to the Blackhorn 209 also. I ran .495 round balls and .015 patches for a tighter fit (plus it liked them) out of my Lyman Great Plains Rifle.

I'm guessing an alignment tool is so you don't mess the tip of the bullet up when loading?

I'm sure I will have more questions once I get to work with it.

[jc502]

OK-
If the Bergara barrels are around .500" / .501", how much over that would I want to go? Work it up like with a traditional, trying different sabots and powder combinations until the groups tighten?

With my traditional, I was using a .495 ball and a .015 patch - tried multiple combinations until the groups closed in. That's quite a bit over, not sure that would be typical for most. It loaded easy on the first shot. After that, it reminded me I needed to swab it.

And I think I got lost on the primer length talk. Help me out a little more on that one-

Thanks again- Jerry

[DEDGOOSE]

Congrats on your purchase.. Busta good info their..

All I can tell the OP is the girlfriend shoots an Optima elite and it digests pretty much anything you put through it.. Accuracy was superb with both SST 250, TC Shockwaves (SST 250 essentially) and the Barnes TMZ with Yellow. 3 shot groups of under an 1 inch or right at... XTP 300 grains opened up the groups a bit but more than adequate..

Very fortunate that the gun loves 2 T7 pellets with the above ammo and swabbing in between shots.. Like others accuracy went downhill with the addition of another pellet..