CVA Accura MR Black Nitride

[elmerkeithclone]

I attempted to zero in one of these last night! All the reviews say that they are the cats meow! My shooting session started at 4:00 and the weather was perfect, 65 degrees and calm. I figured that I would have it zeroed in in a half hour and get home in time to take my turn at making supper. By 8:00 I was so mad that I wanted to throw a $500 dollar rifle with it's brand new Nikon 2-7x muzzleloader scope in the brink. An 8 inch 3 shot group was the best that I could come up with at 75 yards. I tried Pyrodex, Pyrodex Select, loose Tripple Seven, Tripple Seven Pellets for bullets I shot the Scorpion 250 grain saboted bullets, Hornady 240 grain sabot bullet, Great Plains lead conicals and some Lee Real bullets. I could put any one of these projectiles in my 15 year old TC ThunderHawk on top of 100 grains of any kind of powder and expect a 4 inch group at 100 yards. I cleaned after every shot, I tried shooting it dirty it made no difference. Muzzleloader season starts on saturday....I have from 2:30 this afternoon until dark tonight to figure this gun out. I am taking a different scope with me this afternoon and I am going to buy some of those $1.25 each CVA Powerbelt bullets.

Any thoughts?

I can't see the sights on my side hammer gun until 9:00 AM and the deer around here go to bed at 7:30. It sucks to get old. I have a certain 12 year old that is going along on his first deer hunt. He will use the TC Thunderhawk that shoots where it's looking. In the end what really matters is that he gets a deer. It's just that I have never missed opening day of muzzleloader season in Iowa since it opened back in the 70's. I hate to be setting there with nothing more than my skinning knife.

 

[BrownBear]

Can't think of a reason that thing shouldn't shoot better with SOMETHING, or even with all those combos, unless there was some flaw with the rifle. Makes me wonder about the crown on the barrel, but also maybe the scope itself or the mounts. Pretty sure you checked the mounts, but have you tried a different scope?

 

[elmerkeithclone]

Since my first post I have read a bunch more about this gun. Seems like everybody but ole number one here shot the powerbelt bullets from the start and had good results. I can't think that they are enough physically better to get to where I need to get with this gun. The scope that I mounted on the gun was in a box and looked new. A new older version from maybe 10 years ago. It was on a shelf at the shop with a bunch of other stuff that hadn't sold when Ray closed the shop. I'm wondering now if there is a reason it was in the box and on the shelf. I'll find out soon enough. I have a 1x4 Redfield that came off one of my 358s. I'm gonna put the Redfield on and head for the range.

Brown Bear, last year I used my side hammer gun and struggled some with seeing the sights in low light. This year it's bad enough that it could lead to a screwed up deer that gets away. So I swallowed my pride and am going to use this CVA which actually was ordered for my son to pick up while he was back last week. He left on friday and it showed up on monday so I thought that I would take advantage of the situation. In the end I might be glad that it's his. A good friend said that he has one of the magnetic clamp on mounts that will fit the octagon barrel on my side hammer gun. A scope on a old traditional muzzleloader has never been right by me but a mans gotta do what a mans gotta do. I hate wounding deer more than anything.

 

[BrownBear]

...but a mans gotta do what a mans gotta do.

That's it in a nutshell.

One possibility for your low light work- No way to compare eyes across a continent, but my geezerly eyes have profited from an easy fix. I put a splash of typing "white out" on the front blade in low light, and even a little splash on the rear if things are really bad. The sights really pop, and later in the day when the sun is up, I just flick off the white-out using my thumbnail.

Can't find the link, and I'm sorry for that, but there's another approach I've tried and it works really well. A guy on another site put me onto the little lights intended for lighted fishing floats. They're hardly any bigger around than 1/8" and a little over 1" long, putting out a faint green light when turned on. He tapes on to the barrel between the front and rear sights, aimed at the front sight. Low enough to stay out of the way, but putting out just enough light to illuminate that front sight. Slickernsnot. I found some in Cabelas on a pass through one of their stores a couple of years back, but I have no idea if they're still available. Tried it and liked it, and I keep one in my shooting bag, but haven't had to resort to it yet. But the day is coming, I bet.

 

[BrownBear]

Googled and found the light. Here is one source, and here is the same at Cabelas.

 

[elmerkeithclone]

I got it down to a 2 inch group last night. Two things I learned. These Nitride Bergara barrels only like Power Belt bullets. Second the forearm on this gun has a pretty aggressive schnabble(no matter how I spell shnable,snabble,snoble, schnoble, my spell checker tells me that I'm an idiot......screw the spell checker and the horse it rode in on). Anyway you know what i'm talking about. The front sling swivel stud is mounted in the thinest spot on the forearm just before the snabble. I had my Harris Bipod attached to that swivel stud and I had tightened it down with a quarter. Even though my old cable splicer hands have carpel tunnel syndrome I still have a knack for going overboard when I tighten something up. The bipod was pulling down hard on the stud and at the same time pushing up hard on the front of the forearm. In essence I had a solid flat object attached to the middle of the curve and by going overboard with my quarter I was causing the curve to flatten out on the bottom side but at the same time the upward pressure on the front of the stock was really putting the barrel in a bind. The forearm is more flexible than I gave it credit for and my hands are strong but my mind is week and I was once again my own worst enemy.

BB, thanks for the link to those lights. At that price I will get some spares as well. In the mean time I'm good to go for opening morning. Between morning and evening hunts I will play with lights on the old smoke pole. I have a couple of the little bow pin lights in a box somewhere. I am going to play with them until I get the lights from Cabela's.

On another note I was watching dropped in Alaska last night while cleaning muzzleloaders. One of the Keefer brothers killed a nice bull moose at close to 300 yards with a CVA Bergara muzzle loader. That's way too much like a centerfire kill to be allowed during muzzleloader season if you ask me. You do not have to be an accomplished hunter to kill stuff 300 yards away!

 

[BrownBear]

Glad you got that sorted out in the nick of time! Have a great hunt. You've earned it!

On another note I was watching dropped in Alaska last night while cleaning muzzleloaders. One of the Keefer brothers killed a nice bull moose at close to 300 yards with a CVA Bergara muzzle loader. That's way too much like a centerfire kill to be allowed during muzzleloader season if you ask me. You do not have to be an accomplished hunter to kill stuff 300 yards away!

Those guys can certainly do what they want within the limits of the law, but it reminds me of the local name for a decaf, non-fat latte flavored with sugar-free syrup. It's named the "Why Bother.":lol:

Guys I know who go to those extremes are only using their guns to qualify for a muzzleloader-only hunt rather than any interest at all in our hunting heritage and history. More power to them, but I really like the truth serum Alaska pours on it's special hunts: No scopes allowed. That makes even a modern inline "primitive," and sure leaks off the once-a-year muzzleloaders. I'm sure those guys were using the scoped ML in the regular season, which is great. That's where they belong.

 

[elmerkeithclone]

BB, your more cultured in the way that you present things than I am. I agree, it's fine with me if a guy has the ability to make a clean kill at 300 yards and it's all done within the legal realm. To each his own in that case but when it becomes long range exhibition shooting and the target is a live animal then I ain't for it. I guess I've hunted so long with stick and string that if I can't see their breath and they're too far away to smell me if the wind is blowing from me to them then it's not hunting.....by my convictions only the next guy may do as he sees fit.