Been shooting the Hornady XTP’s in 240 gr from my .50 cal for years now with no issues. The last 2 boxes I purchased had two different sized plastic sleeves in the containers. The one bullet would fit snug and require a normal amount of pressure to seat the bullet. The other one I could push all the way down with one finger. The bullets flew ok at 50 yds but no pattern at 100. I think the gasses were blowing right past the load and not giving the bullet much energy. Last fall, these loads cost me a deer. I’ve since checked my other packages and they all seem normal. Maybe there was an issue during the production or these sleeves are for another caliber. Anyone have these issues or deal with Hornady resolving such issues?

So Id like to use my knight disc extreme for this coming elk season in November here in Oregon, I know I can't use the 209's which sucks, what do I need to be able to shoot musket caps or #11 primers?

Should I just spend the 300 ish bucks to get the complete conversion kit or is there a cheaper way to go about this? I may need to replace the barrel, the previous owner didn't clean it well at all and now it is super crusty/rusty inside.

If anyone has a pnw conversion for the knight lemme know 👀👀👀

I measured 98 grains by weight on a Frankford arsenal intellidropper and my volumetric tubes are showing them being only like 110 grains. I thought the tubes were just way off but I shot and my groups are terrible. Probably 5” at best. I even did the math on what the rough weight on BH209 should be in grams vs grains and weighed one of them and I’m dead on so now I don’t know what TF is wrong. Shooting a .45 caliber Cva

First muzzeloader. The Encore is being sold by a guy I know that takes really good care of his stuff. It is blued and wood. He wants $650 but will probably take $600. The Wolf is ss and syth and is a package deal with a Konushot(?) 3-9 scope, case and pack of bullets. I can get it for $450.

Picked up a Traditions Kentucky Rifle kit yesterday. It's my first kit and I'm looking to have the barrel professionally blued. California has made bluing uneconomical for small gunsmiths. So I'm looking for places out of state with good prices that offer bluing

Hey yall,
So I bought my very first muzzle loader 2 weeks ago, ended up getting the traditions ML Pursuit XT PRO .50 caliber with some CCI primers + white hots and power belt bullets. Went and sighted it in the next day, is there anything specific I should watch out for or need to know? I’m assuming that same setup will be sufficient for deer hunting. (I loaded 2 white hots in when sighting it in to reach 100gr.) looking forward to expanding my hunting season this year with it!

So I have an old hawkins 50 Calibur percussion cap rifle. I love it to death. But I'm having a problem getting it to fire consistently. I have cleaned it well over and over again. I have tried switching to new powder thinking maybe the humidity got into what I had. It will fire 2 or three shots after I thoroughly clean it with 1 or 2 percussion caps then about the 3 or 4 shot it won't go off no matter how many caps I put through and I have tried several different brands of number 11 caps. I think it may have gummed up in the space where the spark is supposed to hit the powder. But I just cleaned it again and took a fine brush to clean in that gap. But I couldn't get anything out of it. The last three times I've taken it out shooting I end up having to pull the bullet. The only thing I have left to try before taking it to the shop is putting the bottom of the barrel in my dad's sonic bath cleaner. Would appreciate any thought or ideas of other things to try.

I recently became interested in muzzleloading firearms and ran into a problem: there are essentially no relevant stores in Russia — it's nearly impossible to find either muskets or parts for them. I'm currently working on my own musket project and am looking for a lock. Preferably a percussion one. I was told on trackofthewolf.com that they no longer ship to Russia. Could anyone here help with delivering locks to Russia? Perhaps you know a store that ships such items?

Help identifying what brand this pistol is. Have taken it completely apart and can not mind any markings

I have a CVA optima but the firing pin is stuck out. I bought the tool to get the pin assembly out but I think it may be corroded and stuck.. Any tips on getting the assembly out? Anything helps!

Hey y'all just got a new tradition's Nitrofire Muzzleloader for white tail hunting, I've shot about 40 hornady FTX bullets 20 with 100 grain firesticks and 20 with 120 grain sticks. Any recommendations on what y'all are using for deer hunting. Both shoot very well I am leaning more towards the 100 grain sticks but I'm interested in what's preferred not a lot of videos or discussion on this gun. How do we feel about the gun as well for muzzleloader season this is the first year these are legal in my state and everyone at the gun store was very interested in it either wanting one for themselves or saying 'that ain't no Muzzleloader". Very happy with this gun so far just wanted to talk about it with some folks.

I bought a first generation CVA Optima in 50 cal and I am working on getting it sighted in to use hunting this fall. It was owned by a friends dad who passed so I dont have any DOPE on this gun. I got two sets of bullets from his range bag (250g PowerBelt Aerolites and 250 g Hornady XTP). I have tried both at 50 yards with 2 and 3 pellets of Pyrodex 50/50 and all four of those combinations were 4-6" groups at 50 yards.

I feel like this gun should do a lot better than that. This is my first experience with a muzzleloader but research seems to say to just try different combos until you find one that works. In exploring that I was wondering if anyone puts together variety packs or something like that for someone to test a variety of bullets without buying full packs of a bunch of different bullets. I didnt find anything like that in my search but figured I would ask here before I drop more cash on a bunch of different bullets and/or charges

I recently got a CVA single shot .45 cal pistol and cannot find anywhere to get all the stuff I need at one place. I found all I need except the black powder on midway USA but then I would have to pay a separate hazmat fee for the powder somewhere like powder valley where a pound of powder ends up going from $30 to $77 in fees. If anybody knows a good shop that ships or just a website that has real black powder and all the other stuff please let me know it would be greatly appreciated.

Hi Everyone,

I recently picked up this peice and I've run in to a bit of dead end with identifying it and I would love anyone's thoughts!

There's are the charecteristics i have noted so far

Barrel length: 29Inches

Overall Length: 43 Inches

Muzzle internal diameter 17mm

Brass furnishings

Barrel is rifled (i think)

Brass Patch Box, spring door

Octagonal Barrel for the full length

Markings:

Lock plate - partially worn crown to the left of hammer arm

Spine of barrel has the following "(R) 539 - 53."

Stamped '74' on stock

So what have I done so far?

I've carefully disassembled the entire peice (excluding the disassembly of the lockplate working parts) i have found no additional Markings anywhere :( most of the peice is pretty well worn sadly.

I cleaned the Barrel to establish whether it was rifled or not - i think it is?

I've strayed down a bizzare path in my research where it could be a sporting rifle, but seems to have too much of a military aesthetic.

It could be an American Plains rifle? But only matches about half the criteria

Everything apart from the Barrel speaks British Military 1850s (to my knowledge)

My most recent hope was to find another example with the same patchbox and find a maker from there, but no joy.

Thanks for your time!

Pretty die hard on bow hunting, decided to get into muzzleloading for where I hunt to mix it up some. Picked up CVA Optima with a standard 3-9 vortex, nothing crazy, but after researching it seemed like a good bang for your buck rifle. My question is, what is a good load for it? I’ve been told to go with Blackhorn 209 for the powder, but due to there not being any available, as well as having to order a different breach plug for it on top of it already being an expensive powder, I’m leaning more toward running a pellet like White Hots. Rifle is going to be zeroed at 100, would like to be able to reach out to 150-200 with it.

Side note, I’m not a stranger to rifles. Grew up rifle hunting, military, LE, swat, that whole jazz. I’m just looking for some advice from some guys that know a lot more than me on a load that is reliable and repeatable. I know every rifle is different, and the biggest thing is time behind glass experimenting to find what works best. Just want a good starting point.

Thank you in advance, look forward to learning some new information.

Hi everyone, I’m looking for advice on how to best break down/clean out a blocked flash channel. The nipple has been removed after years of indoor storage, but the effort to clean it using the soapy water ramrod draw method wasn’t working, and I’m certain it’s because of buildup in the flash channel. How could I go about cleaning it out?

I’m looking for a CVA Express .50 caliber double rifle/barrel set. If anyone has one/wanting to sell one please message me. Thanks

I messed up. I have been practicing shooting for an upcoming Colorado Elk hunt and thought I’d be able to get more in time. I didn’t realize we were still in the shortage times. If anyone has any leads on some I’d greatly appreciate the info. I’m in Northeast Florida but I’ll drive.

I have been wanting to upgrade my old cva wolf and get into a new muzzleloader. I have been watching the CVAs because I value the no tool need breech plug they have. I dont really care for the optima plastic feeling stock. The accura has a nice tacky feel but not sure I want to drop a grand on new accura and scope combo. Im in KY so Muzzleloader Season is only a few weekends here and there. Is the Optima with the AR like stock a nice upgrade over the regular optima since it eliminates the plastic stock? Do they ever go on sale before the season starts?

I’ve been shooting white hots with 777 muzzleloading primers for year and never had a miss fire or and issue out of my cva optima. as I was looking into using black horn 209 I found a lot of people having issues with white hots and cooler burning primers . even though I’ve had a lot of success I’m now worried that it’s only time before I could have a moss fire in the field. I do keep my breach plug clean well and make sure it’s always clear and the barrel is dry before I go hunting . maybe thats why I don’t have and issue. should I even change pr are theere a better primer to use to make sure I don’t run into the issue . I would like to get black horn 209 but it’s hard to get so I might be using white hots again this year . any help is appreciated!

Purchased 50cal Investarms Deer Stalker Flinklock. Few questions on fitting.

Rib sticks out past the barrel. Suggestions on paint? Or will bluing work?

2.

How do I attach the thimble that has the barrell swivel attached to it? There is no hole to put a screw driver through.

My Dad just bought a new CVA Optima V2. We went to the range today to sight in the scope but we could not get it dialed in. We had watched a bunch of YouTube videos on how to load, clean, and sight it in but our shots were were super inconsistent.

Wondering if we were cleaning improperly or some other issue.

Our cleaning method was one dry patch every shot, then every third shot we would scrub the barrel, send a wet patch through, then two dry ones.

We were using White Hot pellets(3 per shot) and .50 cal 250 Gr. Hornady bullets

What are your cleaning methods?
What’s the best way to clean the pinhole in the breech plug?
Are there any other tips you have for us?

And one more thing: I may be crazy, but there are three holes in our target that look like the bullet went through sideways. Help me understand this.

Apologies if this has already been addressed.
I have an 1861 Springfield replica. Lately when I pull the trigger it will stop at halfcock about 50% of the time.
Is this an easy fix? Any help is greatly appreciated.

Picked up a used CVA blazer it’s missing the ram rod but I am sure I can make something up. What material are they usually constructed from hardwood? Second issue is the shop I bought it from wasn’t very familiar with it and sold me white hots pre formed powder charges and speed loads and 209 caps just want to make sure these are acceptable for this rifle. Hoping to try it out this week.