Bought a CVA ML, what to buy in addition?

[walexa07]

Hey guys, just joined the forum. I've done a little reading and have decided to go with powder versus pellets. The CVA I bought is a kodiak magnum .45. It has a 28" barrel with 1:28 twist. I did not purchase with the starter kit as I would rather decide what products to use initially. I intend to use open sites and need a list of what to go buy as essentials. I am not overly concerned with price...i.e., I am not looking to buy the cheapest stuff out there.....I am looking more for quality and ease of use. I plan to use the gun primarily for a few extra days of hunting white tail deer in Louisiana. Here's what I think I need:

1. powder measurer....brand and or style?
2. bullets.....brand, style, and weight?
3. powder.....brand, etc.
4. cleaning kit.....purchase as a kit or individually?

Any help you can offer is greatly appreciated. I have not fired my muzzleloader yet, just taken it out of the box. I recently purchased my lifetime hunting license and plan to begin taking advantage of muzzleloader season. I am only vaguely familiar with muzzleloading so there may be other things I need not on my list. Thanks.

Waylan

 

[Stumpkiller]

Welcome,

There's lots of stuff out there to be sure. What you don't want to do is just buy stuff that looks nice or seems to be something handy. You'll end up needing a wheelbarrow to get around. Shows good sense that you came here first.

Necessary things:
Projectiles (your 1:28 twist is likely going to favor conicals - I'll leave that to others. I'm a round ball shooter.) If you opt for round balls you'll need some cotton patching material. Either pre-lubed & cut or some pillow tick from a fabric store.
Powder: Goex or Swiss for blackpowder. Or some blackpowder substitute.
Something to carry the powder in: a flask or powder horn. Enough for 80 shots is plenty.
Powder measure: you'll have to experiment to find out what load your gun likes. An adjustable measure makes that process easier. Once you find the load, I recommend a fixed measure so there are no unfortunate occurances like a "bumped" measure or the inside falling out while you're hunting. Brand? I like turkey thigh bone and whitetail antler tip the best. ::
Primers (if a cap lock). #11 Remington or CCI.
Cleaning jag to fit bore (optional if you clean with tow depending on rammer attachments & tips that came with gun).
Soap and water for clean-up.
Oil for wiping metal after clean up.

That's what you need.

Really handy things:
Percussion capper (holds caps & makes it easier to attach to nipple).
Short starter
Patch knife (any sharp knife will do, including a Swiss Army Knife).
Nipple wrench & spare nipples.
Lube other than saliva.
Black powder solvent.
Hunting pouch to carry goodies for the gun in.
Screwdriver
Nipple pick (or vent pick): a paperclip will do.

The ram rod IS your cleaning kit if you have a jag. Nothing else is needed. You can add a range rod & cleaning rod as a luxury, but I've gone 25 years plus without either. I do make up spares so I can leave one rigged at home for cleaning. A penetrating oil like Rem-Oil or Sheath is really nice for preserving the bore after a wipe with alcohol to remove the water.

Beware marketing hype. You don't need 90% of what the catalogs are filled with. Ask yourself: "What were they using 250 years ago to shoot and clean these firearms?"


Here's an image of what I use to fire 40 shots and clean up afterwards. Not shown are the powder and the hot, soapy water for clean-up. The little tin holds a wax/castor oil lube and the little bottle holds a water-based powder solvent. Patches & spare flints are in the little tool wallet. Cleaning jag can stay right on the rod or be stored in the patchbox on the rifle. Simple. With spit or pre-treated patches I wouldn't even need the little tin of lube.

 

[Zonie]

Not knowing what you have, I looked it up in the Cabela's catalog. From what I read, it uses #209 shotgun primers so you'll need some of those.

Your gun is made for shooting .50 caliber sabots which are plastic sleeves that hold the .45 cal bullet of your choice.

I think most first time in line shooters go out and buy some ready made factory sabot/bullets but while your doing this, keep your eyes peeled for just the sabots.
If you have some empty sabots, you can just buy some pure lead .45 caliber pistol bullets to use in them and shoot for a lot less money.

This money thing is one of several reasons I don't own an in line. The price of the ready made sabot/bullets is absolutly unbelievable. I saw some which were going for over a buck each!

Now, the reason you want to find something cheaper like empty sabots and lead bullets is because you have a muzzle loader.
I know that sounds dumb, but keep reading.

As you may or may not know, .22 rifles like certain brands and types of ammo. There will be one that shoots far better than the others and the only way to find out which one is best is to try a lot of different brands.

Muzzleloaders are exactly the same, but more so.
Each gun, not brand, not caliber...each gun will like one powder load best. The only way to find out what that load is is to try different amounts and different brands of powder.
Your gun might like Pyrodex RS, or Pyrodex P (not likely but there's a chanch) or 777. All of them will shoot in it, but you have to find the best load.
Of course, when you switch to a different (more costly?) sbot/bullet you will have to recheck the "best" load but it will probably be close with the different sabot/bullet.

If your like a lot of cartridge shooters, your into a "power" kick and will try to get the heavest bullet you can.
IMO, this is a mistake. Black powder/Pyrodex/777 are all relatively low pressure propellents so the velocity you get will depend on the weight of the bullet as much if not more than the kind of powder or the load you use.
Because a lighter weight bullet will have a higher velocity than a heavy bullet for a given powder load, the trajectory of the lighter faster bullet will be flatter. This makes range a little less important, a least in my opinion.

Another thing about heavy bullets and their arc like trajectory. Folks tend to use real heavy powder loads to speed them up. From what I've seen, the only thing they really speed up is how fast their shoulder gets bruised.

Most sabots are (I believe) shot without lubrication. I think a light coating of a muzzleloading lube like Bore Butter wouldn't hurt things though and might keep the sabots plastic from contaminating the barrel.

You should have a brass cleaning jag (or button) for a .50 caliber bore. Black powder will foul the bore making loading the second or third shot difficult. A slightly wet (not just damp) patch wipe will keep the bore clean.
Pyrodex and 777 foul a lot less than pure black powder.

Inline guns often need the breech plug removed to clean them. (you never remove a sidelocks breech plug to clean them).
This removable breech will need a special wrench so I hope your gun came with one.
You will need some special grease to lube this breech plug when you reassemble your gun after cleaning. The stores sell this stuff, but I have heard that some folks use high temp wheel bearing grease with some success.

Being a sidelock shooter, thats about all the guessing I can do for the moment.
I would strongly suggest you visit our In Line or Modern Forum. Those guys over there know all about the care and feeding of these guns.
I'm sure they can tell you exactly why ole Zonie is crazy as a loon and then put you on the right track. ::

 

[walexa07]

Thanks guys for the heads up. Sorry I haven't responded sooner. Work has been carrying me out of town lately and I don't have a laptop.

I did alot of reading before buying accessories. I ended up buying a knight powder flask and powder measure. It looks as if you can measure the powder and have zero spillage of powder. From what I read, there was alot of controversy over the best powder. At one point, I was certain I was going to try swiss powder or goex, but did more reading and decided on black mag 3. The downside to the black mag 3 is it is $30/pound, plus a $20 hazmat fee for shipping since it is not available locally. The next best thing from what I read was the American Pioneer Powder, 3FG. My gun is a .45 caliber, not a .50. It uses a .40 cal bullet in a .45 cal sabot. I am finding that there is alot more offerings in the .50 cal than the .45 cal.......maybe I should have gone with .50 cal.....too late now. At least the availability of the .45 cal stuff isn't nonexistant, just much less. I don't have a chrono, so I'm not sure how to determine the best powder charge........I figure I will experiment with 80 to 90 gr. of powder and not exceed 100. I just want to use open sites, so nothing further than 100 yards is my intent. I found a 30 pack of hollowpoint sabots (bullets and sabots) for $10, which I didn't think was too bad of a price. I have not purchased my 209 primers or a bullet starter.......but will probably take care of that this afternoon. The bullets I bought are 180 gr......I have seen the powerbelts go up to 275 gr, but my cousin said he couldn't get a good pattern out of powerbelts and to go with sabots. Anyway, thanks for taking time to post info for a newbie. I will try to shoot my gun this week and post my experience.

Waylan