A buddy of mine wants to put in for muzzleloader deer this season. He has a CVA. Hasn't fired it yet or bought supplies. I figured why not and went looking this weekend for one for myself. ( never turn down a reason to buy another firearm. ) I went to Cabelas and fondled a few. The TC impact seemed to fit better than the CVA. Longer LOP and adjustable. It has a 1:28 twist. It was listed at $250. Is that a decent price?

What should I look for in a front stuffer? Any particular projectiles work better than others? I see they had round ball, sabots and solid lead flat nose bullets.

Any help would be appreciated.

I dont have first hand experience with the Impact, but I do have a Triumph. Like you, my hunting buddy has the CVA. When i compare the two, I find the TC guns have more craftsmanship put into them. The fit/finish is just a step up from the CVA's. I dont think you could go wrong with the TC.

When it comes to finding a load for your gun you're going to need to experiment. Generally I like to stick to Sabots and Bighorn 209. Those damn front stuffers are all different and like different combinations.

Welcome to the world. I dont particularly enjoy shooting in-line smoke poles, but they provide some awesome additional hunting opportunities. AZ has several deer/elk/antelope hunts I'd be trying to draw for if I was a resident. If I drew a tag that would warrant buying a new one today, I have no doubt that I would front the cash for a Remington Ultimate Muzzleloader.

TC uses good quality barrels on all their rifles. The Impact will shoot as well as the higher priced rifles. They just don't have the extra bells and whistles. My brother has an Impact and I have shot it a lot. He usually has me zero it and confirm his load before season starts. His is a great shooter and the trigger is good too. The breech plug also works with Blackthorn 209.

Thank you for the replies. It is a whole new world for me with the front stuffer. Hope I can get it on sale for Fathers day.

HEY Joe,
I got my Impact! delivered to my door for $225.
https://www.budsgunshop.com/catalog/product_info.php/products_id/61459/TCA+TC+Impact+Break-Action+50cal+26%22+BluedBlack

My buddy brought his rifle into work today. It is a bolt action. I didnt see any like it at Cabelas. It is a Winchester. Any pros or cons to having that style compared to the standard breech plug type?

Consider the function of an action--load, fire, eject, and re-load. A "bolt action" on a firearm that you load through the muzzle makes about as much sense as a screen door on a submarine.

I'm not familiar with the winchester models, but the Remington Ultimate Muzzloader that I mentioned earlier is a bolt action. It uses a primed 45ACP case as its priming mechanism. This leads to better ignition and essentially a sealed breach. People I know that are using them are reaching out to 350 yards very easily.
Another plus of having the bolt action is having everything thing square. Your scope thats mounted on it and the overall structure of the gun will be stronger.

Another plus to having a bolt action is 6 inches of useless steel that adds weight and length to the rifle, but serves no purpose.

Two questions for you: When you talk about "everything being square" what do you mean by "everything," and how does a bolt action provide better alignment of the scope with the bore?

And when you say the overall structure of the gun will be stronger, what do you mean by that, stronger than what?

Even though my TCs have all shot very well, I feel like the Knights I've had were better made rifles.

I used to go through MLs like crazy, but I'll probably stick with this Knight Ultralite for a while.

Not the cheapest but I'd definitely check one out unless you're on a very tight budget.

Guarantee you there will be another big sale before the season starts on the CVAs. The QR Breech plug and ability to change plugs depending on powder type is a huge plus.

I am a huge fan of the Optima and Accura lines with BH209 powder and Harvester sabots (Scorpion PT Golds)

They are well tested and the CVAs are incredibly accurate with the Bergara barrels.

Wow, a lot of information you guys have given me. Thank you. Options options options. Not a whole lot of money to be spend but buy once cry once. Was flipping thru youtube watching the different types available. Interesting to say the least. Like I said, this is all new to me.

The Impact does not need another plug to shoot any ML powder correctly. Its fine for anything from Blackhorn to pellets. My only complaint is its not available in stainless steel.

For a tiny bit more you can get a CVA Optima V2 in stainless/black. Roughly $260 online but you will need to spend about another $25-30 for the Blackhorn plug if you want better reliability. You wont need to buy a scope mount though. The Optima V2 comes with a Durasight base&ring combination.

Cliff notes inline muzzle loader 101.

Black powder when fired enhances corrosion. Hence many stainless options and black powder substitutes like Blackhorn 209. Black powder and most substitutes do not usually burn as clean as smokeless powders which can inhibit reloading.

Inline muzzle loaders have a few basic bullet types: round ball with lubed patch, Paper patched cylindrical bullets, bullets with a base wad, conical base (expanding base) bullets, bullets combined with sabots which are essentially the same as a shotgun wad.

The above means cleaning is way more important that with CF rifles, that's why you get the other peoples comments about breech plugs and bolts etc.

Because bullet diameters can vary as do barrels this gets to be a mix and match proposition to get the best accuracy

Because of the dirty burning and corrosion possibilities, you always have to coat the breech plug threads with anti-seize compound.

I've built a couple and shot quite a few over the last forty odd years. I like the CVA falling blocks like the Kodiak Magnums. They're easy to live with. I use TC sabots and Barnes 250 grain T-EZ bullets. With 66 grains by weight of BH-209 I get about 1700 FPS and inch groups at 100. I've never needed a second shot, and only had one run. The one that ran made no sense at that. Shot was through the bottom end of both scapula at fifty yards, blew up almost all of the lungs and turned 2/3 of the heart into hamburger. It was a medium size fawn and made it maybe 60 yards. Every other deer I have shot with MLs, including a couple with lead minis went down in their tracks.

I have only used MLs to extend my deer hunting. Minnesota allows me to hunt an extra two weeks in December provided I haven't exceeded my possession limit based on the zone. It's a great way to have some extra fun.

I have had several MLs over the years to increase my hunting opportunities. I have really enjoyed the extra time at the range and in the woods. Handle as many as you can and buy one that fits you and your budget. You want regret it. The Thompson Center Omega pictured below has been great.

upload an image

My dad offered to give me a Pro Hunter all decked out.
He wanted my old beater side hammer.
I just gave it to him



Bought it new, for $315....back in the 90's.
Don't see 'em very much.

Miles58, Thanks for the info. We went to Cabelas today and picked up a TC Impact, not the one I saw last week. They sold it. It has SS bbl with matte finish.
Been reading a lot and I see that they foul a lot faster than standard rifles and NO oil in the bbl, so I see I need another box with just stuff for MZ rifle.
I like the way this one unlocks to prime and or remove the breech plug. I will have to get some anti-seize for the threads.
Now for the fun part of figuring out a load/bullet combination that works for me.

Hookeye, nice old side hammer you have in the pick. I have one that I have never shot. Got it when dad died, dont even know what cal it is. It needs cleaned up, surface rust from when he had an A/C drip pan over flow in the attic above his closet and soaked it. I just dont shoot open sights well enough past 25 yrd. Maybe I just need more practice.

T/C does not offer a stainless steel Impact. Its a chromoly steel barrel covered in Weathershield coating which is similar to Cerakote. The bore is just plain bare steel. The coating is only on the exterior.

https://www.tcarms.com/firearms/muzzleloaders/impact

RR,

Thanks. It's a TC Hawken "Silver Elite".
Stainless steel, .50 cal, no patch box.
IIRC they only made them for a yr or two.

I popped this one with it a couple yrs before the scrub.....
seen him in bow, he was not cooperative. Week into gun he shows and pow, got him.

Split brow knocked him out of the book.
Gross 177 1/8, net 166 3/8

Oh well.

I dunno where my Knight MZ pics are.
Nothing special.
In lines work very well. Almost too well, like shooting a reg rifle. Took some of the fun out of it for me.
So I went back to sidehammer.

My buds .54 Hawken was fine, but my Silver Elite beat the crap outta my face.

Renegades are comfy, my New Englander was too. Solution then is to run a higher front sight and put spacer under rear...get my face a little less slammed onto the stock.

But I kept shooting it as is..........getting bashed. Drop to 90gr and the chance of a swat gets way less.

100gr and GP 385gr bullets.........I took another nice 10 pt with it way back, first yr hunting it.......prupled my face. That bullet traveled a long ways through that brute, and kept on going LOL.

No way I could take that abuse these days. Barely could then.

90gr and a 275 gr bullet isnt bad. But I hunt it at 100gr.

Joe shoot me a PM or messenger me I'll get you up to speed on what to feed your new TC

Clean your new Impact with Ballistol if you can find some. Gander Mt. and Midwayusa usually carry it. It is the best I found for cleaning BH209 residue. Works well on the barrel and breechplug too.

Blackhorn 209 is a great powder to use with Federal 209A primers. CCI 209M primers are supposed work well also though I've only used the Federal 209A's.

I don't know if this has been mentioned or not, but check your state's regs...some states don't allow 209 ignition systems, some states require the action to be "open to the elements", they may or may not allow sabots, etc.

That may help decide.

Muzzleloading Handgun:
A firearm intended to be fired from the
hand, incapable of firing fixed ammunition, having a single barrel,
loaded through the muzzle with black powder or synthetic black pow-
der, and a single projectile.
Muzzleloading Rifle
: A firearm intended to be fired from the shoul-
der, incapable of firing fixed ammunition, having a single barrel and
single chamber, loaded through the muzzle with black powder or
synthetic black powder, and a single projectile.