Thinking about picking up a new muzzleloader. Do not need to meet any restrictions in my state, so a modern style is my thought. Will more than likely run a small scope. Any recommendations? Was thinking along the lines of a CVA Accura or Optima? Just curious what people prefer or have had good luck with? Thanks.

Good luck? Here ya go....



50 yard, offhand


.45 Caliber Round Balls ROCK!

I have a CVA Accura and a TC Encore. I really like them both. The CVA is lighter, but they are both great shooters. Thompson Center is no longer, but you can still find them once in a while. The CVA will be less money, so if that is a consideration, it's a no brainer.

Are you interested in muzzeloading, or a gun to extend you hunting season.


I thoroughly enjoy a flintlock, and it's process.

If you just want to hunt, an in-line is easier.
Easier in the gear, easier in load choices, easier to use,
easier to shoot well (easy optics), easier to clean.

But you miss out on a bunch of fun.

I have modern (Knight) and traditional (TC Hawken) and much rather the trad side of things.

I have the CVA Accura MR with a 3x9x40 a very accurate setup

That’s a beauty DD and great shooting too!!

PennDog

We have a couple of CVA Optimav2. One stainless the other nitride. Get nitride. It really works on protecting the bore and ease of cleaning. Only problem is a hammer side screw broke and there’s no replacement available. Works without it and I figured a fix out anyway. BH209 needs a dedicated breech plug and again get nitride.

You didn't mention the word 'hunt'. For pure pleasure and cheap practice...go traditional, hands down. And even at that, for hunting, there is nothing handicapped about a patched round ball under a hundred yards. You can shorten the learning curve of the flintlock to about 20 minutes with someone who has competed successfully with a flinter. If you have kids that might want to get into it...just adjust your load/recoil to the new shooter. I saw a nice half stock, with an Oregon Gun Works barrel, and a tuned Siler lock at the gun show Saturday for 250 bucks, screamin' deal. One man's opinion.

If I were King I would mandate that every new ML shooter has to spend 100 hours shooting a flintlock before being issued a provisional permit for a percussion gun. Inlines? Don't worry, they'd be banned altogether.

What gnoahhh said x10^2

Flinter all the way. It’ll learn ya to shoot too!

Amongst the 5 muzzleloaders I have is my favorite, a CVA Accura MR in .50. Very accurate and a joy to carry. We can't use scopes here in Washington so it's receiver sights all the way.

Youse old guys tootin' yer horns on flintlocks is gonna get get us throwed off the campfire...tone it down or we be homeless, posthaste.

Yowza, Boss!!!

Going off on a tangent, what is a decent affordable (under $750.00) rifle with a good sparking lock?

The Lyman Great Plains has a great round ball barrel, great sights, maybe one of the best....unfortunately, their flintlock geometry is a disaster. If...A guy could find a used GPR with a well cared for bore, you can buy an aftermarket lock...L&R RPL 05, for around 240 bucks, that sounds like a lot, it is, but the difference is night and day. If you are not very handy, your wife can install it with a Dremel in less than an hour.
New production guns ...I don't know...but used, any gun that has a Siler lock will perform like a swiss clock. One mans opinion.
I doubt you will find a Pedersoli for 750 anywhere...but they are 'plug and play' out of the gate.

An observation shared by myself and a lot of my friends: all the used guns that sold 20 years ago for $300 (and it seemed like most used guns did) now cost $1000. It would seem that $1K is the "new norm", and that goes for quality used ML'ers too.

Like Flintlocke said, there's lots of good platforms out there for relatively cheap, but their locks leave a lot to be desired. Skimp on the stock, maybe even skimp on the barrel, but if you skimp on the lock you'll be hating life. It's probably the one failing that has given flintlock shooting a bad rap among aspiring ML shooters. Aside from poor lock geometry another fault is poorly hardened frizzens. A flintlock has to generate a cascade of sparks and a soft frizzen won't cut that mustard. The irony is that all this stuff was worked out to perfection 250 years ago, and all that modern manufacturers had to do was copy the old ones to a "T", but no, they had to re-invent the wheel. The modern locks that avoid the stupidity are found on the shelves of outfits like Siler, L&R, etc.

CVA inline is pretty much the cheap and easy button. I've had one of the Wolfs for 4-5 years now. Even just with the cheap FO sights on it, it's more accurate than I can shoot. It'll cloverleaf 250gr sabots all the live long day @50yds, and I can keep them inside 2.5" or so at 100 off a bench. With a 4x scope it was 1.5"-ish at 100 groups.

As someone else mentioned, if you go with B209, you'll definitely want a 209 breech plug. Ignition is really iffy in colder weather using the standard plug with B209.

Have the CVA Accura MR with a 3x9x40 scope, it is a great shooting rifles

CVA Accura here and it is very accurate and goes bang every time.

Heres an unboxing video I did of my woodman arms when I first got it. Carried it this season and harvested a coyote and beautiful young buck with it. Would highly recommend!

Depending on the state I would recommend either the CVA Accura series or the Traditions Strykerfire Vapr. I live in Washington State and just bought the CVA Accura MR-X for the upcoming elk season. I would strongly suggest going and looking up Muzzle-Loaders.com they do a ton of comparison videos on youtube and have one of the best selections of guns. Their prices also beat Cabela's or the other big box stores hands down.