Muzzleloading Wannabee - CVA Accura LR-X .45

[weisenbu]

Hello. I have a question for those with more experience than me with muzzleloading (pretty much anyone reading this post). I'm getting very close to purchasing a CVA Accura LR-X in .45 cal, which would be my first muzzleloader. I've read that the .45 cal in the LR-X has an "oversized bore". What does that mean for me as a new shooter? I was hoping to shoot bullet-to-bore without a sabot. Does the oversized bore limit what bullets I could shoot? Will I need to use sabots? It will be a deer gun and I would like to shoot out to 200 yards with optics. I did find some BH209 and primers already. What bullets would you recommend? For "best" accuracy, do I need to size the bullets to the bore? Maybe I'm overthinking things for a 200 yard gun... Thanks in advance for any help you can provide this newbie...

 

[JeffRaines]

So from my understanding, you may still be able to use bore sized bullets but it could potentially be dangerous if it gets dislodged. With this said, you’d be stuck using bullets like the federal bor-lock or power belts if you completely excluded sabots.

But… in my experience I don’t think you’re gonna lose any accuracy using a sabot. My gun is more accurate than me with iron sights at 100+ using sabots… I’m sure using optics will be even better!

In short, unless I was headed out west to a state like Idaho I wouldn’t worry too much about it.

 

[weisenbu]

Thanks for the reply JeffRaines. Much appreciated. As I said, I'm very very new to this. So I'm assuming that if you have a .45 and you are using a sabot, that you are shooting a .40 bullet? I wonder if it makes more sense to purchase a .50 and then shoot .45 bullets with a sabot? I haven't heard anything about the .50 LR-X's having an oversized bore. That would give me the option to use either .50 or .45 bullets I guess. Am I way off base here? No one I know does any muzzleloading and I'm early in the learning stage so these are likely stupid questions. I wasn't wanting to use sabots because of what I've read with bullet-to-bore being more accurate and not having to deal with the sabot residue in the barrel...

 

[stevie]

To Answer your question, yes if using sabot .40 cal bullet would be used. My .45 MR-X is choked at the muzzle and bore diameter enlarges around 6 inches down the barrel. While not mentioned anywhere but the manual, CVA recommends sabot or powderbelt. I emailed CVA concerning the oversized bore, and they could care less. If you want to shoot bullet to bore I would not recommend any current CVA 45 cal.

I have no experience with CVA 50 cal.

 

[weisenbu]

Thanks Stevie. Interesting info - you are verifying what I have read regarding the oversized (and inconsistent) bore on the .45. Surprises me that CVA is ok with that...

 

[ENCORE]

If it were me......... I'd hold off on any of the 45cal rifles at this time. There are way to many QC problems with the barrels. Some are choked, some are just totally bad. Lots of information concerning the QC of the rifles if you check.
Not bashing the manufacturer or their rifles but, there appears to be a pretty significant problem right now.

 

[weisenbu]

Yeah that appears to be the best approach at this time unfortunately. The .45 LR-X checked all the boxes for me as a new muzzleloader but I really don't want to deal with those issues. Hopefully CVA gets things resolved soon. Does anyone know if the CVA .50 barrels are having the same QC issues?

 

[Pickettpuncher]

So from my understanding, you may still be able to use bore sized bullets but it could potentially be dangerous if it gets dislodged. With this said, you’d be stuck using bullets like the federal bor-lock or power belts if you completely excluded sabots.

But… in my experience I don’t think you’re gonna lose any accuracy using a sabot. My gun is more accurate than me with iron sights at 100+ using sabots… I’m sure using optics will be even better!

In short, unless I was headed out west to a state like Idaho I wouldn’t worry too much about it.

There’s much more options than the federal bor lock or power belts.


If you have a reloading press you can take .452 sized bullets and run them thru a sizing die. Google swinglock die or Google Jeff Hankins sizing die. Parker bullets, Pittman bullets, and fury bullets are all much better options, but you’ll have to order them.

 

[Pickettpuncher]

To Answer your question, yes if using sabot .40 cal bullet would be used. My .45 MR-X is choked at the muzzle and bore diameter enlarges around 6 inches down the barrel. While not mentioned anywhere but the manual, CVA recommends sabot or powderbelt. I emailed CVA concerning the oversized bore, and they could care less. If you want to shoot bullet to bore I would not recommend any current CVA 45 cal.

I have no experience with CVA 50 cal.

Cva and powerbelts are owned by the same parent company. Their CS is useless concerning anything other than a powerbelt being used.

 

[ENCORE]

There’s much more options than the federal bor lock or power belts.


If you have a reloading press you can take .452 sized bullets and run them thru a sizing die. Google swinglock die or Google Jeff Hankins sizing die. Parker bullets, Pittman bullets, and fury bullets are all much better options, but you’ll have to order them.

With the 45cal CVA you'll most likely have to knurl up a .452 bullet because of the over size bore. Fury IIRC has a .453" bullet and will knurl them if the purchaser needs.

 

[stevie]

I am new to in-line so that this with a grain of salt.

I have Fury .453 STB and Star Tip, once passed the choked area (about 6 inches) only takes finger pressure to slide bullet down. Not sure if I would be comfortable using that for hunting. I need to pound on the starter ram to get those passed the choked area.

So far only combination that seems to have enough pressure MMP sabot/.402 Fury 225 grain star tip MZ and MMP sabot/Hornady SST. The same bullet with Harvester blue has less resistance than the MMP but may be fine.

Granted there are many combinations out there.

When told CVA about this issue, the CS response:
The only thing I can think of is that the bullet has gotten to the point where the rifling has cut/removed enough of the bullet so that it is no longer producing much friction. The bore is .452 +/- .001

 

[Dark timber]

Wow. A choked muzzle seems like a recipe for disaster. I envision Elmer Fudd’s shotgun after Buggs bunny sticks his finger in the barrel.

 

[weisenbu]

Does the .45 Paramount have the same issue? That is more than I want to spend on my first muzzleloader though…

 

[jam66]

I’d like to know about the .45 cal Paramount as well

 

[ENCORE]

Personally, I WOULD NOT purchase either the 45 or 40cal rifles at this time. All one has to do is a little searching and you'll find the issues going on.
Guys are calling the manufacturer and telling them that their bore is over sized and they're told by the manufacturer to use THEIR bullets only. When a caller makes the comment that it should shoot any bullet, they get hung up on. There's a LOT of very unhappy people right now.
I'd wait until this mess got cleared up.

 

[MKern85]

Wow after reading this I'm glad I didn't with thr 45 cal.

 

[ENCORE]

Wow after reading this I'm glad I didn't with thr 45 cal.

There's always going to be those/some that will say, 'Mine is a tack driver' and all kinds of stuff. That's ok and everyone is happy for them.
However........... There are so many negative comments now its pitiful.

 

[MKern85]

There's always going to be those/some that will say, 'Mine is a tack driver' and all kinds of stuff. That's ok and everyone is happy for them.
However........... There are so many negative comments now its pitiful.

Yeah those seem to be the only comments that show up on the websites selling them interesting

 

[CApighunter]

Personally, I WOULD NOT purchase either the 45 or 40cal rifles at this time. All one has to do is a little searching and you'll find the issues going on.
Guys are calling the manufacturer and telling them that their bore is over sized and they're told by the manufacturer to use THEIR bullets only. When a caller makes the comment that it should shoot any bullet, they get hung up on. There's a LOT of very unhappy people right now.
I'd wait until this mess got cleared up.

Are the 50s generally problem free? Been on the fence about getting one but am hung up on the collapsible ram rod as BH209 is not readily available and I’ve read 777 needs to be swabbed between shots.

 

[ENCORE]

Are the 50s generally problem free? Been on the fence about getting one but am hung up on the collapsible ram rod as BH209 is not readily available and I’ve read 777 needs to be swabbed between shots.

It appears that the 50's are ok. Its the 40's and 45's mostly.