New to smokeless

Joined
Feb 9, 2025
Messages
12
I’ve never owned a smokeless but have reloaded rifle cartridges for more than 20 years and have black powder hunted for 30. Just looking for any advice and info I can find. I bought a Hankins converted cva that I will be trying to learn with
 

Attachments

  • IMG_4569.png
    IMG_4569.png
    963.6 KB · Views: 22
There's a lot of good info on hanks message board. I recently had a cva scout built with his conversion and it seems like it will be a shooter. So far n120 and fury 275gr look like a good combo.
 
H4198, 55-65gr. Don’t go heavier than 300 gr. In the bullets. A sizing die is worth it. Mark your ramrod. Get a funnel. You don’t need a load thru. Wool wad. Fury bullets are good. Pittman are premium, but certainly not needed. You could get by with an xtp.
 
Got a Hankins barrel on my Encore. Smokeless is a whole new game. You don't have to shoot expensive bullets. MARK YOUR RAMROD. A friend blew a CVA up with a double charge. He was lucky. His hand was not. Wool wads made mine a one hole 5 shot gun. Jeff builds some nice stuff. Waiting on a 7saum from him at this moment. h4198 starting at 55 and going to 63 with a 250 grain bullet. You need the sizing die

2GBL
 
I’m gonna have to look into the wool wads I’ve never even heard of them yet. Thanks for the info guys
 
Wool wads, Pittman bullets, 4198 is the easy button. Running a Hawkins ignition system on a bolt gun built by my smith. You definitely want the bullet sizing die.
My only complaint is that I could not find h4198 and went with imr. It is super temp sensitive in the muzzy. I do not know if H4198 is any better. I have a barrel nut, so operating pressure is pretty low compared to a centerfire cartridge gun.
 
Wool wads, Pittman bullets, 4198 is the easy button. Running a Hawkins ignition system on a bolt gun built by my smith. You definitely want the bullet sizing die.
My only complaint is that I could not find h4198 and went with imr. It is super temp sensitive in the muzzy. I do not know if H4198 is any better. I have a barrel nut, so operating pressure is pretty low compared to a centerfire cartridge gun.
I have a barrel nut as well, but I’d hate to have anymore recoil than I currently do. Looking at shedding some before next season. Without going to a heavy gun I’m not sure how some of those guys go full throttle. I’ve pushed a 275 over 2800 with 73gr of h4198.
 
I have a Woodman Arms Patriot that I shoot 55gr of N120 and a 195 Barnes Expander Bullet. I was surprised how much of a difference a grain or two can make in terms of recoil. I started out with the recommended 56 gr and a 250 gr bullet, the recoil was stout.
 
I started down this rabbit hole a few years ago and now I'm three deep! I went with the Arrowhead barrel for my TC Encore and liked it so much I got another for my son to use a couple years later. This year the adventure is turning an old scrap heap of a savage 110 into a nice looking 45 caliber smokeless muzzleloader. Haven't been able to shoot it yet, but I think it's looking pretty good so far. Trigger is right around 1-1/2 lb.
3c67267ee97ab1bc31372d1f3a7b37db.jpg
68c195a1c4ae98acb5dd43d6ec0d4f6d.jpg


Sent from my SM-S921U using Tapatalk
 
I started down this rabbit hole a few years ago and now I'm three deep! I went with the Arrowhead barrel for my TC Encore and liked it so much I got another for my son to use a couple years later. This year the adventure is turning an old scrap heap of a savage 110 into a nice looking 45 caliber smokeless muzzleloader. Haven't been able to shoot it yet, but I think it's looking pretty good so far. Trigger is right around 1-1/2 lb.
3c67267ee97ab1bc31372d1f3a7b37db.jpg
68c195a1c4ae98acb5dd43d6ec0d4f6d.jpg


Sent from my SM-S921U using Tapatalk
My buddy has a savage I really like it
 
Any good books/resources you recommend for black powder? Just inherited a muzzleloader and it’s pretty new to me.
 
Back
Top