I went out shooting today and for fun I took a rifle that I wish I had never bought. I hated this gun, it is a CVA Optima Pro with 29 inch barrel, blue with black fleck.
Last year when I got it and took it out and shot it, I thought somebody had played a bad joke on me.
Shooting 100 grains, powder or pellets I had a hard time keeping the shots on the target. I'm talking 12 inch groups with flyers off of the box! The firing pin was rupturing the 209 CCI primers and they looked like popped popcorn all out of shape with a hole in the primer face where you could see all the way through. This made a mess in the breech area and a couple times it froze the firing pin where it wouldn't even move.
Every other time I shot the gun the breech wouldn't open without me having to pound on the reciever until my hand hurt.
I probably shot this rifle on at least 6 or 7 different occasions all with the exact same results. I put it away and thought about who I knew that I could give the gun too, just to get it off my hands.
I continued to shoot my other guns and I learned a few tricks from them which led me to today.
I said to myself can it possibly be that bad? I know that people like the CVA Wolf and for all practical purposes it is the same gun.
Now this is where I wonder if magic comes into play: I have started to have the opinion that new barrels are worthless. Don't get me wrong some are better than others. This gun had sat in the closet for a year and something has changed.
Taking some of the things that my other guns had taught me and my having more experience I decided to tackle this gun again.
The first thing I did was use the Remington muzzle loader 209's. I also developed a stricter routine in how I do my process in loading. After I shoot the gun I immediately remove the spent primer. This way when I load the next round the breech plug hole is open and allows the pressure to escape while pushing the next round down, it also allows better swabbing (the pressure isn't trying to dry the patch). It's hard to remember this but I feel it is important. I swab every shot with damp then dry and if the dry is still dirty I swab damp and dry again.
I do this every single time now.
I have been liking the Triple Seven FFFg so I started shooting with it 80 grains only. For bullets I used the 245 gr Powerbelts. It was just about the only bullet that I had not tried in this rifle.
Last year this rifle made me feel stupid, shooting 12 inch groups with a scope at 50 yds kind of sucks!
This year I set the box out 100 yds and set up my little camp table and my bench rest. I used the Remington primers, 80 grains of T7 FFFg and the powerbelt copper plated hollowpoint. I shot 12 rounds, all landed within 1 3/4 inch in the center of the target. The breech opened just fine like an expensive Italian shotgun, the primers looked normal and clean with no crud blowing back into the reciever. I don't think that any day I have had shooting this year made me happier. I felt like I had just found a new rifle laying on the side of the road.
I honestly believe that the barrel went through a process of curing during the time it had sat (the bore was coated with Cabelas muzzle loader lube) and of course the gun liked the lighter load. I never liked Powerbelt bullets but the gun likes them and thats just fine with me. I am not going to try to force this gun to shoot hotter loads or different bullets. What's fine, is fine and dandy.
If you have a gun you hate, give it a second chance it just might make you proud!
My Optima Pro is off my sh**list!
