It was really cold last night (-28º below zero) and I was hoping it would warm up a little so I could shoot. It finally hit about 12 degrees and I figured that was the best I was going to get. Now I had to decided what rifle to shoot.
I looked over my wall of rifles and discovered I had a rifle sitting there that I had never shot. I remember buying it, cleaning it, and then putting it on the rack with the intention of shooting it, then hunting season hit.. you know how it is. I forgot about it.
Its a CVA Tracker Carbine. .50 caliber with a 1-32 twist barrel. It has a 21 inch barrel and single trigger. Which I might add, breaks very clean and crisp. Also some pretty nice sights on it. I had placed it further back on the rack and I am sure that's why it was forgotten. [&o]
So I pulled that off the rack, ran a alcohol patch down it. Clean as a whistle. Pushed a clean dry patch down it and popped a cap. The fire channel was nice and clean. So I had to decide what to shoot.
I looked at my cabinet and shelves of bullets and found some 370 gr maxi ball. I found a tube of Bore Butter (I had taken it out for an experiment). And I found some 320 gr REAL conicals. I then grabbed a box of 240 grain T/C Cheap Shots also, and a pound of Pyrodex RS and head to the range.
At the range I set up a target at 30 yards. I figured the sights would be close. Very nice open sights too. But the other thing was the wind. It was much stronger then I thought and it was freezing cold out there. But that was not going to stop me I decided.
I loaded up 80 grains of Pyrodex RS and a 370 gr maxiball. They loaded very nice. I held a six o'clock hold on the red inside center square (most rifles shoot high at this distance I figured) and fired four shots. It was too cold to swab. So I just loaded and shot.
Then to be fair, I took the gloves off and swabbed. I then loaded a 240 grain T/C Cheap Shot. WOW!!! get the hammer out. I was worried I was not going to get it down the bore of the rifle. These Cheap Shots did not have crushed rib sabots. They looked like a black MMP HPH-12 but I am not that good at spotting sabots as some. All I knew was if I got it down the bore I was not going to load another one. Same hold as before and it shot pretty good. Maybe with some load development and better sabots, I could make that work.
I then loaded the REAL conicals, and shot three of them. By now I was too cold to stay there. I could have, but it would have not been enjoyable. And after all, I shoot because I enjoy it. Not because I want to see what I can endure. So I called it quits for the day.
Over all it is a nice little rifle.
I WILL NOT forget this gun and I will be shooting it more in the future. Next time try some wads, and different powders.
CVA Tracker Carbine .50 caliber
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