With the holidays, I've had some to time to actually get out and shoot my CVA Kodiak. I've put nearly 100 rounds through it and tried seven different bullets in the past week. With two small kids and a wife that works, this is a real treat for me. I'm lucky enough to own just enough ground to be able to safely shoot out to 75 yds so I've been zeroing the scope at 25 and then moving out to 75 and adjusting for groups there. I thought I would share some of my observations from this range time.

1)I think that 777 loose reacts differently in cold weather vs. even fall temperatures. I was getting crud rings earlier this fall so bad that I could not load another round even with swabbing between shots and had abandoned 777 if favor of RS. Well, its been in the 20's and low 30's here and the crud ring problem seems to be minimized for whatever reason. Swabbing between shots is sufficient to allow easy loading of follow-up shots with tight fitting Knight green sabots and 270 gr. .44 cal. Gold Dots.

2)In my gun, 100 gr. of RS and 90 gr. of 777 2f group in nearly identical locations.

3)I was getting a ton of blowback after shooting 100 gr. of RS for a couple of days, which is unusual for my gun. Closer inspection last night revealed that the primer pocket of the breech plug had enough of a channel through it that I was having no problem with ignition, but was almost completed clogged with carbon. I had been cleaning from the flash hole side with a nipple pick and thought I was doing okay. It takes a 7/64" drill bit (used by hand twisting with fingers only) from the primer side of the breech plug to clean out all that fouling. Amazing what was caked inside of there! Should help with accuracy I would guess.

4)The 270 gr. Buffalo Ball-ets are the only conicals I have tried, but boy are they accurate and consistent. Too bad they are getting really hard to find. I think they would be an excellent bullet out to about 125 yds. I can get sub 1" groups at 75 yds. with them over either 85 gr. of RS or 777.

5)Striving for groups can be frustrating, until at the end of the day you go back and really look at what your shooting means. I shot seven different bullet/sabot combinations at 75 yards and the worst group I had (five shots) was right at about 4". I knew that load would not group well because the combination of a 270 gr. .44 cal. .429 Gold Dot and a black TC Mag Express sabot literally fell down the barrel. I'm thinking now that these sabots must be for .451 bullets.

What I am trying to say is that I don't think I would have any trouble killing a deer out to 100 yds. with any of the loads I tried. I'm a little OCD, so I am trying to find that magic tack driving load for my gun that will give me a max PBR and good groups out to 175 yds. Haven't found it yet, but my shooting doesn't suck either.

6)My hunting load this year is going to be 90gr. of 777 2f loose and a 240 gr. TC Cheap Shot. Last load I tried last night and got a 1" three shot group, 1" high at 75 yds. That should be moving at around 1800 fps. and good enough for as far as I care to shoot.

7)If you don't have one, do yourself a favor and get a rest for sighting in. My brother got me a Shooters Ridge Deluxe Rest for Christmas and man does it make a difference. I haven't even added weight to it yet, but you don't feel any recoil. Downside to that is I tend to burn through powder and bullets much more quickly. One tip though, find something more stable than a card table to put it on. There is too much flex in the card table legs and top and when you settle in on the gun, everything changes and you have to readjust the rest.

8)Just get out and shoot! Its fun, relaxing and rewarding! One of those "why don't I do this more often" things...

Sorry if this got long, but I pick up little things from nearly every post on this forum and thought I might be able to give a little back.

Best wishes to you and yours in the new year!