Chris W.

After playing with a few different bullets and powder charges in my CVA Optima pistol, I believe I've found my hunting load for this Fall.. The temp this morning was in the low 80's with no real breeze. The bullet is a 44 cal. Barnes 225 gr XPB paired with a Harvester crush rib sabot and 85 gr of BH209 by volume. The picture is the final group of the morning but all groups with that bullet/powder combo were about the same....1 to 1.25 inches at 50 yards shooting off a bag rest. Unfortunately,I left my chrono sitting on my work bench, so no chrono readings to report. I know 80 grs of bh209 with a 240 gr xtp produce an average of 1475 fps so I'm guessing this combo is producing somewhere in the 1500-1510 fps range. Recoil was very manageable and not unpleasant at all. Next chance I get, I'll run it through the chrono to get some actual velocity numbers but I'm calling it good for the upcoming season.