cayugad

I was asked by a friendto help their son figure out how to shoot a black powder rifle. The young man also asked me what he needed to buy, as this is his first and only rifle. He used to watch me shoot many years ago when he was much younger, and I guess must have been impressed with black powder rifles. I told him I would be glad to help out.

We scheduled our shoot for today. My impressions of the rifle were very good. The Beartooth was light weight and actually well balanced. It locked up nice. The hammer was good. The trigger pull was not excessive by any means. Granted it did not have the fit and finish of a Knight or Thompson Center rifle, but overall for the money, it looked like it would be a very good little rifle.

He was shooting Remington Kleenbore Primers, Triple Se7en FFg, 240 grain CheapShots, 240 grain XTP's, and 245 grain Powerbelt Aero Tips. All the loads were shot with 80 grains of powder, which I felt for his first time out, was plenty for the young man.

It was warm but very windy. For that reason I suggested we shoot only at the 25 yard line to see what projectiles grouped well and get the sights somewhat on. The T/C Cheapshots did real well. They grouped very nice. The XTP's could have been better but this was at the end of the day and he was complaining about a sore shoulder. I really did not think there was all that much recoil to the rifle at all. The Powerbelts did exceptional. He shot a three shot group, all shots touching, dead center bull. Needless to say the young man was very pleased with that.

I told him to bring it over to the house on a not so windy day and we would shoot some more. Overall, I can see why the Beartooth owners like their rifles. If I had a young man around that needed a rifle, I would consider on of them for him.

Does any Beartooth owners have some other loads I could suggest this this young man that he might find acceptable in his rifle?

billw3fan

I use a beartooth Magnum I like it for a cheep gun. It will shoot 3 inch groups at a 100 yards. I use t/c shock wave 250 grain bullets with 150 grains of triple 7 pellets.

cayugad

WOW.. that must have some kick to it. Three pellets in that light of a rifle. I am not sure I will recommend that much powder to a young man, but we will investigate the shockwaves the next trip out. I was also told that the 245 grain buffalo bullet ball-et tend to shoot well out of the rifle. Whichwe will try also since I have five boxes of them....

thanks for the heads up...

missed_another

i put a 2-7 power on my beartooth and at 80 yards on a good day it will touch some holes. i shoot 80 grains of goex clear shot with a pre-lubed patch and a round ball. i use the speer brand balls and they do great. it shoots good enough that i am going to use it in the regular rifle season. seems to be a very dependable shooter but i did find out that it does not like the power belts. at least it did not like the 240 grain. have fun with the gun.

J Bolt 7mm

Three 50 grain Triple seven pellets..Yikes. Read the directions. It is a magnum but can only take 3 50 grain pyrodex pellets. I have only worked up a load for 50 yrds but my ml likes 85 grains triple seven FFF in front of 295 grain powerbelts or 240 grain xtp sabots. I have not tried any other projecttiles but I have a bunch I will be testing.

missed_another

schoolboy..... i was just wondering what you thought about the xtp sabots. i bought a box on clearance the summer but istill have not tried them. i believe they are also the 240 grain. how much powder and how far were you sighting them in with good results.

cayugad

we were shooting the 240 grain XTP and CheapShots with 80 grains of Triple Se7en and they were doing very well.

J Bolt 7mm

Missed Another,
Many guys on this site recomended them so I gave them a try and the worked great for me. At 50 yards they were just about touching. I was also shooting in the rain laying down with the stock resting on rocks. As far as their performance on deer, I don't know. I have a banner 1.5-4.5 X32 scope. By the way the NFBTM is the same as the cva wolf but with different sights.

JoeG52

I haven't had time to try a lot in my Beartooth Magnum but it shoots 240 & 260 gr Deadcenters with 90 gr of BlackMag3 pretty well. I tried 777 pellets with a variety of bullets & primers, the 'crud ring' was horrible. With Blackmag3 I can keep loading & shooting without any swabbing and at the end of the day one patch and it comes out clean. I haven't tried pyrodex yet but my friend shoots 100 gr of pyrodex pellets and a 223 gr Powerbelt out of his with good results.
Joe