Has any body had a chance to shoot or hunt with one of the Optima pro 209 in .45 cal. Was thinking about picking one up and wouldlike tofind outa little more about them first.

Thanks

There are a lot of Optima Pro and Optima shooters out there. Some of the accuracy they claim to get from the rifles are most impressive. The only thing I might offer is, why limit yourself to a .45 caliber? Get a .50 caliber and load it down. They sell 10mm blue MMP sabots you load a .40 caliber 200 gr shockwave in and can shoot that, same as you would the .45 caliber. Why limit your rifle and your hunting opportunities. Some western states have a .50 caliber limit on their hunting. Just something to think of.

Some love them some hate them. They're not my cup of tea.

I also agree fully with Cayugad. Why limit yourself. I think the .50 is just as versatile-if not more-as the .45 and can be just as great.

Good luck to you on deciding.

cayugad
What would you say is the best long range Tack driver 250 -300 yrds ml in 45 or 50 with 209's

Well if a person really felt they could shoot that far, the .45 caliber would probably be the best since you could drop down to some light weight .38 caliber projectiles I believe.

I really do not have a lot of experince with .45 calibers. If I had to get a .45 caliber long range shooter, it would be a Knight Disc Extreme or Long Range Hunter.

B.C. Hunter I really never tried such shots. I made those kind of shots with center fire rifles, but the longest I have shot with a muzzleloader was 150 yards at a pie plate and I thought that was amazing I was hitting that. I guess I am not a long distance shooter. If I had the kind of range set up to shoot that far, it would be fun though. Just to see if it could be done with some consistancy.

I wonder ... some of you other guys, what is the longest you have shot at targets or animals, but mostly targets? What kind of consistancy did you get at that range.

I too have shot animals out to around 350 yards with center fire rifles but not a muzzleloader. I routinely practice out to 200 yards with most of my smoke poles and some of them do better than others. My older son's Apex shot a 3" group at 200 last time out using a 250SW and 130gr ofPyro pellets. I haven't tried any other loads in that gun yet. My MagBolt shoots several loads under 4" at 200 yards including the 460NE over 90gr of 777 2F. That gun likes the 348PB best so far and puts them into about 2.5" at 200 using 100gr of 777 2F. Myyounger son's Optima shoots the 250SW into about 4" at 200 using 90gr of Pyro P.

I am planning a trip to the range in the next few days if the weather holds up to try out my GPH and see if I get lucky on a load. If everything falls into place I will try it out at 200 and see how it does.

BTW all of these are 50 cal.