I bought a CVA Optima last year and only shot is about 10 times Manily just for fun. I have been shooting t-7 pellets with 295gr power belts, 245gr power belt aero tips and 250gr Horndaylow drag sabot sst. I haven't really had time to sight it in to much and i was planing on putting a scope on it also. I bought the one pice scope base for it. Which loads have been working the best in this type of muzzle loader? I am looking for some deer leveling peformance. I Hunt in a shot gun only zone so i have use a 12ga 870 with a rifled barrel and sabot slugs for a few years now with great results. But its time for a change and try the muzzle loader durning gun season and our muzzle loader season in wisconsin you can not use any scope thats more then 1X power so i bought a set of quick detach scope mounts also for it.

http://thepowerbeltforum.powerguild....ptima-t220.htm

I posted a similarquestionregardingpowerbeltsand my Optima Pro.I got a lot of goodinformation.
The threadmy be of interest to you and is titled:Moving away from Powerbelt bullets; Need recommendations
Original posting date is1/10/2009 -- Good Luck

Here is the link to the post:

http://www.huntingnet.com/forum/tm.aspx?m=3284807

Chap

Go with the ML for Shotgun Season, I gave up my Mossberg Trophy Slugster and switched to only ML 15 years ago and have'nt went back, it's a-lot more fun and it makes youa better Hunter. Too bad WI wont let you use a higher power scope, here in SouthWestern New York we untill about 10 years ago could only use patch & round ball and no scopes, then they changed it to sabots and scopes (any-power) The reason our state let us use a variable scope was for A CLEANER HARVEST WITH LESS GAME LOSS. They figured using open sights was only adding to lost and unrecovered game. Hopefully more states will catch on and we all will benefit, even the game we hunt. Good luck using your ML for Shotgun Season and remember you only have one shot and make sure there's no Big Buck following that big Doe your thinking of shooting, it happens, I know! Best of luck on your ML Load, I have 5 different CVA's but no Optima, but in My CVA's I found that a 240gr. Hornaday HP XTP Bullet works great in all of them along with regular Pyrodox Pellets. I have'nt tried the T7 yet (have some) so I cant say. But I will try it.

ranger400ex1994, I bought a CVA Wolf a few years ago for my first muzzleloader and what a surprise it was to have it shooting so well. It's basically the same as a Optima (barrel twist rate) except the barrel is a few inches shorter. My Wolf shoots about anything I put in it fine. For target pratice I shoot Hornaday XTP's 250 and 300gr, black Crushed Rib sabots, 2 pyrodex 50gr pellets or 80-100gr loose Pyrodex RS, and a W209 primer. It shoots well with any combination of powder (I guess I just got lucky and got a good one). For deer hunting I use a 300gr Barnes Expander MZ, Crushed Rib sabot, 2 50gr Pyrodex pellets, and W209 primer. That load will flat out knock a deer down, I've shot at 4 deer since purchasing this gun and have 4 in the freezer. This picture of the one Barnes should be enough to convince you...

Another view from the side. Barnes 300gr Expander MZ

Ya i ve been hunting shotgun for about 12 years now. I started out with a 20 ga 870 shooting foster slugs with the shortsmooth boreslug barrelfor about 3 yearsand got probably the biggerst buck of my life with that gun. Then i bought 2 more 12ga870's and made one stickly my slug gun. I have the barrel pinned and all that good stuff done to it. It really does shoot greatwith remington copper soilds and core lokts and winchester partetion golds. I am just looking to try something else. Looks like i am going to be heading to the range and seeing what shoots the best. Whats the problem people are having with the power belts and the hornday sst? Also how offten do you clean your bore between shots?

with powerbelts people often dont realize that they are soft pure lead and they have a deep HP which means that when pushed to fast they come apart. You'll learn all about that on my forum.

sst- They dont expand, no blood trails and such.

With a powerbelt in the 245-295gr area and the 80gr charge, its going to expand to about the size of a quarter and leave a big hole going in and out, but may hang up on the other side of the hide and not exit. No big deal to me as an exit never made any difference. The deer that i have shot either have dropped in their tracks or gone 15 yards at the most. The farthest a deer has gone for us was 30 yards. Shot placement is key.

What you might want to do is mount a quick release rings with a high power scope ... something like a 2-7x32mm Nikon Pro Staff and use that during the modern season in your shotgun only area.Then get a second set of quick release rings and mount a1x scope for the muzzleloader season. Then all you do is switch out the scopes. All my Whites, Genesis, and a Renegade is set up that way. So I can shoot the long distance stuff if I have to, and during muzzleloader season I move back to a 1x scope. I mounted a Traditions 1x32mm $50.00 and it has been shooting real well. I have not shot it enough to break it yet, but I am trying.