MountainDevil54

UPS dropped off my new CVA Optima - Thumbhole! They were able to find me a plain block stock thumbhole " now discontinued" and im happy for that.

Scrubbed the heck out of everything, blew out all the grease- oil inside the action, relubed with Birchwood Casey Barricade, Hit the barrel on the outside the RIG #2 and then gave the bore 60 strokes with a tight fitting patch and JB Bore paste, Looked like a mirror when i got it, but i figured what the heck, the JB Bore paste doesnt take long to do. Beautiful bore!

Trigger is most likely around 2.5lbs, a touch heavier than my other Optima but for a brand new gun, theres no creep or grit.

Adjusted my firing pin bushing out .013" and had just a hair line gap between the breech plug and frame, Turned out to be perfect adjustment and zero primer blow by.

Its 100% factory as of now, unless you count the head space adjustment as a tweak

I already fired 2 shots, one at 20 which was slightly below the bullets eye and slightly to the right. Went to 50 yards and she moved up above the bullets eye but around 2" to the right.

Going to take 2 more shots before i adjust the scope and then i will call it a day.

Zero ignition problems with BH209 and the factory breech plug. But again, its only been 2 shots.

MountainDevil54

First shot at 20 yards.


Moved out to 50 yards, took 2 shots which touched, decided rather than take a 3rd shot, to just adjust the scope 12 clicks to the left and she was center!





Took a total of 8 shots with it today and this is what it looked like afterward.



#8 primer


I really do love this thumbhole already. It feels very solid when i kneel down and practice off hand aiming.


Tomorrow will be a 100 yard day and then maybe even 150 yards.

50calty

So how many inlines does that make?

MountainDevil54

For my stock, just 2.

A thumbhole Optima and a Non thumbhole optima. The non thumbhole is getting its stock dipped.

50calty

Gotcha. For some reason I thought you had a Wolf and TC. Was wondering what a person did with that many inlines, but two isn't bad.

MountainDevil54

Oh i do have a wolf, apex, accura v2 but i gave them to my brother, dad and nephew. I just borrow them from time to time.

bronko22000

Very good looking and shooting rifle there MD. I always liked my Optima Pro when I owned it. But I traded her in on something else. I just can never keep an inline very long. I do have a Knight that I purchased on an online auction for $50 that shoots terrific so I am hanging on to in as a 'just in case' rifle. I believe my sidelock total is up to a around 7 or 8 but I would have to think about that.

MountainDevil54

Shes shooting good but SOB! Im waiting 20 minutes between shots and that barrel is still burning up. Accuracy isnt what i want it to be but i at least got one decent group.

Going wait longer till i go out to shoot again. Maybe around 7pm and try it. Bringing some 90gr loads as well to try out.

MountainDevil54

Ok i know i said i'd shoot on the factory QRBP until i got a hang fire. Well after 23 shots total through the rifle, i HAD to clean it. It was not due to a hang fire or misfire but due to the accuracy falling off and my shots started to drift over to the right. I didn't know what the heck was going on and figure i needed more help on mounting a scope but i decided to clean the flash channel with the #32 drill bit and took 3 more shots @ 100 yards.

I wont tell you how it shot after that. I'll just post a pictures from my first shot down to shot #23.

LOVE THE RIFLE!

MountainDevil54

First 3 shots 'lower' were my first out at 100 yards with 100gr BH209 - 250gr Aerolite Powerbelt. Not bad, not great either but not bad for the guns first trip to 100 yards. Shot clipping the bulls eye was me adjusting the scope.


This is when the trouble began due to the intense heat we were having today. Same load.


Gun cooled down for a good 20 minutes while i was at the house. First 3 shots were very decent with a new charge of 90 grains blackhorn209 just to see if less powder was better in the rifle. Ran back to the house for 2 more 90gr charges and fired them 10 minutes in between shots. STUMPED! They danced over the right.


Making some adjustments to my lead sled, i extended it forward one notch so the pressure on the forearm was directly over the forearm screw. Back to 100 grains Blackhorn209. STILL OVER TO THE RIGHT!


After those 3 shots i really started to question my ability to mounting a scope. I figured maybe i didnt torque it down correctly and now its starting to dance around under recoil. WHO KNOWS!

When i first got the rifle i made a promise, I wont clean that factory QRBP until she hang fires! I even made a list of the # of shots ive taken so i could report how many it took before she went fizzle clump.

I broke that promise as i was really stumped due to the shots moving off to the right for some reason. I went and got my #32 drill bit out of my range box and remove the QRBP and cleaned it.

Total of 23 shots with Blackhorn209 and CCI 209 Magnum primers.


I did allow the barrel 6 to 8 minutes to cool down between shots, THANKFULLY since the temp' dropped into the mid 80's in the evening.

3 shots @ 100 yards, cleaned the QRBP between each shot, allowed the barrel to cool down.



Complete target from today,


15 recovered primers from today that were shot in the fouled up QRBP. The other 3 primers were from when i started cleaning the QRBP between shots.


With proper head space adjustment, this is what she looked like after a FULL day of shooting.



I've had this Optima for a SINGLE DAY and already she's ready for New Mexico Muleys!