New to muzzleloading
 

Finally got myself a muzzleloader after looking at them for the past couple of years. Cabelas had a good deal on the loaders so I got a CVA Optima. Now I need to get all the accessories ( bullets,powder/pellets,cleaning kits,primers, and whatever else I need) wondering what you all recommend?

Great gun! I have 2 of them.

250gr Thor/250gr Powerbelt Aerolite/260gr harvester scorpion pt gold with mmp-24 sabot/300gr Traditions Fullbore all shoot great in my Optimas.

Powder: Blackhorn209 without a doubt.

Primers: CCI 209 Magnum

Accessories:
Range Rod
Cleaning rod
Short Starter
Powder Flask
Powder measure
Speed Loaders or powder tubes
Nylon bore brush
breech brush
Birchwood Casey Bore Scrubber
Birchwood Casey Gun Scrubber " for cleaning out the new gun"

It add's up pretty quickly but those items are important in order to shoot and maintain your muzzle loader.

OK let's see. Where do we start. First off you are going to need a range rod and cleaning jag (.50 cal I presume). Give your bore a good cleaning with a degreaser and/or alcohol followed by a gun cleaner and light coat of gun oil. (Be sure to swab the oil out before you shoot.)
Patch worm: Sooner or later you are going to get a patch in your bore and you may as well have this little rod accessory available.
Next you will need 209 primers. You can get the muzzleloader primers or regular shotgun primers.
Powder measurer: Try to find one that adjust in 5 grain increments.
Powder: (depending on you budget, from what I am hearing Blackhorn 209 is the cleanest burning but the most expensive.) Or you can get some Pyrodex RS.
Bullets: I would select a saboted bullet in the 250 AND 300 grain range. You want to see which shoot best as all MLs are different.
Suggested loads: I would start at 80 gr and work up in 10 gr increments to no more than 120 gr and see where you better grouping is. (Note this is by volume not weight)
This should get you started. Welcome to the club.

You better take a credit card. Congratulations on your new ML. Read your manual and read it again. See if you have a friend or neighbor that has one to help you out as well.

I see you guys suggest powder over the pellet form is there a reason for that?

Besides being ridiculously expensive, pellets are not really any easier to use than loose powder and greatly limit your load development ability.

cuz pellets suck

I do like loose powder. And for the reasons mentioned.. cheaper and load development. But I have a rifle that really likes just two pyrodex pellets and a Barnes bullet. I tried the same bullet with loose powder and did not get as good of results. Not really sure why, either.

Good advice here. I'd also recommend loose powder- Pyrodex, Triple Seven or Blackhorn 209 are all good powders, Blackhorn is less dirty and less corrosive than the others, though I've never had any problems with Triple Seven.

As far as bullets go, if you are allowed to used sabots, I would suggest trying out several- there are a lot of good bullets out there, including, but not limited to, 250 grain Gold Dot, 250 or 300 Grain XTP, 250 Barnes expander, and many others.

It will take some experimenting to find out what works best for you. Good luck!

Using loose powder do you have to clean in between shots though? Or does it burn just as clean as pellets?

pellets and other loose powders are dirty and should be cleaned between shots.

With blackhorn209 there is no cleaning between shots. Ive shot well over 60 shots in one day and the bore never gets tight. Like another person once said, Its not fair to put blackhorn209 in with the other subs when comparing.

pellets are good for someone starting out less to do just drop 2 or 3 down the barrel and then the bullet less to go wrong and letter you can go to powder good luck

My experience with Blackhorn is very limited (1/2 canister). But after all of the posts I've seen about its peculiarities regarding bullet fit, seating pressure, primer requirements, breechplug issues, etc., I don't think I would recommend it to a new shooter. It just seems better to graduate to Blackhorn rather than to start with it.

its very simple for a new shooter really. Its easier than trying to explain and teach them about crud rings, special primers, cleaning LOL.

Just my opinion. As stated, my BH experience is quite limited. I just figured that Pyrodex would be more forgiving.

Cayugad that gun wouldnt happen to be a knight would it? I,ve got a 45 extreme that whated 150 of T7 pellets with a barnes 175 bullet. I tryed loose powder any were from 75 to 130 of T7-2f. I took it to Centerville and had them test it and they had the same result.

Do you get more shots out of a pound can of powder compared to 50 pellets? Or is it pretty much equal?

Anyone try this bullet?

Hornady FPB Bullets

One, 1 pound can is ~7000 grains of powder (slight volumetric variation, Pyrodex vs Black Powder vs 777 vs . . .). 50, 50 grain pellets is 2500 grain equivalents. Pellets are very expensive.

Cleaning is more involved process; swabbing the bore is a more accurate description. If you have ever watched a civil war reenactment of a Parrot Rifle (artillery), what you are doing is quick wipe of the rifling with something damp, followed by a dry pass, to get the grooves clean and soften any remaining fouling. I have only used Pyrodex and real Black powder, but that is all that is required for those two to keep consistent good accuracy.

I mark my rod and stop short of swabbing below where the bullet seated.

FG you didnt start out with BH209 did you thats part of the noing of you start a the top were do you go from there down

had it been available at the time, darn right i would have used it. Same with the bullets available now days.

We all have to start somewhere, so use whats best on the market. Blackhorn209 is easily the butter on the bread.

BH is a great powder...

There is another learning curve associated with it as Semi says...

It is far to expensive to play with per shot...

T7 will work just fine and be a good learning experiance

The Pryo's are dirty and corrosive but also and in expensive way to start....

Pellet but use Pyro Pellets, and Power Belts are the easiet way in the world to start... but ween your way off of both as soon as possible. With these two combination you need less accesories to get started and it more difficult to make a mistake... it will get you shooting and each shot will lead to a learning experiance that you can apply and get better as you move up the learning curve.