Just bought a brand new optima v2 and it has the cva scope mount and I mounted a leupold rifleman on it. Well I got it out to line it up for deer season and I can't get it to group at 100 USA I was using triple 7 pellets and triple 7 209's. I tried a Barnes sabot which shot about six inch groups with 100 grains and 150 grains. Tried shockwaves which shot about 3" groups with both previous charges. And I tried 195 grain power belts with only 100 grains which shot about the same as the shockwaves then ran out of pellets. I bought some more pellets and plan on shooting it again in a couple days an try mag load with the power belts. But I did notice that the pellets had some residue on em. They where about 3-4 years old an I'm hoping that was the problem but something tells me it's not bc my cva wolf shot fine with them. There was no delay in discharge or anything either. So wats you guys opinion? U think it's the powder or the gun or something else?

100 yards not USA

old pellets and sucky accuracy is no surprise.

195gr powerbelts are .45cal so how in the world are you shooting them in a 50cal?!

Swab between each shot with a windex saturated patch and see how that does. The old pellets however are very common issues with poor accuracy.

I believe a 3" group at 100 yards is standard MZ accuracy. I know some will jump in and say you should have 1 hole groups but that's with load development, quality bench rest and and plenty of skill.

I'd switch to loose powder. If it's T7, you need to swab between shots Try between 90-110 grains by volume with a 250 - 300 grain bullet. The groups and your confidence will improve.

Got the same setup same scope. No issues here.

295 grain lol sorry

It's your pellets most likely. Buy loose powder. It won;t grab moisture anywhere like the pellets do. Plus you can tweak your load in 5 / 10 grain increments. You'd be surprised what 5 or 10 grains can do to shot groups on paper. Sometimes, that's all it takes, along with uncontaminated powder.

One last thing! Those 777 primers are pretty weak. Consider changing to Winchester 209 primers.

WinT7 primers worked fine for me with loose T7 powder. Never had a single ignition issue. I cant say for sure if i ever used them with T7 pellets but they worked fine with Pyrodex pellets.

No primer seemed to help the crud ring much with the pellets but the WinT7 primer had some effect on loose T7. They made a bigger difference in my old ThunderHawk...not 100% sure why.

Have you had ignition problems with them? Not saying I won't but iv always used em an never had a problem. I'm in Tennessee an our weather is usually pretty fair during muzzleloader season as far as weather related problems would be. Just wondering

Well after about 50 shots it's finally grouping with the shockwaves. Maybe the barrel needed breaking in.