Found my hunting load for my Optima pistol
 

After playing with a few different bullets and powder charges in my CVA Optima pistol, I believe I've found my hunting load for this Fall.. The temp this morning was in the low 80's with no real breeze. The bullet is a 44 cal. Barnes 225 gr XPB paired with a Harvester crush rib sabot and 85 gr of BH209 by volume. The picture is the final group of the morning but all groups with that bullet/powder combo were about the same....1 to 1.25 inches at 50 yards shooting off a bag rest. Unfortunately,I left my chrono sitting on my work bench, so no chrono readings to report. I know 80 grs of bh209 with a 240 gr xtp produce an average of 1475 fps so I'm guessing this combo is producing somewhere in the 1500-1510 fps range. Recoil was very manageable and not unpleasant at all. Next chance I get, I'll run it through the chrono to get some actual velocity numbers but I'm calling it good for the upcoming season.

I'm new to this forum. Noticed there were no replies. I have the V1 in the Optima Pistol and it is one of my favorite guns to hunt with. Also used the Barnes 225 and crush rib sabot.Dropped a doe in it's tracks.I also like the Hornady 240 xtp. Taken a few deer out to 60 yds with it. Just switched to the Blackhorn 209 powder this year .

That should work. Hunting with a handgun is fun. I've taken a few with my S&W 29 and T/C Contender but never any with a BP pistol I carried a .54 Lyman Plains Pistol a couple times but didn't shoot anything with it. I restricted my shots at deer to 35 yards with that because of the light load in it. Good luck this season