phishook

Any tips to get this gun to load easier?

I shoot 245 powerbelts with 2 tripple7's.

The first load is tuff to get seated, but the second is next to impossible.

cayugad

Before you load your rifle for the very first time, make sure you take some isopropyl alcohol and swab the barrel so it is free of oil. Then load as normal. Powerbelts are not supposed to be that hard of a load but you might have to swab between shots.

You might want to look into some sabots... You might have to test some different ones to see which ones the rifle would like.

You might also want to get a hold of CVA and see what they have to say on the topic...

MLKeith

You are probably experiencing the "777 Crud Ring" which has been discussed endlessly on several sites. If you shoot 777 and use a 209 shotgun primer there will be a ring of crud just forward of the powder charge formed upon firing which will be nearly impossible to get another charge past without serious scrubbing of the bore. If you are getting the rifle clean to start with and that is not part of the problem the next step is to get the least powerful 209 primer which I believe is a CCI. Federal primers are the worst for this problem. The next step is to make the conversion to a .25ACP using rifle primers. I made this change to two of my rifles (T/C Omega and Traditions Pursuit) with very good results and the crud ring is nearly gone. If you do not want to spend the big bucks to make the conversion you could consider another powder. I would suggest either American Pioneer or Black Mag3. I am doing a comparison of those two against 777 for muzzle velocity and accuracy as well as fouling of the bore this week. I will be reporting the results on the Graybeard site. Or you can contact me at [email protected] and I will forward the data to you. I should have it by Friday.

MikeE51848

I have a CVA and have no trouble with Powerbelts, if you spit-patch barrel between shots. Using pyrodex tabs. I could not get Shockwaves down the barrel. To me, I'd want something that loads easy in the field.

Triple Se7en

If you can't load a Powerbelt on a 1st (clean barrel) load, you need to contact CVA Inc.(BPI). That bore is too undersized & needs to go back to the manufacturer.

Before you do that, tell us what you cleaned your bore with when it was new. Also need to know how many shots you fired with that gun -- what solvents you use -- if you use a bore brush all the time to swab & clean & what product are you using to swab & how often do you swab?

Criggster

I have the same gun you have; bought it new last year. I am using 245 grain powerbelts and 100 grains of pyrodex pellets. I had problems loading the second and third shots; because I wasn't cleaning the barrel between shots. The first one was easy to load.

If you clean the gun before storage make sure you use some bore butter. This will help season the barrel and make loading a lot easier. I always use bore butter after shooting my gun. I shot it this year for the first time and it sounded like a cork gun! There was not enough compression in the barrel. The second shot was fine. I fired a few more shots and then let it cool. I took it inside and cleaned it just as I did in the past. This time I shot one cap before loading the gun. When I shot it went off just like it was supposed to. So, if you use bore butter shoot a cap before loading the first load and it will help with compression.

cayugad

Criggster... I am not meaning to pick you out but, I disagree with you on the use of bore butter. I used to be a bore butter user but after some terrible experiences with it, I will not ever put that stuff back in my rifle except as a conical lube. I understand many people have excellent luck using bore butter so they claim. Well, their rifle... their problem. Down the road after you have painted the inside of the barrel with the stuff time and time again, there is a build up. That buildup will effect the accuracy of the rifle. At least in my case it did. If your going to use it, make sure you use a good brush, some boiling hot water, and solvent and scrub that stuff out of there from time to time. Beside his problem is a too tight bore in the first place, I would not be adding things to the dimensions of the bore to make it even more tight. If anything I would lapp the barrel to see if I could open it a little.

With the modern cleaners and oils we have at our disposal today there is no reason to put a wax paste inside the bore of the barrel anymore. Perhaps in the old days when quality oils and such were harder to come by this might have been the norm. I season my cast iron fry pan not my steel rifle barrel. I think a lot of this seasoning hype is to sell bore butter and nothing more. If you want to make some homemade bore butter, in a double boiler melt beeswax, castor oil, and add a little murphy's oil soap. It will do about the same thing only cost you a whole lot less. You can even add some liquid wintergreen oil for the smell. I have seen too many rifles rust using bore butter. This is not the case when a quality oil is applied in the rifle barrel. Then all you do is swab with a alcohol patch before shooting and remove any oils in the barrel and you start your shooting with a nice clean barrel.

phishook

After reading and thinking, it probably is the 777 crud ring.

MLKeith

I just finished the evaluation of Black Mag3, Clean Shot and 777. It is posted on Graybeard. I will be using Black Mag3 for my Elk Hunt based on the experience. I can load three shots in a row without any swab between. I suspect I can load more than that but three should be enough for any hunting situation. Fouling does not exist with Black Mag3. Velocity is higher than same volume ffg 777 or ffg Clean Shot and perceived recoil is less. How much more can you ask for? PS: according to manufacturer it is non-corrosive also.

vadeer

I talked to CVA and Hodgons about this and they both stated that using a 209-4 primer rather a 209 "regular" primer would solve the crud ring problem. I'll test this after the hunting season.