cva optima?

[SALECREEKHUNTER]

Walmart put their muzzleloaders on sale so i bought a new optima with thumbhole stock. I have a cva kodiak and i was shooting 245 powerbelt hollow points and didn't really like the results. I have never had a deer get away but i have noticed with all the deer i've shot it doesn't leave much of a blood trail if any at all. What bullet should i go with in my optima and how much powder? 100 or 150 grains?

 

[medic]

I shot 100 gr of 777 and a 300 gr Hndy sst.

works great.

 

[Model70Man]

110 grains with a Barnes on top.

 

[big 8s in Weakley county]

hornady sst 250 grain

 

[jakeway]

All the above suggestions are good ones.

I use 110 gr loose or 100 gr pellets 777 with 300 gr Hornady XTP. My son uses the same thing except the 245 gr Honrady XTP in his Optima. We both got all der we shot at with them, all had good blood trails.

(I went to pellets because the tubes I use for follow up shots tended to let the loose powder get behind the pellets. I did extensive testing this summer, and found no significant difference between loose and pellets in my gun, though the point of impact was enough different that I couldn't use loose for first shot and pellets for followup.)