M/L Question/Advice

Purchased a CVA Optima Mag. (.50 cal) this off season. This will be my first go with a ML. From a previous thread asking for advice I posted several months back, this is what I gathered:
Triple 7 Mag pellets
Triple 7 209 primers
250gr Sabots
Two pellets to start with/sight in.
What cleaning solution do you recommend and while sighting in do I need to clean after every shot? If so what do I need to clean?

loaded question some folks make this a lot harder than it is. especially with modern ML's.

when at the range...I swab with a wet patch and then a dry patch between every shot, leaving the breech plug in the whole time. this not only shows real accuracy, but also makes cleaning much easier.

cleaning time...I remove plug and use a plug brush wrapped in a wet patch to clean threading inside barrel at plug end. then use wet patches inside barrel until they come out clean. then use dry patches until completely dry then one patch with bore butter. use solvent to clean plug completely making sure you can see through the firing hole as well. then apply breech grease and put back in. clean the rest of the gun as you would any gun, applying light oil on outside of barrel and all metal.

I have an optima and an encore. the optima loves 100 grains 777 and 250 grain shockwaves. the encore the same with 150 grains 777.

we hunted with greg ritz from thompson center last year and he said the same thing...most make this wayyyy to difficult. if you have high speed go here http://www.tcarms.com/videoLibrary/ click on world or muzzleloading and watch ALL of his videos on ML's. yeah he is a lil nerdy and yeah he is selling his goods, but you get the idea. I can tell you from experience this fella is an inline ML machine...he knows exactly what he is talking about.

Jim has it nailed.

The only thing that I will add is that T7 leaves a ring of crud in the barrel when you shoot it. If you don't clean it out, you run the risk of not getting the next bullet seated tight on the powder charge and this will lead to bad things. That is why it is important to swab after each shot.
I use an old 35mm film canister (some use pill bottles) and put pre-soaked patches in them. I put dry patches in a sandwich bag. After the shot, it is one wet, two dry and then load and shoot. I do the same thing in the field.

Use Blackhorn 209, CCI 209 primers, speedloaders and your all set.
No need to swab between shots. Shoot as many times as you like!
No need to immediately clean up after shooting.
No crud ring. No buildup.
Hoppe's #9 at the end of the season.

Thanks for the advice

When you swab between shots what does your patch attach to? Do wrap it around a brush or slip it between the slot of the rod end?

WTM45 said:

Use Blackhorn 209, CCI 209 primers, speedloaders and your all set.
No need to swab between shots. Shoot as many times as you like!
No need to immediately clean up after shooting.
No crud ring. No buildup.
Hoppe's #9 at the end of the season.

Click to expand...

tell me more. NO issues with buildup or accuracy loss?

skinner said:

When you swab between shots what does your patch attach to? Do wrap it around a brush or slip it between the slot of the rod end?

Click to expand...

put a cleaning jag on your RANGE ROD (which is a GREAT investment) and the patch goes over it

Jim,

http://www.blackhorn209.com/

Jim, What are you wetting your patches with for cleaning? Bore cleaner or something especially for Black Powder?