new gun

[starsandstriper]

been shoppin around for a muzzelloader for a while now, and finally found a heavily used cva bobcat. the owner of the store, which i go to quite frequently for fishing gear, assumed that i didnt know the value of the rifle and tried to sell it to me(with dads permission) for 75 dollars. now i am 15 years old and he had no clue that i knew the real value of the rifle, and i told him that i was aware of its value and was insulted that he tried to rip me(one of his most frequent customers) off. deer season(shotgun) opened and i forgot about the ordeal until i took my first deer. I went deer hunting the next day and my dad brought the previously shot deer to be tagged. when i got home from hunting, my dad presented me with the cva bobcat that the store owner told him to give to me so that he wouldnt lose a good customer.

anyway, it has been a great week for me, i got my fist deer and my first muzzelloader as a result.

now i am just curious as to how much this thing is going to kick. i have shot a 12 gauge model 500 with 00 buck and that is the largest thingi have shot to date. i have been told that it will kick a lot more than the 12 gauge and i am slightly worried as that is all the kick that i think that i want to deal with. thanks for reading my long and drawn out story, i hope you all can help answer my question and thanks for putting up with my bad grammar.

 

[MutinousDoug]

Starsandstriper,
I'm not familiar with the CVA Bobcat, so I'm assuming it's probably a .50cal? Shooting a reasonable starting load would approximate the energy of a 1 oz slug load in your 12 ga. Unless the stock design and weight of the Bobcat is much different than that of your shotgun, I don't think it will hurt you.
Assuming a .45-.54 caliber ML, start with 40-50 grs of ff black powder and a patched round ball. From there you can work up to 80-120 grs ff and a conical bullet if you so desire which, in a .54 shot from a bench, will thump you pretty good! Somewhere in between, you'll find a load that is comfortable to shoot and good deer medicine.
Don't violate the owners manual recommended max load in any case.
Congradulations on your deer.

 

[Plink]

Congrats on the great deal! Don't worry about the recoil. It won't beat you up nearly as bad as the shotgun does. Good luck on your hunt.

 

[dpote]

I have a CVA Bobcat, with a synthetic stock.
The recoil isn't as bad as you would think.
I took my wife with me to shoot it, and she hates recoil.
I can honestly say this is the only rifle I have seen her smile when she shot it.
I just asked her, and she says she enjoyed shooting it.
I love that woman.

Dave

 

[arcticap]

Bobcats used to have a hollow plastic stock filled with a brittle & airy injected foam material that could be removed pretty easily by prying it out in pieces. You can replace it with some lead shot, bb's or such, but it might rattle a little afterward. I've read reports that some people are now using modeling clay from Walmart to fill the Bobcat stocks. It comes 4 sticks to the pound like sticks of butter, and fits in and balances the gun's weight really well.
Yesterday, my son sighted in a hunting load for a Traditions Deerhunter, which is a rifle with a plastic stock, similar overall weight, barrel length, and rifling twist (1 in 48 inches). It was loaded with 85 grains of Pyrodex P and a TC 240 grain pure lead hollow point slug & Break-O-Way sabot. After shooting it off the bench with that load for the first time ever he said that the recoil wasn't too bad. That bullet combo. shot to the same point of aim at 50 yards as shooting patched round balls using 1/2 that amount of powder.
Round balls don't always shoot that accurately with a heavy hunting load out of a 1 in 48 inch twist barrel, but the TC sabot slug's accuracy was a suprise.

 

[abcode]

I have a CVA Bobcat along with a couple T/C's. You do not have to worry about the recoil compared to your shotgun. I personally changed my synthetic stock to a wood one (good luck finding one). I like it a whole lot better now. I would recommend filling the hollow stock butt with something. Congrats on your deer and welcome to muzzleloading!!

 

[SASS#23149]

I'll take a bp rifle over 00 any day

I seldom shoot heavy shotgun loads but decided to shoot some 00 a while back.

OUCH!!!!

I'd MUCH prefer to shoot my Traditions .54 than my Mossy with heavy loads.
Them 00's is just plain MEAN.

 

[LEE3370]

The Wal-Mart has the Bobcat for $59.95, that is what I am getting myself for Christmas.

 

[motorcycle_dan]

Good bobcat loads

I use 80gr of ffg a patched .490 swaged round ball. Sighted in initially at 30 yards, it shot low. A couple hours on the shooting bench and a file on the front sight. I manged to zero it in at 60 yards with the patched round ball.
(take a good machinist file with you to the range) I ended up removing about 1/8 of an inch from the front sight. Go slow, Much easier to remove metal than it is to put it back on.

Was planning to see how it shoots with the plastic sabot but decided against it. I'm not a purist but think that muzzle loading rifles should shoot patched balls. Yeah there are other projectiles but if I wanted to do that, I'd shoot bambi with my pistol. I figure hunting is really a matter of figuring out the animals habits and positioning yourself in the area where you expect the game to be.

If I can't get within 60 yards, Bambi gets to live another season. I'd much rather not get a chance to take a deer with a well placed shot at 50 yards. Than to take an 80 yard shot and have the animal go missing after a long blood trail search. I don't need the meat that bad. Got lots of bunnies in a grassy field next door. Many of which need made into soup after a short conversation with my pump .22

 

[arcticap]

I've found that shooting a saboted bullet generally provides the best and most reliable 1st shot accuracy when shooting heavier hunting loads out of a cold, clean medium twist barrel.

 

[motorcycle_dan]

Sabot and other things lay'n round

Well you are welcome to mine when you make it to mid ohio. I have a collection of various plastic sabot and projectiles that people gave me or came with a used rifle that I purchased only because I felt sorry for it.

I'm sure they may shoot well. As for me, I had trouble getting them rammed down the barrel proberly They didn't fell like they seated consistent. But I admit to not giving them a fair shake. I like patched RB. My loads were worked up based on the RB.

Okay now I'm curious. I may take out the jacketed sabot projectiles and see what they do downrange. I have that CVA bob cat that needs a little fresh air. Thing shoots so well with PRB that I never went any further in the load work up. Just curious what you would consider an accurate hunting load with a sabot jacketed bullet. I think my twist is 1:48
I need some range time for sure.

 

[Donny]

I wouldn't worry about recoil, probably won't even notice it until you get up to 80 grains of powder behind a patched ball. CVA recommends you don't load more than 100 grains of powder under any projectile. Have fun Bobcats are no frills but reliable little rifles I have 3 of them.

Don

 

[arcticap]

I shoot PRB's 99% of the time, but target and plinking loads for fun. When hunting, there's no fouling shots or warming up the barrel (or unfrozen patch lube ). So this round was tested and it shot as close to the bullseye as a PRB target load which is within several inches at 50 yards. Not every sabot/bullet combo. will accomplish that, the bullet can't be too long or the weight too heavy out of a 1 in 48" twist barrel. Previously I found that a Knight sabot/.45 TC Maxihunter (255 grain) combo. shot to about the same point too, also with 85-90 grains of Pyrodex P.
Plus the additional weight of the 240 grain bullet over the 177 grain ball should allow it to penetrate and expand better. And I wanted to try some TC Break-O-Way sabots out.
It's not about shooting paper targets, it's about shooting deer. If it was another rifle with another rate of twist, it might be better to use a round ball. But that's why we buy 'em & try 'em!

 

[starsandstriper]

motorcycle dan

if you have a bunch of different bullets lying around, i will take them off of your hands(pm me) as the store that i buy BP supplies only has 2 kinds of bullets and i feel the need to experiment with my new gun. i loaded 25 film cannisters with 80gr, and 25 with 100gr.of BP and only have 20 identical bullets to use. Does anyone know how the powerbelt ammo shoots out of a bobcat.

 

[motorcycle_dan]

stars and stripper

Sent you a PM. welcome to them if you want to come fetch or pay for the shipping.

 

[motorcycle_dan]

Appologies to Starsandstriper

Got to gathering up all the non round ball projectiles. Turns out I have a bunch of .54 cal (not .50) Sorry.

I had to buy a Traditions cap lock because I felt sorry for it. It came with some accessories. Plus a friend gave me a sack of "muzzle load'n stuff" Turns out most of it was .54 cal stuff.

So, if you know someone in NEED of a Traditions springfield Hawken in .54 cal. It comes with a bunch of bullets for $125.

To be honest, the better deal on a hunt'n gun is the CVA bobcat. Saw the local Wal-mart had 'em marked down to $49. That's cheap... Way cheap. They also had Pale rider on DVD for $7.50 (guess what I watched last night)

Got curious about my load I worked up on the Bobcat. Turns out it was 60gr of ffg rather than the 80 I mentioned in a previous post. Group size got larger as load went up above 60gr. Still acceptable at 80gr but best group at 60 yards was 60gr below a patched round ball.