A police sniper tweaking his rifle- 1/4" accuracy is expected!

Yesterday afternoon, which happened to be the anniversary of my birth, was spent on the shooting range sighting in a new scope on my muzzleloader.

Last year I purchased a CVA Wolf muzzleloader for deer hunting.  This isn’t the most expensive blackpowder gun on the market but it has a good reputation for accuracy and I love its short barrel and light weight (recoil usually isn’t a problem for someone as ‘delicate’ as Yours Truly).  After sighting in the piece last year on possibly the coldest day of the entire decade, I did manage to take a button-buck with a single shot.

Fast forward to this deer season.

In spite of good intentions, we didn’t manage to mount and sight in the scope that we purchased before the season.  We did managed to take a nice fat doe on Thanksgiving eve with a single that dropped her like General Motor’s stock.  We felt good and fine and honorable but still aggravated that we weren’t using the scope.

However, now that we are in the pause between general firearms season and muzzeloader, I felt it imperative to get the scope mounted and sighted in.  Taking advantage of what might be the nicest day of the entire month, we headed to the range.

I will freely admit that I’m not the most knowledgeable muzzleloader-shooter  in the world but I will claim fairly significant experience and training as a shooter, police sniper and a gun writer for a national magazine.  In other words, my opinions on this subject are just my own opinions but they aren’t comprised solely of random brain drippings plucked from thin air.

Deciding to make the best possible effort in accuracy with an in-line frontloader, I have researched the topic extensively and learned much from the process.

First, I was surprised to find that the popular blackpowder pellets are not the most accurate system of propellant.  Apparently the manufacturing tolerances are such that a conscientious loader can achieve much better powder accuracy from load to load than with pellets.  So, I ditched the expensive pellets and went back to a good old-fashioned powder measure.  I chose Pyrodex RS as propellant simply because it is easier to find than traditional black powder.

For deer-sized critters, I have always used lighter-weight powder charges because they are usually more accurate yet providing ample killing power.  Previously, I used 80 grains of RS behind a Powerbelt 250-grain bullet and the two deer harvested didn’t take a single step after being hit.  Upon further consideration, I decided to bump up the charge to 90 grains and see how the rifle digested the combination.  I was pleased to find that my gun liked it even better.

One thing I know is that the most important single factor in accuracy when using a scope is proper mounting of the optic.  If you don’t take care during this process, you might as well be throwing the bullets by hand.

In my case, I decided to mount a fixed four-power Bushnell scope on the gun.  While I am no stranger to higher-powered scopes, in the boilerplate-thick crud in which I typically hunt, the 4X model was a perfect combination of power verses field of view.

I used CVA universal Gorilla mounts to put the optic on the rifle.  After dry-fitting the scope and mounts, I assembled the sight, using care to torque all the screws evenly throughout the process.  Each of these, along with the scope body, was also bedded in Loctite blue to prevent any future surprises.  I didn’t lap the scope mounts as 1) I don’t have the tools on hand and 2) it’s a darn 4X scope on a lower-priced blackpowder hunting rifle.

So, how did it work?  I was pleased beyond words.

Tweaking the gun required less than 15 rounds and in short order, I was shooting 2 1/2″ groups at 100 yards with virtually no problem.  Bullet drop from sight-in range of 50 yards to 100 was only three inches so I can basically hold dead-on from muzzle distance to approximately a football field away.   When time and weather allows, I plan on finding out how the gun shoots out to 200 yards.  For now, I’m happy.

I know friends who claim much better accuracy with their guns.  They also claim running 300 yard shots on elk using a handgun.  Good for them.

Regardless, I’m happy.

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