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tesoronut · Joined: 02 Nov 2007 Posts: 145 Location: Southern Virginia

In another post, I've told how time-consuming the Knight Wolverine is. I like the trigger-pull, and the accuracy, but was wondering if another brand of comparable price would offer the same, only easier cleaning. Someone told me that the CVA Wolf was a good one. Any ideas? I'm headed to the woods now.............

cam69conv · Joined: 22 Oct 2006 Posts: 651 Location: Summit, IL

The CVA Optima I had was really accurate and easy to clean. I bought a TC Pro hunter and got a .50 ML barrel as well so I had no need for the CVA and sold it. But it held well and was a very moderate price. Easy loading (break open action) and easy cleaning. Only thing I didnt like about it was that, in that gun in particular, the only bullets it would shoot well was the powerbelts. But every gun is different so you cant go by that. Im just not a huge fan of the powerbelts. Never had any real problems from them but just dont like the wound channels from the solids. Didnt seem to open well. The hollowpoints on the other hand did well as long as I stayed off the shoulder. Hit the shoulder on one and was tracking that deer for over a mile. Bullet exploaded and got poor penetration. They did really well on lung shot in the ribs though.

Tweesdad · Joined: 22 Oct 2007 Posts: 13 Location: Hudson Valley of NY

cam69conv wrote: The CVA Optima I had was really accurate and easy to clean. I bought a TC Pro hunter and got a .50 ML barrel as well so I had no need for the CVA and sold it. But it held well and was a very moderate price. Easy loading (break open action) and easy cleaning. Only thing I didnt like about it was that, in that gun in particular, the only bullets it would shoot well was the powerbelts. But every gun is different so you cant go by that. Im just not a huge fan of the powerbelts. Never had any real problems from them but just dont like the wound channels from the solids. Didnt seem to open well. The hollowpoints on the other hand did well as long as I stayed off the shoulder. Hit the shoulder on one and was tracking that deer for over a mile. Bullet exploaded and got poor penetration. They did really well on lung shot in the ribs though.
If I may ask, which bullet weight Powerbelt were you using? I have found that by dropping my charge to 90gr. Pyrodex RS and using the 405 gr, Powerbelt, a well hit deer goes in only one direction, down. When I treid it, the heavy bullet, moving a bit slower drove right through the shoulder and destroyed the lungs. Deer took exactly 2 small steps and fell over. I can't say this is going to happen all the time, but I know it happened at least once.
Good luck and good hunting.

tesoronut · Joined: 02 Nov 2007 Posts: 145 Location: Southern Virginia

My Knight has been loaded for 2 years, but it has been kept dry and clean. I did cap it with a fresh 209 for the season. Call me Barney Fife, if you will. If I shoot this gun, hopefully it will be at a wall-hanger. But I was thinking that if the powder pellets have been kept dry, and the gun is clean, it should shoot. I just HATE going through the cleaning motions on this particular gun. May finish out the season with it, and unload it, one way or another....

cam69conv · Joined: 22 Oct 2006 Posts: 651 Location: Summit, IL

Hey tweez, I think I was using the 405 as well and over 2 pyro pellets (100 grains) Been a while but I think thats the load that she liked best. Im not downing the powerbelts. Just had a couple of experiances that I didnt like well. I tell ya though, with the hollow-points, you hit the ribs and that deer does the same thing NOSE DIVE!!! Couple of buddies had the same thing happen with the solids as far as not opening up very well unless they hit shoulder but Im not sure wether or not they were loading mag loads or what