CVA Kodiak Magnum .50 Cal - what's the best bullet / load combo?

[phishhead]

I have been shooting the 145 grain powerbelt aero tips with 95 grains of pyrodex powder but I keep reading bad reviews about the powerbelts. A lot of people seem to think that there is not enough of a blood trail because they do not usually pass through. I killed a little buck with one last season but there was no blood. The deer dropped pretty quickly but I was just wondering if anyone had an opinion on the favorite combo for this gun. Oh, and by the way, please don't tell me to get a different gun - married with child - not an option.

[vister]

i dont like powerbelts. the reason they don't pass through is because they completely fall apart on impact. I'd like to see someone prove me wrong. post a pic if you can.

sunday while making a drive a doe sprung from the cattails and i smoked her with a 30 yard shot, heckuva blood trail too! my buddy didn't know it i had hit her, so he shot too! hit her pretty much in the same spot, just on the opposite side. he thought for sure his bullet had did the damage, but i was like, dude, look at the blood trail after i shot her. when we skun her, indeed the bullet holes where close. my exit was not much bigger than my entrance. his entrance was next to my exit, but he had no exit. then we found his copper jacket from his bullet in the ribs. no lead on it at all, just copper. we knew it was his because it had a little nipple on the bottom of it, which powerbelts have.

The best shooting bullet i have found is Hornady .44 mag bullets you buy in the reloading section. wrap them with a color code green MMP sabot. for a .50 cal muzzy that is. fly way straighter and hold together way better to.

what i use is hornady .44 mag pistol bullets, 240 grain HP/XTP with MMP sabots, color code green, for .429-.430 diameter bullets. then triple 7 pellets, and a triple 7 primer. shoots excellent this way, and cleans better because the pellet/primer combination burns hotter.

keep in mind, it is pretty much the same bullet combo as T/C shockwave, except WAY cheaper. 100 saboted rounds will be around 30 bucks, compared to what those powerbelts cost. and i get my stuff at cabelas, cause the selection on it is huge compared to other places!

[IceHawk]

I have the same gun and I am shooting triple seven (pellets)100 grains and powerbelt 295's and I am pleased with the results.

[lunker651]

I don't really know about the older powerbelt cause I never tried them but the new Platium are awsome. In my Kodiak I'm shooting powerbelt platium 270gr. being push by 100gr. 777 pellets. The entrance is okay but the exit is huge and it does not blow apart like the older powerbelts. I love these bullets. 2 deer already with this combos last year. My other favorite bullet combo is the speer 300gr. GDHP with harvester crush rib sabot and 100gr. 777. This combo has taken my biggest buck up 2 date. I would shoot both of these combos in my Kodiak without hesitation.

[Doug Smotherman]

I have an T/C black diamond and shoot 200gr shockwave with the 100 grain powder and a CVA Kodiak Pro and shoot a 250gr shockwave with 150 grain power. The shockwave are great bullets because the expand good at about all velocities. The deadcenter bullets shoot the best out of my CVA but the are more exensive.

[92python]

I buy XTPs and sabots separately from Cabelas as well. I use the 250 grain .452s with black crushed rib sabots. About $30 for 100 rounds for a very good bullet. Some say the Gold Dot is a better bullet than the XTP and you could buy those separately as well. Try a few different sabots until you find one that isn't too tight or too loose.

Used to use Powerbelts until I realized they cost quite a bit and don't shoot that well from my gun. Combine that with the fact you need to push them slowly to ensure they don't fragment and you can see why I made the change.

[paceman]

I have the same gun as phishhead, anybody shoot the magnum 150 grains of powder/pellets?

[LundExplorer]

I have a Kodiak Pro, and shoot the 245gr Powerbelt with 100gr 777 pellets. Shot a spike buck last weekend, and went right thru the ribs. Entrance and exit wounds about the same size. Range was 40 yd.

[phishhead]

Thanks for all of the replies everyone. Hey Vister, how many grains of powder are you using. I think I am going to try the Hornaday 44's. My gun shoots the most accurate with 90 grains of Pyrodex select(shooting the 245 powerbelts). The reason I stayed away from the pellets was so I can play around with unlimited different amounts of powder and see what shoots the best. Also, I was at FF in Hudson last night and talking to a guy by the ML stuff and he swore by Sulphur Free powder. He said it makes cleaning time a breeze. Has anyone else tried sulphur free powder?

[vister]

i use 100 grains. two 50/50 pellets. I hear triple 7 pellets are ideal because of the hole in the center you stick your supplied pipe cleaner into to get them out of their box. that hole allows a better burn because the flash of the primer doesn't just burn at the bottom, it sends it through the holes igniting the powder quicker from the inside, which makes it burn more efficient.

the most accurate load of powder is 90 grains. typically, maximum velocity is reached with 120 grains. those who use 150 grains just have to buy powder more often, and take on a bit more recoil.

also, american pioneer pellets, and jim shockey gold pellets are sulphur free. they are longer though, so the bullet doesn't seat as far down as it does using 777.

[phishhead]

...so I picked up the .44 mags and the only sabots I could find were the crushed rib. When I got home I noticed that it said on the package to clean and lube your gun after every shot. With the powerbelts and using bore butter in the barrel I could get away with 3 shots easily. Using the bore butter for lube on the sabot, do you think I can at least get away with 2 shots with out taking the plug out and running a patch through it?

[YaBetcha]

I am currently shooting the 295 Platinums, but in the past I shot the 245 gr copper plated bullets. I was shooting 100 gr of pyrodex (2 50's) and on the two deer I shot with it one passed through and one didn't. Neither of them mushroomed (they look like I could use them again) or left a hole for there to be any bloodbled (thankfully they dropped in sight). I complained about the performance in lack of blood, so I changed to the Platinums... Why I went to the Platinums I do not know, but if I have the same results I will be changing to a different bullet. I have changed to Triple 7 powder and do like that for cleanup...good luck!

[vister]

with the MMP sabots I use, and the bullets, powder/primer combination, i can shoot probably 15 times before i notice a difference when trying to ram a bullet down the muzzle. My dad and brother have the same guns as I, but use winchester, or CCI primers, and they almost need a hammer to hit the ramrod down to seat the bullet after the first shot!

I've never used bore butter, as i believe anything wet in the barrel is going to make cleaning a bit dirtier. when i clean the gun, i use T/C foaming bore cleaner, let it soak for 1/2 hour. then run a few dry patches through with my wire brush on the ramrod. when they come out somewhat clean, at least dry, i run Traditions Wonderlube 1000 Plus patches through a few times, and then dry patches until they come out clean. then fire a primer through to ensure the flash hole in the breech plug is cleared.

this method requires minimal effort to clean the gun, and makes loading it very easy. But try finding the sabots i mentioned earlier. i recommend trying to shoot the gun without using bore butter. good luck hunting!

[phishhead]

FYI - I called MMP to find someone that might carry their sabots in the Twin Cities area seeing as I don't have time to drive down to Cabelas and I am hunting tomorrow afternoon - afer making sure that I am all dialed in. They told me that they make anything packaged by T/C and also they make the Hornady Green sabots which they sell at GM in Woodbury.

[Dirtyb25]

I actually shoot 150 grains in a cva optima pro, I've gotten two deer with it, using 223 grain powerbelts. Powerbelts shoot really well out of my gun, but they are very spendy.

First deer was at about 50 yards, and it was through and through, second deer was around 120 yards, and the majority of the round got stuck in the ribs on other side. They are almost a frangible round, the two biggest peices of bullet that I removed from the ribs on the second deer were no more than a combined 60 grains.

Like Vister says, once the bullet hits, it pretty much explodes, not a real big blood trail since you're just getting blood off of an entry hole *most* of the time.

The second deer wasn't a perfect lung shot, I actually hit the fourth rib from the tail end of the deer, which is about four ribs to the right of where I wanted to hit, but the fragmentation of the round striking the rib sent shrapnel into the lungs. Not much of a trail, but since the bullet disentragated when it hit, it made up for my less than stellar shot.

It's really up to you, and the gun. I like that I can shoot this round at 200 yards if I have a good rest.