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Post by joegun53 on Nov 7, 2010 22:05:05 GMT -5
Playing around with my new CVA Apex at the range today. Shooting Barnes 290 TMZ's, Federal 209 primer, Blackhorn 209. I was getting 2 1/2" groups with 120 Gr. Dropped to 110 Gr. and the groups shrunk down to 2". I then switched out the supplied yellow Barnes sabots with .50 cal black Harvestor crushed rib sabots and 120 gr. of Blackhorn. They almost fell down the barrel. the 3 shot group could barely be covered with a 14" rim & tire. Any body else tried this combo? Why so loose? Also had a hang fire on shot #12.(110 gr. Blackhorn). Any help would be appreciated.
Joegun
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Post by GMB54-120 on Nov 7, 2010 22:35:39 GMT -5
Most of the guys i know shooting the Accura 50s are using the Harvester Smooths not the CrushRibs.
Barnes also run a bit smaller OD so in a CrushRib and in some bores they will be very loose and cause hangfires.
Keep your breach plug well cleaned too with a torch pic set and a drill bit. Mag primers will build carbon pretty fast in some breach plugs also and require more frequent cleaning of the flash channel/hole.
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Post by mike3132 on Nov 7, 2010 22:40:49 GMT -5
290 Barnes TMZ are boat tail bullets and you need to use the yellow sabot that comes with them or buy the yellow one that Harvester makes for the boat tail bullet. The sabot that comes with the Barnes is a MMP. If the Barnes are loose you can knurl them between two files and that will tighten them up. Mike
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Post by joegun53 on Nov 8, 2010 7:04:21 GMT -5
Thanks for the info. I new Harvester had yellow and black, but I didn't know the difference. It didn't say anything on the package about boat tail or not. The hangfire was with the Barnes supplied sabots. I think the flash hole was getting pretty dirty by the the last shot. It was bad when I cleaned it later. I'm going to try CCI primers next session and see if there a little cleaner. I really love this gun. What a snap to clean. I can get 1 1/2" groups with 100 gr. of Blackhorn, but I'm kinda of a max load guy.
Thanks again for the help,
Joegun
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Post by GMB54-120 on Nov 8, 2010 8:35:19 GMT -5
Sorry i got confused about the TMZ, there is/was a TEZ that has a flat base.
The Harvester Yellows for boat tails would be the ones you want although some people are using regular sabots with boattails with mixed results.
If the Yellows are too loose, Knurling the bullet helps a lot. I knurl the 458 SOCOMs and use regular sabots with very good results.
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Post by smokepole50 on Nov 10, 2010 8:51:42 GMT -5
I just bought a new .50 CVA Accura about a month ago and it likes the following loads. They are cheap and accurate.......
300gr Rem. .458 HP Core-lok (45-70 rifle bullet) with a Harvester Black Crush Rib sabot over 120gr of BH209. Bullet cost 0.30/ sabot cost 0.10 ......This load slamed the deer posted above in the hunting succes area.
270gr Speer Deep Curl in a Harvester Green smooth sabot over 120gr BH209. Bullet cost 0.40/ sabot cost 0.10 ......I have not killed anything with this yet but I think it should give great penetration on broad side shoulder shots at range and hold together well at close range shoulder shots.
Both of these loads shoot 1.0" or less at 100 yards in by rifle with the 270gr Speer's having a little bit higher POI.
I can not express enough how important it is to wait until the barrel has completly cooled before shooting your next shot when shooting for groups. If it is cold, as in 20-30 degrees then it does not matter that much but if it is 50-60 degrees then you need to let the rifle cool for 10 minutes or the sabot will be affected by residual barrel heat. It does not take much barrel heat at all to affect the sabot at these pressures. If you can feel any heat in the barrel with your hand then it needs to cool some more. I wasted a lot of bullets and powder figuring this out. Everyone was talking about barrel heat in previously posted threads but I had no idea how critical it was. If in doubt wait twice the time you think you need to wait between shots.
Smokepole50
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Post by GMB54-120 on Nov 10, 2010 9:16:47 GMT -5
joegun53
You might also try standard Win209 primers if you cant get any standard CCIs. They are the longest primer and fit my Accura the best (cleanest). Opening up the flash hole to .032-.035 helps also. CVA OEM breach plugs have a pretty small channel and hole. Mags build pressure really fast in these plugs and usually have more blowby without a little modification. Modded plugs also dont need to be cleaned as often during long range sessions.
And i totally agree with SmokePole...a long cool down can have a huge positive effect. My best groups take 30 minutes to shoot and usually start after about 3-5 shots. I strongly prefer a fouled bore with BH209. Ive shot over 30 times without a patch and groups were great.
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Post by joegun53 on Nov 11, 2010 12:08:15 GMT -5
Thanks for all the help. I don't ever wait 10 min. between shots. I usually shoot 3 as fast as I can load them, and wait about 10 min. between groups. Seems like I'm always in a hurry. I'll give it a try next time I go to the range. You must have a machinest drill out your breech plug. .032 is slightly bigger than a 1/32nd drill bit I think. I don't think I will try that even if I could find that small of a bit. Thanks again!
Joegun
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