Tested Tough: CVA Accura V2 Muzzleloader

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My relationship with muzzleloaders could be described as a long marriage, with great moments and memories, along with a few tantrums and threats of divorce. I’ve been married a long time—happily—but I’ve been shooting and hunting with muzzleloaders for even longer. My first gun ever was a sidelock percussion rifle, which I later used to kill my first deer, but I’ve had a bunch of others including a .32-caliber squirrel gun, a replica Colt Navy revolver, and half a dozen inline deer rifles.

Shooting muzzleloaders is fun, but I like them for a far more practical reason: They allow for special hunting opportunities at prime times of the year. This is particularly true in western states like Colorado, where I’ve burned many preference points on early-season muzzleloader tags for antelope, elk and mule deer, and had a hell of a time with all of the above.

Colorado requires muzzleloader hunters to follow some specific gear restrictions, and no doubt the original intent of that was to keep us from being too effective and to also maintain some of the nostalgia that comes with hunting with a classic flintlock or percussion rifle.

Of course, loopholes in the regulations allow for more effective equipment, should you want to use it. I do. Though I still have a couple older percussion rifles, I’m reaching for my CVA Accura V2 (which is offered in 2 models, the MR-X and LR-X) when I head west with a muzzleloader tag. It’s not as good looking, but it’s way easier to clean and far more accurate than any of my previous wives…er, muzzleloaders. Plus, with good bullets like Federal’s 270-grain Trophy Copper B.O.R. Lock MZ, 209 shotshell primers, and modern powders like Blackhorn 209 and Hodgdon Triple 7, it has the stuff to punch through a bull elk and the reliability to fire in sketchy mountain weather.

The factory open sights are pretty good, but I fitted my gun with an E. Arthur Brown peep rib, which gives me a peep aperture rear sight combined with the fiber-optic front sight. It’s a clear sight picture for more distant shooting, and a little easier to see with eyes that aren’t as good as they were 20 years ago. I’m confident with the setup to about 100 yards though, if I have the choice, I’d rather the critter be inside 75. The peep rib is made of steel and adjustable for windage and elevation. I haven’t had to touch mine since mounting it and dialing it in, despite many miles covered in the mountains and high desert, including more than a few on horseback.

Of course, when I get home to Kentucky, the peep rib allows me to quickly mount rings and a scope and use the same gun effectively on whitetails out to 250+ yards. Maybe the Accura V2 doesn’t have the romance of a classic Hawken with wooden stock and brass furniture, but it’s not a misfiring, high-maintenance hassle, either. Seeing as some of the best moments I’ve ever had afield have been with that gun in hand, I see our relationship lasting for years to come.

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