Turkey Hunting with a Bergara Barrel-equipped CVA Apex Muzzleloader
CVA Rifles and Muzzleloaders 10.15.12
Editor’s note: Andy Weichers of Waterloo, Iowa, one of the hosts of Campfire Stories, a TV show on the Pursuit Channel, enjoys muzzleloading for deer and turkeys.
I frequently shoot the CVA Apex with the Bergara turkey barrel. This was my first year to have this barrel and my first year to blackpowder hunt for turkeys. Both my cameraman and I killed gobblers within 10 yards of our blind with this gun. We didn’t put any choke in the barrel, because we already had patterned it and knew that it shot really tight with No. 6 shot.
We were hunting with Trophy Deer Outfitters, and I was to be the first shooter. We had decoys out, and the area had a lot of wind. When the gobblers flew off the roost, they were several hundred yards away, and we only could hear a faint gobble. But we started calling and finally a gobbler came in, went right up to the decoys and started pecking them. Then he turned and walked off without facing us. I squeezed the trigger.
On the second hunt, we went into the woods to scout for whitetail stands for our September bowhunt. We heard a turkey gobble. We moved up to a field where we could video him strutting. The bird came across the river and walked up the hill to the pasture, where my cameraman was brushed up to an evergreen tree, and I was set up right behind him. That gobbler walked within 15 feet of us, and my cameraman took him. We took both birds on that hunt with the CVA Apex, and neither bird flopped much when we shot them.
When Dudley McGarity of Blackpowder Products, Inc. (BPI) asked me to try the company’s .45 caliber CVA muzzleloader, I was reluctant. I’d always hunted with a .50 caliber. When I started shooting the .45 caliber, I found it was very flat-shooting, the bullets mushroomed well, and I had very good results taking deer. The other thing I learned was that I could shoot a lighter load with the .45 caliber than I could with the .50 caliber, and it was much more accurate with .67 grains of powder by weight, not by volume. That powder pushed 200 grains of .45 caliber PowerBelt bullets. I also used Buckhorn Powder CCI caps. My wife Amanda could take deer easily at 100 to 150 yards with this gun.
Check back tomorrow to read more about hunting with the CVA .45 caliber muzzleloader!
The winner of the CVA Facebook Giveaway will receive a new limited edition CVA Wolf .50 caliber muzzleloader with special Campfire Stories TV flame pattern! This new pattern dipped on the CVA Wolf Stock by our friends at Campfire Stories TV is one of a kind. Entries only valid for contestants within the contiguous United States. Entry period from October 1st, 2012, thru October 31st, 2012, 12pm Noon. Drawing and the winner announcement on or about November 7th, 2012. (No Purchase Necessary, Click here for complete CVA Facebook giveaway sweepstakes rules.
For more deer hunting tips, check out “How to Hunt Deer Like a Pro,” a new eBook for Kindle by John E. Phillips. You also can go to http://www.amazon.com/kindle-ebooks and type in the name of the book to find it. Too, you can download a free Kindle app that enables you to read the book on your iPad, computer or smartphone.
CVA has been America’s #1 selling muzzleloader for almost a decade. Since 1971, CVA has been dedicated to giving shooting enthusiasts and hunters alike the best muzzleloading value on the market. And we’re proud of the fact that since 2003 we have sold more guns each year than any other muzzleloading brand.
We’ve accomplished our success by continually developing innovative rifles that consumers want, and at prices that they can afford. All of our guns are designed and assembled in our state-of-the art production facility located in the little town of Bergara in northern Spain -- a region that has been famous for gun making for hundreds of years. Every barrel that we use today is also made in Bergara at the BERGARA BARRELS factory, which, like CVA, is wholly owned by our parent company. Plus, every CVA rifle component, whether manufactured on-site or sourced from other manufacturers, is produced under strict ISO-9001 quality standards to ensure consistency as well as quality. These quality components, combined with our precision barrel manufacturing and assembly processes, ensure that CVA is able to consistently produce guns with greater accuracy, more features, and better quality for the dollar than any similarly priced gun from any other brand. Bottom line, it’s just a better gun.
Over the past several years, we’ve taken our offering beyond just muzzleloading. CVA’s top of the line gun, the APEX, is actually a muzzleloader or a center-fire – providing interchangeability between 16 different calibers. And the new SCOUT, our first ever center-fire only rifle, has redefined what an affordably priced single shot rifle can be. However, we have certainly not forgotten our muzzleloading roots. In fact, we’ve made them better than ever.
