• This community needs YOUR help today. We rely 100% on Supporting Memberships to fund our efforts. With the ever increasing fees of everything, we need help. We need more Supporting Members, today. Please invest back into this community. I will ship a few decals too in addition to all the account perks you get.



    Sign up here: https://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/account/upgrades

cva bobcat load

Muzzleloading Forum

Help Support Muzzleloading Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

oldmaster

40 Cal.
Joined
Feb 27, 2004
Messages
189
Reaction score
1
I just bought a bobcat so I can teach my grandson the pleasure of muzzleloaders. Anyhow, I looked up the owners manual and it states that the minimum load is 50 grains of powder and I think this might be a bit stout for a 10 year old. Having no experience with this rifle, I am wondering if anyone knows if I can lower the amount of powder and still have the rifle launch the ball for a reasonable distance, say 50 yards.
Any help or advise would be greatly appreciated. :bow:
 
You didn't say and I'm showing my ignorance but I'll assume this is a .50 caliber rifle. I also don't know the barrel length but will assume it is 24 inches.

Lymans Black Powder Handbook shows loads down to 40 grains for the .50's.

In a .50 cal, 24 inch barrel with a 1:48 twist shooting a .490 diameter (182 grain) roundball:

40 grains of GOEX FFg = 1139 FPS @ 510 Ft/Lbs
40 grains of GOEX FFFg = 1244 FPS @ 608 Ft/Lbs
40 grains of Pyrodex RS = 1164 FPS @ 548 Ft/Lbs
40 grains of Pyrodex P = 1187 FPS @ 570 Ft/Lbs

You could probably go down to 35 grains but I believe this rifle is like most of the Factory produced sidelocks and it has a powder chamber which some folks call a Patent Breech.
This is a smaller than bore size chamber in the breech and it should be filled with powder when you load. If it is not full, the ball will seat out on the breech plug and not compress the powder. This is not good for consistent shooting.

IMO, a muzzle energy in the low to mid 500 Ft/Lbs range will put it into the range of a .45 ACP.
While the .45 auto does have a moderate kick in a handgun when such a round is fired in a 6 1/2 pound (give or take) rifle it gives a very light recoil that should be fun for your 10 year old.

Put another way, where a .22 rimfire basically just makes a noise this is enough kick to let him know he's shot a big bore gun but is light enough that it shouldn't hurt him at all (if he keeps the buttplate tightly against his shoulder).
 
CVA recommends 50 grains minimum because of their patent breech. Apparently 50 grains fills the powder chamber just right so you don't have space between powder and ball. It's a CYA tactic. I personally don't think 50 grains is to stout for a beginner.

Is that Bobcat with the plastic stock? If so, I recommend filling the butt with some weight to balance it out and help with recoil. I had one years ago and I put a couple pounds of lead shot in the butt in a sock. I stuffed the remaining space with more old socks. It balanced it out nicely.

HD
 
I bought a .50 CVA Bobcat at a pawnshop with the idea that one of the grandkids would be using it. I had a tough time cleaning the bbl, but once I did, I found that it was a tack driver at 25 yds with 40 gr of fffg...and I would feel at ease at 50 gr, too. Hank
 
I had my 6 year old grandson at the range a couple of weeks ago and he was shooting a Zouave with a 40 grain reduced load behind an old style minie with no problems. I had to help him support the front end but other than that he did all the shooting and had himself a fine old time. A .50 with RB and 40-50 grains should not give him any problem. :thumbsup:
 
I have been around several bobcats both at Boy Scout ranges and private owners. They will be fine for your Grandson. I would do as Hunting Dawg said fill the stock with some lead to balance the rifle and help reduce recoil at the same time. all the bobcat owners I know have done this.
Fox :hatsoff:
 
Back
Top