Tag Archives: Apex

Switch Hitting with the CVA Apex with a .300 Win Mag Bergara Barrel for Woodland Caribou with Joe Sebo

I could reach out and touch a caribou at any reasonable distance.

I went to Newfoundland in 2012 to try for a woodland caribou with my CVA Accura. I also had an Apex with a .300 Win Mag Bergara barrel. I had asked my guide if he would carry the .300 Win Mag, while I carried the 50-caliber blackpowder rifle. I knew that sometimes caribou don’t come in close enough to get a shot with a 50-caliber rifle. I felt comfortable shooting my 50-caliber out to 200 yards, but past that 200-yard mark I felt more comfortable shooting the .300 Win Mag Bergara barrel. By having both, I knew I could reach out and touch a caribou at any reasonable distance. I scheduled a 5-day hunt for the caribou. Newfoundland is an island, so the caribou there don’t migrate like the caribou in the rest of Canada and Alaska do. The guide knew where they were before I arrived. These caribou were holding on a remote section of the island.

A friend and I flew into St. John’s, Newfoundland. We both had caribou tags. When we arrived, we loaded up in a truck and traveled about an hour to the lodge. The next morning we got up early and drove about 2 hours by truck and then took 4-wheelers to reach our hunting area. That 4-wheeler ride was one of the most-brutal rides I’ve ever taken. My jaws hurt for almost 2 months after the constant pounding we took on the 4-wheelers. There were no roads into our hunting area; the guide just drove the 4-wheelers cross country, and we followed. Finally, late in the afternoon after we had left the 4-wheelers, we found two caribou bulls sparring with each other. They pushed and shoved each other back and forth before drifting away from each other.

Then the nice bull I wanted to take started coming toward us. So, I prepared to make the shot with my CVA Accura 50-caliber. My guide had a range finder and continued to give me the yardage to the bull. The caribou got to about 100 yards and then turned and walked away from us. When the bull was at 275 yards, I handed my guide the 50-caliber Accura. I took the CVA Apex with the .300 Win Mag Bergara barrel.

I hand-load my cartridges, and I use a Hornady 270-grain bullet. I have Nikon scopes on both my guns, because I like the circle rings inside the scopes instead of crosshair reticles. Once you get your scope mounted, you can go to the Nikon website (www.nikon.com), enter the caliber, bullet weight and the muzzle velocity you’re using and get a trajectory chart. Then you know the bullet drop from 100 to 500 yards. With that information, I can set-up the circle rings inside my scope to aim according to the bullet drop at various ranges. I got a perfect double-lung shot on the bull, and he only traveled 20- or 30-yards before he went down. My friend also scored a caribou on that same day. By the time we got the animals caped out and quartered, both 4-wheelers were loaded down. My caribou was a Safari Club Gold Medal caribou.

I was trained in the military and taught there that 90 percent of the second shots a shooter takes are misses. Our instructor always told us, “Make that first shot count.” I’ve used that philosophy throughout my hunting career. This was one of the reasons I didn’t have a hang-up about using a single-shot muzzleloader rifle like the CVA Apex. Having the advantage of a range finder and having done my homework on my riflescope and at the rifle range, I didn’t hesitate to take the 275-yard shot. Even though I reloaded after the first shot, I didn’t have to take the second shot. I believe hunting with a single-shot rifle tends to make you a better hunter, since you have to know that you can make the shot.

By Joe Sebo CVA Pro Staff.

Steve Gruber’s Iowa Muzzleloading Deer Hunt

Successful Antelope Hunting with Chuck Paddock and Family

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Editor’s Note: Chuck Paddock of Covington, Indiana, is the host of “Open Season TV” on the Pursuit Channel.

I took my wife and daughters on an antelope hunt in Gillette, Wyoming. My wife never really had hunted with me before, I knew this hunt would be a relatively-easy hunt for her, and she’d have a lot of fun on it. The lady who owned the property allowed us to hunt under one condition, “The girls and your wife have to take their antelope first, before you take yours,” she told us. Of course, those words tickled me.

For the hunt, I chose the CVA APEX platform with a .243 barrel and a 95-grain Winchester bullet. We took four antelope in 4 hours. My oldest daughter Ashley, who was 14 at the time, shot her antelope at 170 yards, and it dropped immediately. What’s amazing is she took that antelope within the first 15 minutes of the hunt. My wife Lori was next, and she took the biggest antelope of all of us at about 150 yards. The girls were starting to get hungry, so after Lori took her antelope, we headed back toward the ranch. I spotted a herd of antelope and told my girls, “I know we can get down in that creek bottom, sneak-up on those antelope and probably get a shot.” The girls said, “Okay, let’s make this hunt.” We all got down in the creek bottom and made a stalk on this herd of antelope. When we were 150-yards from the animal, my 12-year-old daughter Lauren and I got our Bog Pods set-up. She made a perfect shot. We had three kills with the CVA APEX and the .243 Bergara barrel.

I was the last person in line to shoot, but that was fine with me, because I had filmed my wife and daughters taking their antelope. We drug Lauren’s antelope back to the truck and loaded it up with the others. We were all in agreement that we’d go back to town and get something to eat, and I would hunt the following day. Just as we were getting back to the ranch, I spotted a really-big antelope. We drove down one of the ranch roads. I got out of the truck and ranged a tree in front of the antelope at about 400 yards, so I estimated that the buck was 50- to 60-yards behind that. I sat down on the ground and got my tripod set-up. When the antelope turned broadside, I aimed just-above the top of his shoulder. I took a deep breath, let the air out and prepared to squeeze the trigger. When my APEX rifle reported, a second passed. I then heard the whop of the bullet hitting the animal, and the antelope started running. I asked my girls, “Did I hit him?”

After about 60 yards, the antelope stopped and toppled-over. When we reached the antelope, I saw that the bullet had hit him behind the front shoulder and had dropped about 8 inches from my aiming point, right into the kill zone. We loaded the fourth antelope up after taking a bunch of pictures, went to town and finally got something to eat. After a late breakfast, my wife and daughters got manicures and pedicures – definitely not your typical hunting trip. However, what made this trip so exciting for me was that this was the first hunt my wife had gone on with me after 19 years of marriage. I knew this antelope hunt would be the best starter trip for her. It was a rifle hunt, the weather wasn’t cold, and it would be a spot-and-stalk hunt. My daughters have been hunting with me since they were small. But for all of us to go on the hunt together, each take an antelope in the first 4 hours of the hunt, and everyone have a good time, this trip was amazing. The good news too is that our family loves antelope meat. In my opinion, antelope is the best-tasting wild meat, other than elk, that you can eat, as long as you prepare it correctly.

Ben Fleming’s Mule Deer Hunt with His CVA Muzzleloader

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Editor’s Note: New to muzzleloading, Ben Fleming recently took a sweet mule deer with his CVA Muzzleloader.

My first muzzleloader hunt was a mule deer hunt. I was hunting an encampment in Wyoming right on the Colorado border just west of Laramie. I was hunting on the Vee Bar Ranch on a private hunt with Clint O’Day, who is the co-host of “Campfire Stories.” Since Clint’s father works on the ranch, we were able to spend 3 or 4 days hunting on this private ranch that wasn’t commercially hunted. The hunt was in October, and the air temperature was about 60 degrees. We had a beautiful day for hunting, and I was really excited to be on the hunt. We spent most of the first day checking-out some spots where Clint had been hunting in the past and looking for good mule deer.

The terrain was fairly rocky but very open, so we had an excellent opportunity to really scout efficiently. We could see from 500 yards to a mile away from where we were glassing. We spotted quite a bit of game, including antelope, mule deer and elk. Although we saw four or five bucks, they were all small and not the ones we wanted to take. As we were moving to a vantage point to glass for deer, we jumped a herd of small bucks, and I was glad I didn’t take one of those smaller bucks. When we got on top of the rocks where we could see a great distance, we spotted a buck that Clint determined was one of the better bucks on the ranch and would be a nice buck for us to go after. The buck was bedded-down, so we watched him for a while.

We began to look at the possibilities of making a stalk on this buck about 600- to 800-yards away from us. I was hunting with a CVA Apex .50 cal muzzleloader, with 150 grains of White Hot pellets, and a 300-grain Aerolite bullet. I had the gun set-up to shoot about an inch high at 100 yards and had a Nikon riflescope. The gun belonged to Clint, and I was shooting his gun was because he was driving to the hunt, and I was flying to the hunt. Then I didn’t have to carry the gun on the plane and add it to my luggage.

After making a stalk, I came-up over a little ridge, and the buck was only 150-yards from us, looking straight at us. The buck had a tall rack and looked like a shooter buck to me. Clint checked him out and agreed that this one was definitely a shooter. But I couldn’t get to a place where I could make a good, solid shot on the buck. So, we started to move-up and gain a little elevation before I could take the shot. However, the buck spotted us, and although he didn’t spook terribly bad, he did decide that putting distance between us and him was the right thing to do. He quickly got out of sight.

By then dark almost had arrived, so we headed back to the ranch. Although we’d seen a lot of animals that day, I was really pumped-up to take a nice mule deer. So, the next morning, we returned to the same spot where we’d hunted the day before in hopes of seeing that big buck again. The next morning a cold front moved-in, and the terrain looked a little different. On our way to the vantage point where we were planning to use the glass, snow started falling and lasted about 3 or 4 hours. Within a couple of hours, we had 3 or 4 inches of snow on the ground. The temperature we’d had the last day was 60 degrees and sunny, and in less than 24 hours, we had cold weather and snow. The snow made seeing the deer easier, but it also made spotting us easier for the deer.

As we moved-back to the place we’d left before, we saw a nice buck. We weren’t sure if it was the same one from the day before, but it was a shooter. I could see that the buck had a very-wide antler spread, and he was a great-looking buck. He was only a few hundred yards away and was bedded-down on the side of a hill. We had to be really careful as we moved into position to take the shot. The buck started to look nervous, so we didn’t try to push him any further. Finally when the buck stood-up to get a better look at us, I was able to take the shot. But the falling snow kept me from getting an accurate range. Once we found the mule deer, we ranged the distance at 207 yards. Now for me that was an extremely-long shot, because once again, this was my first blackpowder hunt. Since I live in Tennessee, a long shot where I hunt is about 125 yards.

The buck had been quartering to us, and the Aerolite bullet went into the base of the buck’s neck and came out behind his back left rib. I was really impressed about being able to hear the bullet actually hit the deer. When I heard that whop, I knew I’d made a good shot on the buck. The buck ran about 20 yards after taking the bullet, and then he wobbled, sat-down and tipped over backwards. I was ecstatic about what a fun hunt I’d had and what a great deer I was able to take with my CVA Apex muzzleloader. More importantly, I learned that muzzleloader hunting isn’t nearly as difficult as everyone tries to make it out to be. For me, hunting with a muzzleloader was fun, exciting and unbelievably easy. I was able to make a good shot at a distance that I rarely, if ever, had shot.

If you’re like me and have never tried muzzleloader hunting or are shooting an older muzzleloaders, you may want to consider shooting one of the new CVA muzzleloaders like the Accura MR or Apex and finding out just how much fun black powder hunting is, and how accurate the rifles are – even at long distances.

Ben Fleming
CVA National Sales Manager

The CVA Apex Rifle and Muzzleloader

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The APEX is, quite frankly, the best break-action, multi-barrel interchangeable rifle system on the market today. Just by shouldering the APEX, the serious shooter will notice a vast superiority to its competitors in both balance and fit. But the real test comes with the shooting. And it is in the shooting that two very important features make the APEX really shine. First, every APEX barrel is made by Bergara Barrels, which are among the most accurate production barrels made in the world today. Second, APEX’s ambidextrous buttstock is designed specifically for scope shooting, with a comb height that positions the shooter perfectly in line with the optics. The result is a rifle that shoulders and points as naturally as your favorite shotgun – just like it’s an extension of your body.

The CVA Apex Muzzleloader vs. the T/C Encore Muzzleloader

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The CVA Apex rifle is superior to the T/C Encore in a variety of aspects. The Apex offers you a better muzzleloading rifle for less money than the T/C and beats the T/C across the board with everything you want in a quality rifle.

The Barrel & Scope Rail Base

The Bergara barrel on the CVA Apex muzzleloader is the closest thing to a custom barrel that you will find with a stock rifle. The quality of this barrel provides increased accuracy which will pay off when you’re trying to hit your target. We guarantee that the Bergara barrel will result in increased accuracy over the Encore’s factory barrel. The CVA muzzleloader has barrel fluting, while the Encore does not. Barrel fluting offers faster cooling and a reduced barrel weight. You get both of these features for $300 less than the Encore. When shooting for the best possible accuracy, a scope rail is one of the best ways to ensure hitting your target every time. The CVA Apex muzzleloader comes standard with the Durasight Z2 rail base while the T/C Encore does not. Paying an extra $300 for the T/C, a rifle with lesser features, really doesn’t make sense.

The Adjustable Trigger & Breech Plug

The Apex offers the unique ability to adjust the trigger weight. This is a feature not available on the T/C which is standard at 4.75 lbs. The Apex CVA muzzleloader, however, offers an adjustable trigger weight down to 3 lbs. Additionally, the Apex allows you to remove the breech plug with absolutely no tools. However, with the standard Encore, you have to use tools, making a simple task cumbersome. There is no substitute to simplicity, which gives the Apex CVA muzzleloading rifle a clear advantage over the Encore’s rifle.

Breech Plug
The CVA APEX muzzleloader features the patent pending CVA QRBP (Quck Release Breach Plug); the only such system that really works after the gun is fired. After the TC is fired you still need to use a tool to remove the breech plug. There is nothing quick about having to use a tool.

Extra Benefits of the Apex CVA Muzzleloader

You will not find a better recoil pad than on the CVA muzzleloading Apex rifle. There is no comparison to the old ventilated pad that the standard Encore uses. The Apex rifle also comes with one of the best slings on the market ‚Äì the Quake Claw Sling. “All Grip, and No Slip” gives you unparalleled peace of mind; the Encore doesn’t even come with a sling.

The Apex’s Value

With all of the advantages of the Apex rifle, why would you ever pay over $800 for the T/C Encore, when you could get the CVA Apex muzzleloader starting at only $652.95? It is one thing to pay less for lower quality, but when you can get a better rifle for less money, there shouldn’t be any difficulty making the right decision. The CVA Apex is your best choice for a brand new muzzleloading rifle.

If you’re still not convinced the CVA Apex muzzleloader is right for you, come take a look on our website at http://www.cva.com.