I just purchased a 50 cal cva optima black powder rifle for Mule deer season on a month. I shot the rifle four time today and out of the four three were misfires. One fell short of the target by thirty feet and two to the right of the Target by 7 to 9 feet. The one shot that received the full punch hit about an inch from the bulls eye. I am shooting a 150 grain Jim Shockey gold pellet, Winchester triple 7 209 primers and the Thompson 250 grain shock wave sabot. Any ideas of what is going on?
Please advise
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Did you clean gun at all before shooting? Just a thought that it might be left over solvent.

Are you ramming the load and bullet all the way to the bottom of the barrel?

Check the flash hole for fouling?

Primers contaminated?

Or seating the bullet on the powder with too much force, can be a problem with new shooters too.

I cleaned it before shooting. I have shot a thompson many times before without issue. I think I am going to switch to a 100 grain load to see if makes a difference.

Don't rule out checking your pellets for quality. They may be old or something. Try some loose powder and see if you get good ignition.

Get rid of the Pellets your using and buy Hodgens or Pyrodex. Jim Shockeys pellets have a bad rep for consistency and performance. You sould not have any problems if you change the brand of pellets your useing. Also be sure to seat the pellets firm but not to crush them as that will also lead to poor grouping and ignition problems also.

Sounds like a powder problem. I don't use pellets of any kind. They seem to loose power very quickly and aren't constent. I prefer loose. I would use either Pyrodex RS or Triple 7 both are made by Hodgens. Use FFG I would start at 100 grains and adjust your powder up or down from there. Blackpowder and the substitutes are only good for 1 year. Yes old powder will fire the bullet down range but if you have sighted your rifle with fresh powder and shoot old your bullet will drop sooner. Also don't over ram your bullet.. meaning don't put to much pressure on it when seating into the powder. what I do is ram bullet down til it stops.. then I push 2 times with the same amount of pressure each time. Hope this helps.. Good luck!

Greetings,
Had nothing but bad luck with the pellets, switch to powder.
The flash hole between the cap and the powder chamber is a smaller diameter than most on CVAs.
Even with powder, after you pour it in, tap the rifle on the side the cap is on to get some of the lose powder into the flash tube before you pack the powder down.
I've got a CVA .45 Kentucky and a CVA .50 Hawken.
They seem to be more particular about this than the Thompsons that my brother has.
Using that loading technique, they are almost 100 percent reliable - well, as reliable as a smokepole can be, anyway.

Hope that helps.

Never had any problems with pyrodex pellets. Just to make sure you know. There is a certain direction they need to be installed. On the pyrodex the black side goes towards the primer.

Goex FFg works reliably. Some use real BP as a kicker under the pellets.
TC

sounds like a problem that we all have from time to time. I'm wondering if when your cleaning after each shot if your snapping a cap to dry any left over solvent? If your snapping a cap then it's your pellets. I wouldn't shoot shocky pellets. I perfer loose powder myself. I have used pellets before and found they don't have as much punch as loose.

I tried pellets too when I started and I ended up figuring out mine likes a 90 grain load the best

Sounds like what another said above your breech plug may be fouled with either solevent or powder residue...

Just like before, there are two sides to the pellets.I look forthe shinning side. This is the side that will fire. Ihave used pyrodex pellets without a problem in my CVA'S. Never had a misfire. Good Luck.