CVA Accura Thumbhole LR Muzzleloader Rifle ~ Review

by Dr. Jim and Mary Clary
CVA Accura Thumbhole LR Muzzleloader Rifle test and review.

United States -(AmmoLand.com)- The CVA Accura Thumbhole LR Muzzleloader Rifle with its thumbhole stock is one of a kind.

At first glance, the thumbhole stock may not appeal to some shooters. As such, it is appropriate that we address the stock design before going any further.

Conventional rifle stocks are not ergonomically designed for the human body. They require that we cant our hand down at the wrist when gripping the butt stock, rather than keeping it straight and aligned with the rest of the bones in our forearm. As such, our grip is not as solid as it could be and the recoil felt at the wrist is more noticeable.

That problem was remedied with the design of the AR platform rifles and their pistol grip behind the trigger guard. The pistol grip allows for a more positive hold and makes it easier to get on target. While a thumbhole stock may not be as aesthetically “beautiful” as a conventional stock, it is more comfortable to shoot and generally results in more accurate groups.

CVA Accura Thumbhole LR Muzzleloader Rifle

The thumbhole stock of the CVA Accura TH LR Muzzleloader Rifleincorporates a pistol grip design similar to that on AR platform rifles. The thumbhole grip on the Accura allows you to hold your gun tighter against your shoulder, thereby reducing “felt recoil” as well as flinch. That is why we wanted to try it out.

And, although it cannot be verified scientifically, most folks shooting a thumbhole rifle state that the “felt recoil” seems to be less. That perception is undoubtedly due to the fact the straight-line alignment of the hand and forearm allows for a more natural movement of the upper body in response to the recoil.

Ok, it sounds strange, but after you shoot a rifle with a thumbhole stock, you will understand. Jim was also skeptical until he shot my .300 Win. Mag. with a Boyd thumbhole stock. He noticed the difference right away

The Accura LR Rifle is equipped with a black nitride Bergara barrel. For those not familiar with black nitride treatments (the technical description of the process is salt bath ferriticnitrocarburizing), they are used in many industries to significantly harden the outer layers of steel parts to make them more durable and more corrosion resistant. In fact, when used for rifle barrels, it is more corrosion resistant than chrome lining. The same black nitride process is used by several automobile manufacturers to harden the moving parts in their engines, rings, pistons, etc. Because muzzleloaders are susceptible to corrosion, this treatment goes a long way in substantially reducing the possibility that your gun will be ruined by corrosion.

That is just one more reason why this gun comes with a Lifetime Warranty.

This Accura is given the designation “LR” for “long range” due to its 30″ barrel, which is the longest in the industry. The majority of the modern inline muzzleloaders have 26″ to 28″ barrels which shoot very well and perform superbly in the field. Why then a gun with a 30″ barrel?

The demand came from the belief that muzzleloaders with longer barrels will shoot farther and more accurately than ones with short barrels. That is certainly true if you have a muzzleloader with a 22” – 24″ barrel when compared with the “standard” 26″ – 28″ guns.

It is also a fact that if you are shooting “real” black powder, a longer barrel is needed to insure a complete burn of the charge. However, that problem does not exist with today’s modern black powder substitutes, unless you are shooting one of the stubby-barreled muzzleloaders mentioned above.

That being said, there is an increase in velocity and concurrent increase in the energy delivered on target with a 30″ barrel, when compared to the “standard” 26″ to 28″ barrel guns. Whether that increase is significant enough to improve the effective range of a muzzleloader is still open to debate. As such, we will leave that argument for another day.

Now it is time to see if this new Accura LR shoots as well as expected and if Jim experiences less “felt recoil” with the thumbhole stock. We selected the 300 grain Harvester Scorpion PT Gold bullet with a black CRS for our tests. From previous experience, we know that CVA rifles shoot very well with this bullet. Our normal hunting loads with these bullets is either 100 grains of Blackhorn 209 or two pellets of IMR White Hots. With a shortage of pellets, we conducted all of our tests with the Blackhorn.

Due to the unusual number of windy days in the spring, our shooting of the Accura was delayed until early June. We traveled to the Zia Rifle and Pistol Club range south of Albuquerque, New Mexico, early in the morning and fired away.

The accuracy of the Accura LR was excellent. Our groups at 100 yards ranged from 3/4″ to 1.25″ and averaged right at 1.0 inch (center to center). At 200 yards, we obtained groups ranging from 1.75″ to 2.25″, with the average being just under 2 inches (center to center).

If you are looking for a muzzleloader that has the capability to reach out to the maximum effective range of your powder/bullet combination, this is the gun to get.

If you have never shot a CVA with its Bullet Guiding Muzzle you have no idea of what you are missing. Most of the other muzzleloaders on the market require a lot of effort to load after the first or second shot. With most of them, you literally have to pound the bullet starter to get the third and subsequent rounds loaded. That pretty much guarantees that it would be impossible to load a follow-up shot with those guns on a hunt. Not so with the Bullet Guiding Muzzle. The second, third and even the fourth round load as easily and quickly as the first.

Features and Specifications of the CVA Accura Thumbhole LR Muzzleloader Riflee:

• 416 Stainless Steel 30 inch Fluted Nitride-treated Bergara Barrel with 1:28 inch Twist Rifling
• .50 Caliber
• Bullet Guiding Muzzle
• QRBP – Quick Release Breech Plug
• DuraSight One-Piece Rail Base/Ring System
• Ambidextrous Thumbhole Composite Stock
  • Realtree MAX-1 HD
• CrushZone Recoil Pad
• Quake Claw Sling
• Solid Aluminum PalmSaver Ramrod
• Adjustable Trigger – 2 lbs pull out of the box
• Reversible Cocking Spur
• Overall Length: 45 inches
• Total Weight: 8.1 pounds
• Length of Pull:: 14.5 inches
• Lifetime Warranty
• Country of Manufacture: Spain
• 2016 MSRP $624

The trigger pull on the CVA Accura Thumbhole LR Muzzleloader Rifle was two pounds right out of the box, very crisp and without creep. We commend CVA for not installing a “lawyer trigger” on their rifle. With the trigger pull of a target rifle, it was easy to shoot accurate groups.

Our Accura LR came with a Konus Pro 275 3-10×44 scope, designed specifically for muzzleloaders. This scope comes with a glass etched ballistic reticle which also has “hash marks” on the lateral bar permitting compensation for crosswinds. As would be expected, the scope has fully multi-coated lenses and is shockproof, waterproof and fogproof. The internal elevation/windage adjustment range of 57 MOA is more than adequate for muzzleloaders and the 1/4″ click adjustments were solid.

However, we had difficulty clearly seeing the reticle at 200 yards under 10x magnification. The horizontal and vertical bars were just too thin and the hash marks were almost invisible. Jim allowed a fellow shooter to use the Accura at 200 yards and he encountered the same problem. The “saving feature” was the illuminated center dot for the 200 yard shooting. But, the crosshair engraving needs some work.

Detailed specifications for the Konus Pro 275 3-10×44 Scope are:

• Magnification: 3x-10x
• Objective lens diameter: 44 mm
• Fully Multi-coated lenses
• Fast Focus Eyepiece with 3 inch Eye Relief
• Exit pupil: 14.7mm at 3x & 4.4mm at 10x
• Field of view at 100 yards: 35.1 feet at 3x & 10.8 feet at 10x
• Parallax focus: Fixed 100 yards
• Reticle: Engraved Ballistic with Dual Illuminated Center Dot
  • Battery: Coin Style CR2032 (Included)
• Finger Adjustable Turrets with 1/4″ MOA graduation
• Windage and elevation adjustment range: 57 MOA
• One Piece Aluminum tube: 1 inch diameter
• Finish: Matte
• Length: 13.2 inches
• Weight : 17.6 ounces
• Waterproof, Shockproof, Fogproof
• Limited Lifetime Factory Warranty

The Konus Pro 275 was satisfactory, but left something to be desired for shooting out to 200 yards.. It has an MSRP of $249.99, but can be found discounted on the internet for as little as $134.99. Or, you can order the entire package from CVA for $750.40 (Accura LR, Konus Pro 275 and a heavy duty carrying case), which is a very good deal.

And Yes, Jim stated that the “felt recoil” was substantially less on the CVA Accura Thumbhole LR Muzzleloader Rifle with the thumbhole stock.

About Jim and Mary Clary:

Jim and Mary Clary have co-authored over three hundred and fifty articles, (and counting) on shooting and hunting. You can read many of them on AmmoLand News.