Awesome

Very accurate muzzleloader shooting 100 grains of pyrodex with a 250 grain power belt aerolite bullet. The rifle is compact and handles well. I have a Vortex 4x12 scope on it. The trigger is excellent.

This is the best BP rifle I've owned and am very impressed.
Pro's. Light weight, quality stock, 2#6oz trigger, easy out breech plug, very accurate.
CONS. frustrating sight requires manual adjustment by loosening screws so if you blink you will mess up the adjustment this should be click adjustable.
The ramrod requires a extention screwed on to load your gun and removed when carried in the field so a quick second shot will require a extra step. Would I buy the Optima again absolutly.

I bought this rifle after using a lower quality “starter” muzzy for three seasons. I really like the action of this gun, it’s trigger is crisp and consistent. I like the hammer spur, it makes it easy to reach up and pull the hammer back while your sighting in the target, adding to the next thing I like about this gun, the safety of a hammer fire rifle. It will not fire unless you pull that hammer back. This is great for me, coming from a lesser rifle that had a poorly designed lever type safety. So far, I’m shooting Barnes MZ expanders in 285g, with 150g of powder. Very accurate at 100. Will play with a chrono soon to decide if 150g is really needed.

Orderd this muzzleloader in a pinch. It shipped fast and sighted in great. It was easy to clean and killed its first elk within a week of ordering it.