CVA Wolf V2: Start Your Muzzleloading Career!
Zac K. 02.14.25
My first muzzleloader was an oldie but a goodie, a CVA Staghorn Magnum that shot better than I deserved. But when I decided to get more serious about muzzleloading season this year, I figured a new rifle was in order, something that was easier to load in a treestand. And just as soon as I decided that, my local-ish gun store put their CVA Wolf V2 rifles on sale. It didn’t take much hemming and hawing to decide the upgrade from an inline action to a break-action was well worth the expense, and I forked over my hard-earned dollars ($400 CAD on sale, about $280 USD) for the new muzzleloader.
CVA Wolf V2 details
The Wolf action design is nothing new; CVA has been making these for a long time, with a couple of tweaks to the pattern. In 2022, the CVA Wolf V2 came out at SHOT Show, with two minor changes over the original model. The stock ergonomics changed a bit, with CVA adding a removable spacer to get your length-of-pull dialed in. CVA also went to a stainless-finish barrel, with no option for a blued barrel like the original. This added a few dollars to the price, but the Wolf V2 is still on the budget-friendly end of the CVA lineup.
But for that cash, you’re still getting very user-friendly features, starting with that stainless barrel as mentioned above. For beginner muzzleloader shooters, a bit of extra protection against corrosion is a good idea. The 24-inch barrel has a backbored “Bullet Guiding Muzzle” that makes it easier to load. The .50-caliber barrel has a 1:28 twist.
At the back of the barrel, CVA built in their screw-in Quick Release Breech Plug. This is removable by hand, with no tools necessary. It makes it very easy to unload the rifle on your way home from the field, and this was one of the biggest selling points for me. Just remove the breech plug and the propellant comes out easily; attach the extended jag to the solid one-piece aluminum ramrod, complete with a palm-saving handle, and you can bash the bullet out the back of the breech as well. Easy-peasy, much easier than the inconvenient breech plug in my old inline rifle.
The stock is ambidextrous, with no offset cheek riser, and CVA includes their Crush Zone recoil pad along with that 1-inch L-O-P spacer. You can buy the stock in a camo finish, or basic black. Because I’m thrifty, I opted for the black version, but the camo finish doesn’t cost much more.
A lever at the front of the trigger guard opens the action, so you can load the primer at the back of the breech plug. There is no safety, only a rebounding hammer with a reversible cocking spur to suit either right-handed or left-handed shooters.
Atop the barrel, there is a one-piece scope mount or fiber-optic open sights. When you buy the rifle, CVA includes a card that offers to switch your unused scope mount for fiber-optic sights, or vice versa, if you mail your components in. This is useful if you need to use your new rifle in an area that favors one or the other, but make sure you do the swap well ahead of hunting season, so you’re not waiting around for sights to show up.
In total, without a scope and unloaded, the rifle weighs a trim 6.15 pounds and comes with a lifetime warranty.
Using the CVA Wolf V2
My rifle came with a one-piece scope mount, and I left it like that because I wanted glass for hunting right until dark. I mounted an old Bushnell 2-7x shotgun scope I had laying around, did a very crude bore-sighting job, then headed out back on the ATV for a couple of shots at 25 yards, then a few more at 50.
I was surprised to see how well the rifle shot with a couple of Triple 7 pellets pushing a 290-grain Hornady Bore Driver, because those components hadn’t been chosen with any particular care; I just couldn’t find anything else.
I would love to tell you that I spent hours tweaking loads of loose powder, grain by grain, testing different bullet weights and designs, but it was the middle of deer season when I bought the CVA Wolf V2, and I knew I was only facing a 40-yard shot at my blind. Once I was sure the rifle was sighted in for a 50-yard killshot, that was it—I was off to the woods, and the next day, when an unfortunate spike stepped out, I sent a shot through the front of his chest. The .50-cal slug ripped off the top of his heart and that was the end of deer season.
It was anticlimactic, even disappointing, as I’d passed on probably seven or eight older deer that season, and had weather and luck gone my way, I know where I could have closed out muzzleloader season chasing more mature deer. But the freezer needed fillin’ and the CVA Wolf V2 was up to the task. In fact—it made it easy. Much easier than my old inline, which a buddy borrowed and managed to muff up while taking a shot at a young buck later on in the week…
Who is the CVA Wolf V2 for?
I look forward to the next few months of shooting this muzzleloader because I am basically the target market: someone who wants a muzzleloader to take advantage of the the special season for front-stuffers, and their other advantages under the current regulations where I hunt.
I think this rifle would also suit a kid or other beginner shooter well. Recoil is very low when shooting a two-pellet load, especially if you opt for a lighter bullet as well. The adjustable stock spacer makes it easier to fit a smaller frame, and the rifle is handy and light to carry, and simple to load and unload the primer.
A higher-end muzzleloader would probably let me shoot more accurately at longer distances, but I note no real complaints from other shooters about the CVA Wolf V2’s accuracy; just the opposite. They seem to think it shoots well for the money, just like I do.
And if you have trouble with the gun, that lifetime warranty gives you peace of mind. This is certainly a possibility; my brother-in-law bought the same rifle a few months ago, and has had issues with the trigger mechanism on his gun. Guess what—CVA will fix it for him, free of charge. That’s the kind of guarantee I want when I buy a rifle, and I am confident I’ll get many hunting days out of this muzzleloader in the years ahead.
