What are you H.A.M.ing for? I shoot a CVA Optima Elite. Smooth trigger tight tolerances on the barrel, and a quality product.
First, recoil. If you're hunting for say Javilina 50gr or one 50gr equivalent pellet out of a 50 is pretty soft shooting. Folks at the range who want to shoot a smoke pole for the first time get intimidated when they hear 50 CAL but are surprised when they pull the trigger. Now there have been a couple a "tough guys" who wanted to shoot 3 pellets and found out it had a bite. Just like the larger CF magnums the heavier the bullet, the more force (in recoil pounds) you'll experience. I shoot as light as 250gr bullet and as heavy as a 460 and I can feel a difference.
50 vs 45? Of the 2 50's seem to be the most popular have have the most products. YMMV
Projectile choice. Powerbelts are considered conicals. I like to think of them as not quite the size of the bore until the trigger is pull and the rear skirt is expanded. the problem with PB is they are softer than most and can be over push to failure. Something to keep in mind. I also like Extreme Elites for the longer shots. These are boat tail bullets in .40 and .451 cal that would go in the appropriate sabot and down the muzzle. For conicals, I really like Parker Traditional's or Hydro-Con's Conicals. They come with there own wads and are very accurate in front of 110grs of BH209 (more on the BH below). If you do order the Parkers, see if you can find out the size of your barrel first. they also make a bullets for Sabots. Muzzle loaders are not like CF rifles, 50 Cal can mean .491 - .508. That's a huge difference when trying to get a bullet down the barrel. Other bullets to try are Thors (non-leaded), Hornady FPB, Scorpion PT Golds with Crush Rib Sabots (CRS - more on those below), and not quite as accurate but monstrous in size are the No Excuse conicals. Their "small" 50 cal is 460grs. Barnes also makes a wonderful line of ML bullets.
Sabots. Most bullets come with their own Sabots. A lot of ML'ers (myself included) like the after market Crush Rib Sabots by Harvester. They go down the tube so much smoother. YMMV
Powder choice. We can start to work our way down the decision tree. On one side you have pure black. A lot of traditional shooters like this product. They say its accurate and has a bad rap for being dirty. On the other side there is Black Powder Substitute (BPS). This product comes in two flavors: pellets and loose. Important to know because some states require loose only (more on regs below). For the longest time we shooters had two basic products Pyrodex, which is a synthetic black according to the manufacture so it matches one for one by volume with black loads, and Triple 7 (sometimes listed as T7), which is a higher energy BPS. Both come in pellets and loose powder. Other BPS products are American Pioneer Powder (APP) and Jim Shocky Gold (also by APP). These come in sticks not pellets and loose. The two newest products on the market are IMR White Hots (pellets) and Black Horn 209 (a.k.a. BH209 a loose). First WH's. I like this product because unlike Pyrodex and T7 and like APP and JS Gold, its a cleaner burning powder. With this product I can get 10 shots off without having to swab the barrel. With Pyrodex I have to swab the barrel after every other shot. But also like Pyrodex, I can load as small as a 50gr charge say for Javilina. BH209 as its name implies requires the hot ignition of a 209 primer, but more so than than that, because its characteristics are so close to smokeless powder, it requires a really hot 209 Magnum primer. Western Powder the manufacture of BH209 recommends either Federal 209A or CCI 209M primers. I worked with this powder when it first hit the market and spent many hours on the phone with Western Powder working out problems. Long story short, depending on the projectile, I shoot anywhere from 90 - 120gr (max charge for BH209 out of a modern in-line by the way) and a Federal 209A primer. BH209 is the most accurate powder I have shot to date. It beat out my best WH and Pyrodex loads by a quarter inch at 100 yards. Like the WH's I can get 15 shots down range (then I run out of Powerbelts) without swabbing the barrel. I guess this is a good thing if I'm taking 15 shots on an ELK (oh here comes the form flames I can feel it now). Almost forgot, Hodgdon's came out with a T7 Magnum which I haven't tried yet.
No powder on the market today is so "clean" that it will allow you to scrub the barrel another day. Always, thoroughly clean your equipment at the end of a shooting day and swab when necessary.
Ignition and Primers. Mentioned the importance of these with respect to to BH209. There are two basic flavors of 209 primers: Muzzle Load specific primers (Wolf, T/C, T7, Fusion) and Shotgun primers (CCI, CCI Magnum, Federal, Federal Magnum, Remington STS). One benefit of a shotgun magnum primer is good ignition in the bitter cold; whilst one negative is you can get more blow back and a sticky primer. I'm not going to go over #11 or Caps as these are used in older or modern ML equipped to use them like the CVA Elkhorn.
Advise on a load. Find out what your rifle likes and stick with it. Me, I don't think a 460gr conical is appropriate for a Javilina or rabbit (yes I hunt rabbit with a ML), so I shoot a PB with 1 50gr WH pellet. I have a separate load for deer and Elk that uses a Barnes Spitfire T-EZ and BH209.
Regulations. Know the regs of where you intend to hunt. Arizona is pretty easy, push it down the muzzle and you're good. New Mexico has two hunt seasons. One is geared towards a more traditional set up (no optics, loose powder only, no 209 ignition...) and the other more like AZ. Some North West States require open ignition. You get the idea.
Traditional vs Modern In-line. Ok you didn't ask but you did say you were relatively new to ML'ing and I just want to nip this one in the tush before those flames start. They are different enough in setup and shooting skills that I really don't compare the two. In fact, I always advise to own both and judge for yourself if there is one you like over the other. I personally love them both. Oh I can see the "going both ways flames" already.
Cleaning. Best advise, read the manual. The manufacture will tell you what products are safe and and effective. Invest in a welding tip cleaner to clean out the flash hole. Always keep it clean.
Finally (no really I have to get back to work), Safety.
NEVER EVER mid fire a ML. If you can't seat the projectile, pull the breech plug, dump the powder, and push it back out.
Know the limits of your rifle with regards to the powder you are using. Most modern ML's can accept 150grs of Black Powder which is not the same as 150grs of BH209. Because of its higher energy, most rifles can only handle 120grs of BH209. A 50gr pellet of T7 is not actually 50grs of loose compressed into a pellet. It is the equivalent of 50grs of BP. Hence, 50grs of loose T7 will have more energy.
Keep your powder limited in quantity; cool; and dry.
For more on the subject check out the the following sites:
blackhorn209.com.com, Hodgdon.com for product information and load data
maxmuzzleloader for product reviews
Track of the wolf, Sportsmen's Warehouse, Cabelas for supplies
CVA.com, TCarms.com, traditionsfirearms.com for Muzzle Loaders (if you want to see a monster check out badbullmuzzleloaders.com) There are also a few custom ML builders out there but you did say CVA was a good price range so I'll let you google those.
Have fun; be safe; and always feel free to ask.
HaYen
