Very old CVA rifle

[megasupermagnum]

Attachment 249363 What my CVA Mountain Rifle breech area looks like. Yeah it is a shooter. These can be found for about $300 in good condition but this one is mint and marked "Made in the USA". I thought about turning it into a 'blanket' gun but it would be easier to do with one of my Lyman GPs since the barrels are a simple swap. There is an article on cutting down muzzle loader barrels by the inch to check accuracy and it was surprising how short they could be before accuracy suffered.

This is the exact rifle. There is no shortage of barrel on this one, as my range rod can't reach all the way to the bottom, it must be a 32" or 34" barrel. As for the breech plug. Even if I was to remove it, I would have to weld something onto it. I might as well just weld a new hook on. I probably will not get around to it for a while, but I do not want to turn this into an ordeal. I'd like to make it shoot again, and give it back to my uncle for Christmas. Thanks for all the help.

[indian joe]

This is the exact rifle. There is no shortage of barrel on this one, as my range rod can't reach all the way to the bottom, it must be a 32" or 34" barrel. As for the breech plug. Even if I was to remove it, I would have to weld something onto it. I might as well just weld a new hook on. I probably will not get around to it for a while, but I do not want to turn this into an ordeal. I'd like to make it shoot again, and give it back to my uncle for Christmas. Thanks for all the help.

Mate - if you put that rifle in front of me as is for 300 I would knock you over in the rush to give you the money - CVA mountain Rifle Douglas barrel !!!!!!!

[longbow]

indian joe:

No argument from me on not removing the breech plug. I've never removed mine... from my current CVA or any other muzzleloader I've had over the years. Of course my current CVA is one of those that is not supposed to be removable anyway.

Its a nice feature to be able to remove it if you ever have to but that seems like a pretty big if. I stand my barrel up in a bucket of warm soapy water and pump water up and down using the jag and tight patch. Works just fine.

For the most part I can't think of why a breech plug would need to be removed except because it can... if it can. I suppose if a guy wanted to re-cut or "fresh" rifling a removable breech plug would be a bonus, but otherwise?

I think mine was just called a CVA Hawken when I bought the kit in the 1980's and of course it is just a generic lookalike not an exact copy of a Hawken by any means. Mine looks like what they later called the St. Louis Hawken. Looks like the only obvious difference to the mountain rifle is one barrel wedge instead of two. Maybe barrel length too?

Not sure where it was made but after reading this thread I'll dig it out of the gun safe and check on it. Maybe it has a Douglas barrel. It shoots pretty well though I'd be embarrassed to show Waksupi my kit building skills... or lack of them anyway! It isn't horrible but it isn't classy either. But it does shoot pretty well.

Longbow

[fiberoptik]

But it does shoot well.

I like beauty, but I take function over it anytime!


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[indian joe]

indian joe:

No argument from me on not removing the breech plug. I've never removed mine... from my current CVA or any other muzzleloader I've had over the years. Of course my current CVA is one of those that is not supposed to be removable anyway.

Its a nice feature to be able to remove it if you ever have to but that seems like a pretty big if. I stand my barrel up in a bucket of warm soapy water and pump water up and down using the jag and tight patch. Works just fine.

For the most part I can't think of why a breech plug would need to be removed except because it can... if it can. I suppose if a guy wanted to re-cut or "fresh" rifling a removable breech plug would be a bonus, but otherwise?

I think mine was just called a CVA Hawken when I bought the kit in the 1980's and of course it is just a generic lookalike not an exact copy of a Hawken by any means. Mine looks like what they later called the St. Louis Hawken. Looks like the only obvious difference to the mountain rifle is one barrel wedge instead of two. Maybe barrel length too?

Not sure where it was made but after reading this thread I'll dig it out of the gun safe and check on it. Maybe it has a Douglas barrel. It shoots pretty well though I'd be embarrassed to show Waksupi my kit building skills... or lack of them anyway! It isn't horrible but it isn't classy either. But it does shoot pretty well.

Longbow

yeah four inches more barrel on the Mountain Rifle (32 vs 28) plus the double wedge they were a classy piece in the day - I have a couple 54 hawken barrels I bought off a dealer cheap (50 bucks) great shooters - never saw a (Spanish) CVA barrel from that 80's era that wouldnt shoot with the best custom stuff - Getz, Douglas etc. a magazine article "The CVA Big Bore Mountain Rifle" was what got me into muzzle loading but I never owned one. Those CVA's were easy to load for - very un fussy .

[Gtek]

Has been a while since tang seen on one of these, could not take it anymore and dug one out also a good excuse for wiping and inspecting others. My Mountain example is an early Spanish barrel model, two screw box, rock lock. Tang landed at .400" width ID, hook hit .385" width. Kind of kills the .375" plate idea but would be hard to land perfect anyway. Maybe a call to Deer Creek Products and ask for pooch/rusted barrel or possible bad plug piece laying around for donor hook piece. Lathe- Turn plug forward of hook to dowel, shallow clean face if needed and shallow center drill barrel plug, clock and weld with correct depth to light file fit for tight seat in tang. Plug rear is recessed in from rear line of barrel, plenty of room to hide a nice weld. I am still in the weld and fit camp, if you do not have talented welder, lathe buddies then a couple bills would not stop me from salvage due to rifle/uncle. Nice these seem to run three to five bills, I understand these are what they are and not golden hand crafted Americana but most I have been around do shoot pretty well.