CVA Hawken kit

[izzyjoe]

i bought a CVA Hawken kit awhile back, and i figured i'd build it when i got round to it. well a week ago i started on it. i may give it to my good friend, but if it shoots real good it's stayin' with me. this kit was made back in the 80's, im guessing. this thing was not really well made, but i did'nt give alot for it. and nothing is fitting right, there's alot of wood to remove. i just wonder how many of these kit's that where bought for folk's, for present's that never got put together. well i hope i can make something of it.

[docone31]

That CVA kit, when finished, will make a great rifle.
You can get a better lock, if need be, you can really detail it, or just fit it and fire it. Either way, that rifle made a good shooter.
I wish they made leftys. I want one.

[mooman76]

I bought a CVA Kentucky rifle kit a few years ago at a swap meet for cheap. It was old but still wrapped in plastic. It still had the tags on the box and was bought from Montgomery Wards and the sales tag was dated 1972. It was one of the earlier CVAs and were all imported back then and they weren't made as good as the ones later on. It does shoot ok though. So that's another one for you.

[waksupi]

For a reasonable consideration, I can put it together for you, and make it look pretty good.

[Boerrancher]

For a reasonable consideration, I can put it together for you, and make it look pretty good.

Maybe if you sweeten the pot by tossing in a box of lube groves as well he may go for it.:kidding:

Best wishes,

Joe

[mooman76]

Maybe if you sweeten the pot by tossing in a box of lube groves as well he may go for it.:kidding:

Best wishes,

Joe

You don't use lube grooves in a ML. They just don't work good. I do happen to have a rare hollow point RB mould though![smilie=1:

[longbow]

I bought a .50 cal. kit back in the 80's too. It went together reasonably easy but there were some flaws in wood and brass. Nothing real serious but I did have to make allowances.

I don't recall having any significant trouble with metal fittings to wood requiring lots of wood removal.

Oh, one thing that was bad was the crown. It was off center so I made a jig and used emery cloth then lapping compound to make the original bevel more radiused and centered (didn't have a lathe back then and don't have one big enough now).

It turned out to look reasonable (especially for an inexpensive kit) and shoots reasonably well. If memory serves, I was able to keep PRB's in about 4" at 100 yards.

Not spectacular (but neither are my gunmaking skills) but not a disappointment either. I still shoot it occasionally. It is the only muzzleloader I have currently.

The barrel seems to have decent rifling and I don't feel drag when loading PRB but there are some machine marks so I have been thinking lately of lapping it some and seeing if it makes any difference.

Mine is 1:66: round ball twist.

Also, if it is the same as mine, the breech plug is not removable. Apparently the nipple drum was pressed in so once installed, barrel and nipple drum are a "unit".

If you are having trouble with fits it may be best to get some help as suggested rather than ruin it, wasting both time and what should be a decent gun.

I read lots of good things about waksupi's work but if it is a round ball barrel don't fall for the lube groove sales pitch even if they are on sale!

FWIW

Longbow

[tacklebury]

L&R Locks and I think Jim Chambers make direct drop in replacements for Traditions, CVA, TC and such. ;)

[izzyjoe]

i'm not havin' trouble with it yet, just comenting on how crude it was. the wood is cheap, but it has some nice figure to it. i've bedded the tang, and the rear part of the barrel. this week i'll bed the rest of it. just tryin' to decide what color to stain it. my dad said to just finish it out and put about ten coat of tru oil on it, just bare wood. sometimes that look's real good. it's 1-66'' so i hope i can shoot prb's and maxi's too. soon i hope to have my REAL mold. i can't see puttin' an L&R lock in this this thing. that'd be like a putting a $100 saddle on a two dollar jacka$$. :bigsmyl2:

[mooman76]

It might surprize you how well it shoots. It should shoot RBs fine, that's what it's designed for. I wouldn't count on maxies too much but your best chance is with a short one like the Lee REAL in the shorter version. Each caliber they make in a lighter and heavier one. What caliber are we talking about, 45 or 50. I have a 45 that shoots the REALs ok but I have occasional fliers lie it's on the edge of stability. Good enough for minute of deer though. I have had no real problems with the CVS locks in caplock, not the best but function good. Flintlocks are a whole nother animal.

[Boz330]

My Godson worked all one summer on the weekends gassing airplanes and cleaning windshields for a CVA kit that had been put together already. He couldn't even load it himself yet but took his first couple deer with it and several more after he got a HP rifle during the ML seasons. He never missed with it and only one went any distance after being hit. It shot better than I thought it would and still is.

Bob

[Fly]

I still have my first muzzle loader.A CVA mountian rifle.It's a great shooting rb gun.I'm
thinking of refinishing the stock.I really do like this ole gun.

Fly

[izzyjoe]

i'm sorry i did'nt say, but it's a 50 cal. that's all i have is 50's. but for some strange reason i'd like to have a .54 cal. i was gona try the Lee REAL 250gr. boolit's

[mooman76]

The larger the caliber, the less twist you need so you would probably do a little better than my 45 does with conicals. My 45 is 1/66 also.

[plainsman456]

I traded for 1 from my brother.He got a new inline for Christmas years ago.
The rifle was put together by another person and it was just slapped together.
He thought he was getting a way better rifle in trade,it was a 243 that I build 20 years ago.
Some years later when he saw it he didn't believe it was the same one.
The wood was some type of hardwood and looks like it has had a flame put to it,as the burnt color id in a sprial pattern.
I have shot more rb that slugs in it but the few slugs have shown potential.

[longbow]

Mine is 1:66" twist and I have had no luck at all with Maxi's. In fact I just gave my Maxi mould away to a friend who can use it.

It shoots RB pretty well and the light REAL may do okay but I think you will find the twist too slow for a Maxi. If you got 'em might as well try 'em but I am betting they don't do well out of 1:66" twist.

Mine also had pretty plain wood and with some knots in it so I put drips of Tru oil into the little knots to fill them and in the end leveled the surface then finished it off and it looks pretty good.

Longbow

[mooman76]

I traded for 1 from my brother.He got a new inline for Christmas years ago.
The rifle was put together by another person and it was just slapped together.
He thought he was getting a way better rifle in trade,it was a 243 that I build 20 years ago.
Some years later when he saw it he didn't believe it was the same one.
The wood was some type of hardwood and looks like it has had a flame put to it,as the burnt color id in a sprial pattern.
I have shot more rb that slugs in it but the few slugs have shown potential.

I have heard some people would wrap their ML stocks with a small rope and burn the wood with a torch to try to give it the tiger stripe look. I have a really old one that looks that way.

[DIRT Farmer]

The recipe is in the old Dixie cataloge The rope is soaked in a solution and wraped, staining the stock from what I remember.

[Fly]

That 1 in 66 twist is a round ball shooter.I don't think a REAL will work very well in that gun.

Fly

[izzyjoe]

it may not, but it's worth trying. cause you never know till you try.