Ignition Woes

Griz 54 · Sep 30, 2024

Try ccI magnum caps

James Dietz · Sep 30, 2024

All I know is that my cheapest rifle, CVA .50 percussion Hawken is my most accurate when I am using it! I agree with Flatcreek on tapping the side of rifle. That has become muscle memory and I rarely if ever have a misfire.

ETipp · Sep 30, 2024

James Dietz said:
All I know is that my cheapest rifle, CVA .50 percussion Hawken is my most accurate when I am using it! I agree with Flatcreek on tapping the side of rifle. That has become muscle memory and I rarely if ever have a misfire.

Yep, been doing that since I began in the early 80’s. Between that and snapping a cap after cleaning and prior to loading, I don’t have misfires.

Rebel bull · Sep 30, 2024

switch to 3f powder

R Ellis · Sep 30, 2024

flatcreek said:
Tap the side of the rifle with the heal of your hand a few times after dumping the powder in before the patch and ball to get it to settle in the breach.

do this every time

flatcreek · Sep 30, 2024

R Ellis said:
do this every time

Yes

WALT53 · Oct 1, 2024

flatcreek said:
Yes

Sounds like some crud in the flash channel or rust ,give a good flush pumping and run a pipe cleaner in it with rubbing alcohol before you shoot it to make sure you get all the oil out .

Boomerang · Oct 1, 2024

Make sure your hammer is on half cock. That way when you ram the ball home, it forces air through the nipple and carries powder into the flash channel.

Larry Rogers · Oct 8, 2024

JimKim said:
I bought a CVA Hawken. I got it CHEAP. It took a good bit of tinkering to get it to shoot. At first the hammer was slow. That was easy to fix. It just took cleaning and oiling. Next the barrel had a very rough patch of rust about halfway down. I tried every remedy I could find online, until finally using distilled vinegar to "eat it". I can now load it and it gets perfect ignition from the caps, but unless I put a pinch(I'm talking just a few kernels) of powder in the drum, it doesn't set the powder(tried Grafs, Goex, and Swiss) off. I'm using CCI No. 11 caps. I've never had trouble(always had revolvers) with them before. Did they go cheap or do you think it is another issue. I have noticed the priming compound in these seems to be very thin. Oh, the nipple and drum are clear. I can pull the screw and shine a light through it and it lights up the whole bore. Thanks for any help.

Also, I ordered some paper caps and I will be augmenting the CCI caps with the paper caps this week.

CVA sidelock percussion barrels have the breech plug drilled and threaded once it's installed in the barrel, for the drum. Once the drum is seated, the face of the breech plug is center bored in the barrel, through to the core of the drum. If someone has replaced the drum or tried to adjust the original one it could have altered the ignition. When you shined the light through the drum it did illuminate the bore but you might not be able to see any misalignment.

JimKim · Oct 8, 2024

Since I started leaning the rifle to the right side and tapping the butt with my heel or toe, when I charge the barrel, it hasn't misfired at all. I did manage to pull some kind of varnish or hardened turpentine looking crud out of it too. I'm guessing it was a combination of both things.

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