Ardesa Mountain Rifle

[griffiga]

A guy on a local gun exchange site had posted for sale a couple of .50 caliber muzzle loaders. One was an Ardesa mountain rifle made in Spain, and the other was a TC New Englander. I'd saved them in my box and was in the process of clearing it out with item that had sold when I noticed these two hadn't. For fun I made the guy an insanely low offer which I figured he would refuse. Much to my surprise, he accepted and now I'm the proud owner of a couple more cap locks. I'm curious about the Ardesa as I'd never heard of it before. Therefore, I'll post a couple pictures of it for your comments. Two things I want to do with it is to remove the modern (Thompson Center looking) rear sight and dovetail it for a traditional one, and remove what's left of the barrel bluing and brown it. Other than that it is has a solid walnut stock and a full, 1 inch thick 32 inch barrel. Needless to say, it is quite heavy. Obviously solidly built.

 

[TreeMan]

Ardesa makes Traditions Branded muzzleloaders.

 

[eggwelder]

I have an Ardessa in .45 that i paid too much for. Unless you need to hit what you are shooting at. Most accurate muzzleloader i own, and therefore one of the most fun to shoot.
mid 1970`s model.

 

[griffiga]

I have an Ardessa in .45 that i paid too much for. Unless you need to hit what you are shooting at. Most accurate muzzleloader i own, and therefore one of the most fun to shoot.
mid 1970`s model.

I'm guessing this one was made around the same time. I'm hoping it shoots equally as well as your's as the riflings are in excellent shape.

 

[user 48679]

Wonderful wood on that Ardessa ! !

The rifle looks like my CVA Premier Grade Mountain Rifle, but with brass furniture ILO the CVA's silver/pewter furniture.

I also like the brass inlays on the LH side of the stock...……

 

[griffiga]

Wonderful wood on that Ardessa ! !

The rifle looks like my CVA Premier Grade Mountain Rifle, but with brass furniture ILO the CVA's silver/pewter furniture.

I also like the brass inlays on the LH side of the stock...……

I didn't know if those inlays were standard, or whether someone did that afterwards.

 

[Capnball]

Nice rifle. What's not to like?

 

[BallBoy]

A guy on a local gun exchange site had posted for sale a couple of .50 caliber muzzle loaders. One was an Ardesa mountain rifle made in Spain, and the other was a TC New Englander. I'd saved them in my box and was in the process of clearing it out with item that had sold when I noticed these two hadn't. For fun I made the guy an insanely low offer which I figured he would refuse. Much to my surprise, he accepted and now I'm the proud owner of a couple more cap locks. I'm curious about the Ardesa as I'd never heard of it before. Therefore, I'll post a couple pictures of it for your comments. Two things I want to do with it is to remove the modern (Thompson Center looking) rear sight and dovetail it for a traditional one, and remove what's left of the barrel bluing and brown it. Other than that it is has a solid walnut stock and a full, 1 inch thick 32 inch barrel. Needless to say, it is quite heavy. Obviously solidly built.

I see you still haven’t got any help with your addiction. Derek

 

[griffiga]

I see you still haven’t got any help with your addiction. Derek

Geez Derek funny because that's the same thing my wife tells me. Now it looks like we'll have a few more guns to try when the weather finally cooperates. I guess after 45 years, the addiction is not going to change unless I stay off the Gun sites. In addition, the guy I bought these two rifles from threw in two boxes of Hornady .490 round balls, two new packs of percussion caps and a ball starter

 

[Zonie]

Ardesa S.A. is a Spanish company that has made the sidelock guns CVA imported for years going back to the 1970's. When CVA (a import company in the USA) decided to drop their sidelock guns, Traditions took over the importation from Ardesa to the USA.

The first CVA Mountain rifles were a combination of Spanish Ardesa parts and US made barrels. This changed to Mountain rifles that were entirely Spanish made.
Apparently, that's what the Mountain rifle the OP has, is.

 

[griffiga]

Thanks Zonie, and all you others, for your knowledgeable insight. I'm all about learning something new and there is a vast wealth of information within the walls of this forum.

 

[appalichian hunter]

I would also strip the stock and rub a nice oil finish on it, would look good with the browned barrel.

 

[griffiga]

I would also strip the stock and rub a nice oil finish on it, would look good with the browned barrel.

I agree as a lot of the shiny finish has started to wear off anyway. A good linseed finish would look good. What rear sight would you go with and where would you get it?

 

[deermanok]

Nice looking rifle. Track of the wolf has a good selection of sights.

 

[appalichian hunter]

I would do some research on original hawken riles and look at those sights as pictured, before making a final decision. Track of the wolf or any reputable black powder shop would be able to supply them, once you make your decision, also I would recommend go with a full buck horn, not knowing what type the front sight is a silver blade would look nice and also enable you to see the front sight better in low light or cloudy days. but that is only my opinion.

 

[Grenadier1758]

Lets support our advertiser at the top of the page. The Hawken Shop has a conversion sight that would likely fulfill your needs.

 

[Treestalker]

Please send that pipe bomb off to be tested before you subject your face to the Spanish proof of only about 10,700lbs test. Just saying...

 

[Zonie]

Please send that pipe bomb off to be tested before you subject your face to the Spanish proof of only about 10,700lbs test. Just saying...

I don't know why you would suggest such a thing.
There are no "proof testing" houses in the USA to send it to. In all my years of muzzleloading I have never heard of a CVA sidelock gun barrel having troubles with being shot, even with heavy loads as long as the powder was one designed for use in muzzleloaders.
Smokeless powder will usually blow the barrel up but smokeless powder will do that to almost any muzzleloading gun, even if it did get proof tested.

 

[Kansas Jake]

I have an Ardessa I picked up at a pawn show a few years back. It isn't the double key Hawken style like yours. It is of the common single key 28 inch barrel design. It had a barrel with some surface rust and cleaned a pretty well except for a couple a small pits. It is a tack driver plus light to carry.

 

[user 48679]

I have an Ardessa I picked up at a pawn show a few years back.

It isn't the double key Hawken style like yours.

It is of the common single key 28 inch barrel design.

AFAIK, while original J&S Hawken plains rifles had double keys, the CVA/Ardessa single key guns were called Hawken; the double key guns were called Mountain Rifles.