cva bobcat

[typark64]

i got my son his first muzzle loader. it was a bobcat. not to happy with it. we have to prime it everytime we shoot or it will misfire. is there anything we can do. our season opened yesterday, and he got a doe and a 250 pound boar which is good, but a misfire on his buck this morning was a real let down for a nine year old. i know there cheap, but you shouldn't have to go through this everytime you shoot. any comments would help, thanks

 

[Pork Chop]

What is your cleaning regimen? Do you run a pipe cleaner into the drum to clean it and ensure that there is a clear flame path?

 

[typark64]

Usually just boiling water. It just seems that once I add the extra piro, it's good.

 

[3 stinky dogs]

I to owned a Bob cat and it is now my son's first fire arm as well. Maybe a new Nipple ? his has not miss fired at all. When I clean I stick the breech end in a bucket of hot water with some dish soap and use a patch to suck the water in and out threw the nipple and then dry and then oil. That's the best I can do as I am new as well. I hope it is helpful.

 

[jtmattison]

I had a Bobcat and the hammer was not striking the cap squarely. I had to bend the hammer to make it strike flush.
After that was resolved misfires were seldom but increased with the amount of shooting I did. The drum would clog up very easily.
Make sure your hammer is striking flush. Make sure it is spotless inside.
When you load the powder tap the rifle with your palm to settle the powder in the barrel and then hold the barrel drum side down and tap it some more to get powder into the drum.
The only thing I found to completely remedy the Bobcat trouble was to get rid of it. I have all Lyman's now and have never had a misfire.
I hope this helps a little.

Huntin

 

[gordy]

I gave one to one of my Grandsons last year and it has not had a problem with ignition as long as the outside of the nipple is cleaned off after a couple of shots.When useing heavier hunting loads,the crud seems to cake on the nipple quite hard.This keeps the cap off the anvil top of the nipple.If Your caps are snapping but failing to ignite the main charge,You may have to go to a better/hotter nipple and/or scrape the breech face and the flame channel in the face of the breech .I know of one case where a curl of metal was partly blocking the channel and stopping the powder from entering the channel after a couple of shots.Once the channel was cleared and smoothed all was well.As was said ,it would be good to check the hammer/nipple contact point.You may have to bend the hammer slightly. :front:

 

[Runner]

Put a double piece of paper towel on the ramrod after you are completely done cleaning. Store the gun for the night standing on the ramrod with the paper towel rammed all the way so that any moisture or oil in that area will end up in the dry paper towel. Put a hotshot nipple on it. Remove the ramrod and paper towel patch. Pop a cap. Run the patch back in and pop a second cap with it in. If the paper towel is blackened and burned from the cap, you are getting plenty of fire from the cap/nipple. If it still doesn't want to go off switch to P or real black. I use the same gun in 36 and we have fired it all afternoon with no misfires and only swabbed when it got hard to load. With black or 777 it is nearly 100 percent. Even on the first shot after being stored with protective products in the barrel. I store it upside down with a dry paper patch in the barrel on the ramrod.

 

[marwat06]

I bought a Bobcat a few weeks back and had issues with misfires. Cap would not pop. The nipple neck was slightly bigger than the caps (using Remingtons and CCI). I filed the neck of the nipple to allow the caps to seat completely.

Also had issues once the cap popped but the main charge not going off. To resovle I made sure that the barrel, nipple and chamber were clean and dry. I would than fire 2 caps without any charge in the barrel to dry out anything I missed.

As others stated I also tap the nipple side after I pour my powder (Pyrodex RS)to settle the powder. I had shot over 60 rounds so far without a misfire (using Remington Caps the CCI cap would not seat completely even after I filed the nipple). Have not hunt yet since our season doesn't start until Nov.

 

[typark64]

Thanks to everyone for all the info. I'll try all of them. Sounds like most of you are heading in the same direction.Thanks again.

 

[Brazos]

Tyson, lots of very good advice here. I agree with Runner, try real BP.
Good luck, and congrats on your son's early successes.
Bob

 

[cayugad]

I have one and it shoots fine, but my friend's son got one and had the same problems you're describing. I first checked the nipple to hammer alignment because I remember Huntin Dawg's experience with his. It seemed fine.

I then gave him an Hot Shot Nipple to put on the rifle. It was better but he still had some problems. I finally told him to load it with Goex 3f. He did and it has gone off perfect ever since. Why a simple powder change would make that big of a difference, I have no idea.

By the way, he was shooting 75 grains of Goex 3f and a patched roundball, and that rifle would really shoot some impressive groups...

 

[Slamfire]

Mine also had some ignition problems until I changed the nipple. Usin' 75 grains of FFg Wano, it goes off every time, if I don't forgit to choke up on the ramrod when wipin' the bore. If I do, the flame channel gits plumb full of crud and I have to run a pipe cleaner down the cleanout hole. :redface:

 

[john12865]

I have a Bobcat and at first had ignition problems. I changed the nipple and run a dry patch down her before I shoot, followed by shooting two caps. Goes off every time after that with pyro or bp. File your sights down and put some lead in the stock, or she'll kick your teeth outta ya. :rotf: The rear sight needs to be filed down with a triangle file, so that you can get a decent sight picture. The Bobcat isn't great out of the box, But if you spend some time and tweek her it's a sweet muzzleloader that's very accurate. The Bobcat has become my favorite shooting ML. With it's stock Buck Horn sights I group within a one inch circle at 25 yrds and that is more then enough to poke a squirrels eye out. Mine likes 80 grs with a .490 rd ball and .15 patch. Good luck! If you decide to get rid of her let me know. The Bobcat is no longer being made and I wouldn't mind having a second one :grin:

 

[DMURPHY317]

I too had ignition troubles with the 2 bobcats I bought for my sons. What seems to have solved it is switching to 3F powder (Pyro P) and installing the CVA Perfect Nipple. I started with 2F and had significant numbers of misfires, I think this is due to the small diameter fire channel and the lager size of the 2F granules. Every 4 or 5 dozen shots (or as needed) I will put the nipple into my drill chuck and use a file to dress it down slightly to remove any pinged area that might keep the cap from seating properly. The only other thing that I found that causes a problem is swabbing the bore while at the range. Every time I've tried to swab between shots I get a misfire, even after running dry patches and firing several caps. I shoot mostly PRB in the guns and can shoot 30+ shots without swabbing and still get good accuracy, I guess the patch is swabbing the bore enough when I load it.

Good luck with it.

 

[Slamfire]

The Bobcat's bore goes all the way to the breech, there is no subcaliber chamber. I've found that if I choke up on the ramrod when whiping the bore the residue is not pushed into the drum, and misfires are eliminated. I'm using Grafs private lable FFg, which is made by Wano. :yakyak:

 

[marwat06]

Well my CVA Bobcat started having problems getting the caps to "pop". It looks like a problem with the main spring not having enough force impacted to the hammer. The first and second times the tigger is pulled the caps pop .. after that the caps won't pop even after 4 to 5 times of the hammer striking the cap. Sent it off to CVA for repairs. Only fired 200 round :cursing: .