I have any old CVA Hawkins kit from the 1970'a that my parents gave me and I am going to pulled it off the closet shelf and put it together. Does anyone know what kind of wood they use on those old Hawkin kit guns. I remember when they advertised they just said hardwood. The Thompson Centers were walnut. I was wondering if it could possible be a poor grade of maple.
CVA Hawkins Kit 1970's era
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coehornboy
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Stoner:
In '82 I bought a .54 CVA halfstock kit (.54 flintlock w/steel furniture, no patchbox) that had been in the box for a few years It had the standard CVA generic hardwood stock with no discernable grain. I think that they look better with a dark stain; I used a "maple" stain on mine back then and it came out really REALLY light colored. :cursing:
In '82 I bought a .54 CVA halfstock kit (.54 flintlock w/steel furniture, no patchbox) that had been in the box for a few years It had the standard CVA generic hardwood stock with no discernable grain. I think that they look better with a dark stain; I used a "maple" stain on mine back then and it came out really REALLY light colored. :cursing:
I don't think CVA made a Hawken kit in the 1970's. They made a Mountain rifle and a Frontier rifle, they did not make what they called a Hawken until much later. It may make a difference if yours is one of the earlier or later ones, I think the Mountain rifle may have been maple, but the later ones were probably beech.
If it is the Big BOre Mountain Rifle, they came in .54 and .58 caliber. It is more of a referrence to a Plains Rifle than a Hawken rifle. Some of them were Sharon barrels & quite accurate. Mine will easily group 3 shots in a cloverlaef at 50 yards. I have the one I built (my first ML rifle kit) in the 70's and the wood is beech to the best of my knowledge. Good solid wood for a gunstock, just has no charactor to it, but a substantial wood. It should not have a patchbox & the forestock should have 2 wedges & the nosecap is a alluminum alloy that makes it look pewter. Mine came from Bowehunters Warehouse in PA and it cost $ 119.95 in a kit form. At the same time the CVA Kentucky kits were $79.95 and they were a 2 piece stock.
I got this one out this year & hunted with it as I had not shot a deer with it in ? 20 years ? I guess. I took a deer the first day of ML season with it & another deer the second day also.
Mine is one ugly rifle..... I just look at it & chringe to see the work I did assembling that kit & also what a crappy kit it was in general..... but I keep it as a reminder of what I did in the 70's, and to what I can do now...... So at least when I make a lil boo-boo I can look at this & say "Well, it still beats the H out of this old clunker !"
The wood would not stain well & had not charactor, the browning job I did on the barrel was horrid (Plumb Brown), the fit of all the parts on the stock was just aweful & not a thing you could do about it, just a really sloppy CNC cut inlets & etc. But man it really IS a shooter....
All in all, it will should make ya a good shooter & a good deer rifle if that is what you are looking for.. Mine is a 1-60 or 1-66 twist, cannot remember which one. It outshot MANY a T/C Hawken with RB's back in it's day.... (Not a 1-48 twist like the Hawkens) It has the original Spanish made lock & trigger & I have never had a problem with either one on them & I have shot Thousands of rounds from it, even cut 1.5" off the barrel a few years back as the rifling on the end of the muzzle was worn bad, from shooting & from a fiberglass ramroad I had used....
It is also the only rifle I shot 520 gr. Mini-balls from. I shot 4 or 5 from it & they were really loading hard, on the next one the ramrod broke/split at an angle & it went thru the palm of my hand. :shocked2: I learned a good lesson that day on what they meant by Straight Grained ramrods & No Grain Runout on them........ That is the last mini-ball I ever loaded & that has been well over 30 years ago.
:thumbsup:
NOTE: On the barrel, mine says: Connecticut Vally Arms, then under it: Black Powder Only .58 Cal. It does not have Made in Spain anywhere on the rifle.
I got this one out this year & hunted with it as I had not shot a deer with it in ? 20 years ? I guess. I took a deer the first day of ML season with it & another deer the second day also.
Mine is one ugly rifle..... I just look at it & chringe to see the work I did assembling that kit & also what a crappy kit it was in general..... but I keep it as a reminder of what I did in the 70's, and to what I can do now...... So at least when I make a lil boo-boo I can look at this & say "Well, it still beats the H out of this old clunker !"
The wood would not stain well & had not charactor, the browning job I did on the barrel was horrid (Plumb Brown), the fit of all the parts on the stock was just aweful & not a thing you could do about it, just a really sloppy CNC cut inlets & etc. But man it really IS a shooter....
All in all, it will should make ya a good shooter & a good deer rifle if that is what you are looking for.. Mine is a 1-60 or 1-66 twist, cannot remember which one. It outshot MANY a T/C Hawken with RB's back in it's day.... (Not a 1-48 twist like the Hawkens) It has the original Spanish made lock & trigger & I have never had a problem with either one on them & I have shot Thousands of rounds from it, even cut 1.5" off the barrel a few years back as the rifling on the end of the muzzle was worn bad, from shooting & from a fiberglass ramroad I had used....
It is also the only rifle I shot 520 gr. Mini-balls from. I shot 4 or 5 from it & they were really loading hard, on the next one the ramrod broke/split at an angle & it went thru the palm of my hand. :shocked2: I learned a good lesson that day on what they meant by Straight Grained ramrods & No Grain Runout on them........ That is the last mini-ball I ever loaded & that has been well over 30 years ago.
:thumbsup:
NOTE: On the barrel, mine says: Connecticut Vally Arms, then under it: Black Powder Only .58 Cal. It does not have Made in Spain anywhere on the rifle.
Were the barrels made by Sharon? I always heard it was Douglas. I have a Mountain rifle flintlock, and a Frontier rifle flintlock, the Frontier was built from a kit by my brother, it is really horrible! It is quite accurate though, I have often thought of taking the barrel and using it to build something else.
You are right I was incorrect calling it a Hawkins, back then CVA called it their Mountain Rifle. I forgot all about that. You are right the grain is the wood is nothing to write home about. I have seen a few of these rifles that were put together from kits and the people did a fairly good job on them. My mother and father gave me that gun as a Christmas present back in 1978. My father passed away this year and I would like to assemble the gun and inlaid a plate on the stock with his name and date of birth and death. He was a good guy that worked hard all his life. Thanks for the information.
Stoner I called them spainish oak,never did know what they was.My frist flinter was a CVA Kentucky, I stained it with walnut hulls while I was out hunting as I got it in fall. I shot first blackP groundhog with it and squirrel.This in 82.I sold it because lock was too slow. Have 3 CVA now . Dilly
MikeChapin
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If it is stamped on the barrel "Made in USA", it has a Douglas barrel. Since yours was purchased in 1978 it probably has one.
Mine had what looked like a beech stock, light colored wood with not much grain. The stock was too short for me and did not have enough drop so I restocked it with a Leman pattern stock. The rifle will still drive tacks after almost 30 years of service.
Mine had what looked like a beech stock, light colored wood with not much grain. The stock was too short for me and did not have enough drop so I restocked it with a Leman pattern stock. The rifle will still drive tacks after almost 30 years of service.
According to the 1980 Dixie Gunworks catalog, CVA made a HAWKEN, FRONTIER, MOUNTAIN AND SQUIRREL rifle kit back in those days.
The Mountain rifle had two barrel keys mounting a 15/16 inch octagon, 32 inch barrel. Many of these barrels were made in the U.S.A. .45 and .50 caliber.
The Hawken rifle had one barrel key mounting a 1 inch octagon, 28 inch barrel. This rifle had adjustable sights and a Capbox. .50 and .54 caliber.
The Frontier rifle had one barrel key mounting a 15/16 octagon, 28 inch barrel. Simple adjustable sights and no Capbox. .45 and .50 caliber.
The Squirrel rifle was a .32 caliber rifle with a 11/16 inch octagon, 25 inch barrel. Single barrel key and no Capbox. This was available in Left hand version as well.
The CVA Hawken and the CVA Frontier rifles were the first rifles I built. The reason I built both of them is, back in the '70s, I had asked my wife for one of them for Christmas. When she got to the gun store she didn't know which one I wanted so she bought me both of them! Things like that explain why I've kept her around here for over 38 years.
I believe the Mountain rifle was also made in a .54 caliber but I am not sure about this.
The Mountain rifle had two barrel keys mounting a 15/16 inch octagon, 32 inch barrel. Many of these barrels were made in the U.S.A. .45 and .50 caliber.
The Hawken rifle had one barrel key mounting a 1 inch octagon, 28 inch barrel. This rifle had adjustable sights and a Capbox. .50 and .54 caliber.
The Frontier rifle had one barrel key mounting a 15/16 octagon, 28 inch barrel. Simple adjustable sights and no Capbox. .45 and .50 caliber.
The Squirrel rifle was a .32 caliber rifle with a 11/16 inch octagon, 25 inch barrel. Single barrel key and no Capbox. This was available in Left hand version as well.
The CVA Hawken and the CVA Frontier rifles were the first rifles I built. The reason I built both of them is, back in the '70s, I had asked my wife for one of them for Christmas. When she got to the gun store she didn't know which one I wanted so she bought me both of them! Things like that explain why I've kept her around here for over 38 years.
I believe the Mountain rifle was also made in a .54 caliber but I am not sure about this.
I got their "Kentucky Rifle" for Christmas back in 1975. I built it in about a year, off and on, and shot it. I recall it powdered glass bottles and shot through pine trees 6 inches or so thick. I saw it a while back and can't believe what a dog of a kit it was. I really was proud of it, though.
The Frontier rifle I built was a .50 caliber and I can't say it turned out to be a showstopper but because I wanted it to be different, I bought a bunch of brass tacks and decorated it "like an Indian gun".
I took my 11 year old son to the range one day and after shooting it a few times I asked him if he would like to try it. He said yes.
Being somewhat stupid and wanting to show him how strong his old man was, I loaded it up with a 95 grain powder load.
When he touched it off it dam near knocked him off the shooting bench. After this, the gun was always called "Stomper". He lost all interest in shooting it that day.
That's when I found out (Duh!) if you want your kids to enjoy shooting, don't ever do what I did.
Give them light, fun loads to shoot and they'll be coming back for more.
I took my 11 year old son to the range one day and after shooting it a few times I asked him if he would like to try it. He said yes.
Being somewhat stupid and wanting to show him how strong his old man was, I loaded it up with a 95 grain powder load.
When he touched it off it dam near knocked him off the shooting bench. After this, the gun was always called "Stomper". He lost all interest in shooting it that day.
That's when I found out (Duh!) if you want your kids to enjoy shooting, don't ever do what I did.
Give them light, fun loads to shoot and they'll be coming back for more.
MikeChapin
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Zonie said:The CVA Hawken and the CVA Frontier rifles were the first rifles I built. The reason I built both of them is, back in the '70s, I had asked my wife for one of them for Christmas. When she got to the gun store she didn't know which one I wanted so she bought me both of them! Things like that explain why I've kept her around here for over 38 years.
I believe the Mountain rifle was also made in a .54 caliber but I am not sure about this.
She's definitly a keeper. My wife did something similar for Christmas many years ago. She knew I wanted a CVA Kentucky pistol but could not remember whether I wanted flint or percussion so she got both. A good attitude about this hobby is a wonderful thing. We've been together 33 years.
The Mountain Rifle had a Big Bore model that came in .54 and .58. It was pretty much the same as the regular Mountain rifle except it had a 1" barrel and no capbox.
walruskid1
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my son is using my old .45 frontier in bp shoots at our club. it may not be the best looking rifle but its no dog for accuracy. the lock and set triggers have worked flawlessly for 25 years now. all i can say about the wood is that it came from a tree. good luck building the kit and enjoy shooting it. wk1
I just can't accept the fact that a dirt cheap gun was equipped with a quality barrel. If someone can prove it, I'll believe it. Urban legends are common in the hobby and that's what I think this is. "Somebody said", isn't proof. "Made in USA" isn't exactly "Made by Douglas Barrel Co." I kinda like the CVA Mountain Rifle. It sorta resembles a plains rifle.
Why don't you contact CVA and ask them yourself? They have a phone line and e-mail, and I am sure that they would answer your questions, or research it and get back with you. That way there will be no question about the veracity of the person posting their information.
