CVA Mountain Rifle Catalog Specs

[woodtick49]

my MR has all the characteristics of the first model.browned barrel,browned buttplate,octagonal
thimbles,wooden ramrod with pewter or silver tips,trigger guard is iron.if it was ever brown
it has all worn off.I have no way of verifying it,but, I believe this gun was put up for sale by the widow of the man who put the kit together.
again ,I have no proof it is a kit gun.

 

[zimmerstutzen]

WalKsalone. I really appreciate whet you posted here. I wanted to add however, that I have seen at least one model of CVA gun, that I have never seen in a catalogue or magazine ad. (A Zouave) There have been models in some CVA catelogues, that neither I or my friends have ever seen in person. (The prospector pistol, saw one advertised on an auction site once) (I understand that there are models available on the Pedersoli site, that only two or three such guns are imported to the US each year)

I had heard (rumor again) that a few models were made as prototypes and were handed out by the folks in Connecticut to their buddies and were never listed in the cat. or put into production.

 

[Walks Alone]

zimmerstutzen,

Straying a little on the thread here, but hope this helps some with a couple of your comments...

The CVA Zouave is in their 1975 catalog. So unless they brought it back later it may have only been available for one or more of the first years of the company. I don't have that catalog, but I do have pictures of it that includes the table of contents and of some of the pages (incl the one with the Zouave on it).

I'm guessing that the Prospector pistol you mention is another copy of the Tingle that was made back in the 60's here in the US. Several companies made versions of it... FIE had one, TC had the Scout, so it wouldn't surprize me if others copied it too.

Do know what you mean though about very rare offerings from CVA. I have a pistol that is still shrouded with mystery even though I have been trying to nail it down for years. It's a carbon copy of a 31 caliber Hege-Siber target pistol but is 45 caliber with a bright barrel instead of blued. It has "Conneticutt Valey Arms Inc, Black Powder Only .45 Cal. Spain" stamped on the bottom of the barrel like an after thought, and a serial number also on the bottom of the barrel. While I can't identify the proof marks on the barrel for sure I believe one is a Spanish admission proof, and the other is similar to a Spanish BP double barrel shotgun proof. It's quality is miles above the normal CVA firearms, Traditions, etc with a nicely engraved lock and barrel, single set trigger, cut checkering, nice wood, fit and finish. Pedersoli I might believe made it, but not the others. In looks ONLY it is similar to a Traditions Pioneer pistol, but a little bigger and with many major differences that are all huge improvements over the Traditions. Anyway, the Hege pistols are famous for winning the European matches, but since they are a wholesaler, importer and dealer, who knows who makes their award winning pistols. This CVA imported pistol is also extremely accurate no matter who made it.

Mine...

Hege-Siber...

 

[zimmerstutzen]

Folks can say what they want about CVA, after the first few years, I think their barrels were excellent. I have a peculiar Spanish made in-line in 32 cal, that looks like a 22 single shot. It is marked Marathon Arms,Saybrook Conn. Made in Spain, and then as I recall, Ardessa. It has round ball rifling and is exceptionally accurate for a new gun I paid $30 for in 1984. I often wondered if Marathon was somehow connected to CVA.

 

[Walks Alone]

Strayed far enough off topic on the pistols, and we don't discuss other than traditional ML's on this forum.

Back to the MR's.....

 

[Samuel]

I have two Mountain Rifles
#1 50 cal perc. USA made marked 0027XXX just as described in your 1977 catalog.

#2 45 cal perc. No USA and with smaller markings for caliber and cva on barrel #0078XXX this one may have been a kit gun going by the finish on the stock? but it has all the same parts as the other one (like 4screw patch box,Hexigon thimbles ) both have Brown barrels and no Brass.

 

[Walks Alone]

 

[excess650]

I got my 50cal percussion Mtn Rifle as a Christmas present kit while in high school, so had to be no later than 1976, and more likely 1975. It is marked "Made in USA" with hexagonal thimbles and serial 00012xx.

Catalogs are generally printed in advance, so its possible the Mtn Rifle was a mid year product in 1975.

I'm certain that I hunted deer with that rifle in November/December 1976, so would have been a Christmas present in 1975.

 

[BobKrohn]

It is marked "Made in USA" with hexagonal thimbles and serial 00012xx.

Interesting since my rifle with low# also has these hex thimbles.
Front one has a fitting for what must have been a sling.
Were your thimbles original to the rifle or an add-on? (this assumes you could possibly remember back 30+ yrs)

 

[excess650]

I assembled my rifle from a kit, so the thimbles were original. I don't see any provision for a sling on the pair of matched thimbles.

I had a lot of fun with that rifle. I'm amazed that I didn't blow it up with some of the loads I put through it, and some of the stupid stuff I did.:shake:

Interestingly, it shot 370gr TC maxiballs as well as it did PRB.

 

[Walks Alone]

I got my 50cal percussion Mtn Rifle as a Christmas present kit while in high school, so had to be no later than 1976, and more likely 1975. It is marked "Made in USA" with hexagonal thimbles and serial 00012xx.

Catalogs are generally printed in advance, so its possible the Mtn Rifle was a mid year product in 1975.

I'm certain that I hunted deer with that rifle in November/December 1976, so would have been a Christmas present in 1975.

In looking at my catalogs, in those days CVA catalogs were copywrited the year before the year of the catalog (ie, 1975 was C 1974, 1977 C 1976, etc). So I guess its quite possible the MR's were first offered sometime in 1975 even though they were NOT in the 1975 catalog. They were in the 1977 catalog (I don't have a 1976 catalog to check for them in) and in the 1979 catalog they were the second generation MR's. They did get top billing in the 1977 catalog, but I'd still like to see a 1976 cat.

It is marked "Made in USA" with hexagonal thimbles and serial 00012xx.

Interesting since my rifle with low# also has these hex thimbles.
Front one has a fitting for what must have been a sling.
Were your thimbles original to the rifle or an add-on? (this assumes you could possibly remember back 30+ yrs)

FWIW, the first MR's all had hex thimbles. Would have been easy enough to modify one for a sling, but I highly doubt they came that way from CVA as they didn't offer such as an accessory to retrofit with in their catalogs.

 

[Pork Chop]

Both of my Mountain Rifles have the hex thimbles.

 

[necchi]

Thought I'd resurect this old thread with some new info just to keep it all together.

Spoke with a gent today at Deer Creek Products about the Mountain Rifle. "Erwin" spent some time and answered some questions.

Deer Creek did indeed buy the Douglas machines when Douglas closed their doors and still run them today making barrels.

He was sure that the first few hundred MR production rifle barrels came off the Douglas machines but very soon after the barrels where made in Europe by an outfit "Transmesa".

In 1996 CVA had 500 commemrative 25th Anniversary Mountain Rifles made completely by Deer Creek. These models had ALL iron parts in original configuration as the 1st model, just everything Browned iron. They where numbered 1-500. Here's a blog by then CEO Dudley McGarity May 26,2010; http://blog.cva.com/the-truth-about-cva-muzzleloaders/

So some had Douglas Barrels, and if it matters Deer Creek Products are barrels from the same Machines

 

[rafterob]

I can tell you one thing, I have one of Deer Creeks MR Barrels in .50 cal. Excellent barrel, tack driver! Great value to still be had. :thumbsup:

 

[RedFeather]

My .45 Mountain Rifle has the four screw patchbox and Made In USA logo'd barrel. It has a brass ramrod tip marked "S&W .38 Spcl" and a zip-tie barrel wedge. When might it have been made?

Just kidding, although it did have both those extra custom touches when I acquired it. In fact, the ramrod still has the spent cartridge. I suspect it were a kit gun that was pressed into service, since it's still pretty much in need of final wood fitting and I had to get a patchbox from a generous member here.

 

[pa woods roamer]

Does Deer Creek still offer the put it together yourself Kits?? If they do,any idea what the price range is???

 

[Adui]

Does Deer Creek still offer the put it together yourself Kits?? If they do,any idea what the price range is???

+1

 

[fishspike]

Hey thanks for the info, do we know if the spanish barrels were marked spain and if deer creek produced any barrels for CVA. Does anyone have a Mountain Rifle with a barrel marked spain?

I posted some breech plug pics on the flintlock cva mountain rifle thread it shows the percussion bolster as well.

Bob

 

[necchi]

Another post to keep a current calendar date on the topic

 

[necchi]

Another link to follow with a comment from member Hermanoshawkin about the actual MR barrels; http://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/fusionbb/showtopic.php?tid/303694/pid/1648712/post/last/m/1/#LAST