CVA Mountain Rifle questions

[Freezer]

Here is the TC Hawken Kit I built. Note the patch box, it is the same shape and two screw design that is on the CVA project. The CVA is the same shape in the article but a four screw design. I noticed the trigger guard and thimbles are black in the picture above. I think I like the idea of a dark blue. More work but...

Yes they were known as the Big Bore Mountain Rifle and came in 54 and 58 calibers.

 

[smokeum54]

More than a few came with figure in the stock. Not sure if this is true or they are aftermarket, but i heard some 1 inch big bore stocks had 2 screw patch boxes like the ones pictured. These are not big bore but i do have one. Might be able to post a pic later. I have never seen a patch box like yours on a cva, im not a cva expert, but I've handled quite a few. I'm guessing parts were added and painted, a magnet will tell you what is steel. Hopefully the bore is good, should be a good shooter. Either way you do have a pretty stock to work with

 

[Frontier's]

It's a kit some one personalized. The patch box was later added to your stock, along with that piece for your lock screws.

Trim and barrel should be browned as that's how they were from the factory.

 

[Rebel bull]

Not all mountain rifles were kits. It would be nice to know when that gun was purchased new. Curly maple barrel was definitely an add on. CVA used beech or birch. TC parts would have to be retro fitted and wood modified. If it doesn't say made in Spain on the barrel it might be one of the older guns.

I have multiple examples of factory and kit guns that came with curly maple and 1 factory gun made in the usa thats birds eye maple full coverage

 

[flconch53]

I stand corrected. I have sold a bunch of them and never saw 1

 

[M. De Land]

1) CVA .54 mountain rifles do not have a patch box but the patch box on your rifle does not appear to be CVA. It is definitely a different pattern.
2) The barrel looks like it is a barrel from an early CVA mountain rifle. The first couple of years (79 to early 80) of the .54 mountain rifle the barrels did not have Made in Spain on them. From about 1980 on they had Made in Spain stamped on them.
3) Flintlock mountain rifles came out in 1980.
5) The hardware (trigger guard, ram rod thimbles, and butt plate) on the stock do not look like pure steel. The CVA mountain rifles is steel. The toe caps are pewter and wedge plates are German silver.
5) Your rifle has a heel plate and inlaid hardware which the mountain rifles did not have.
6) Your rifle has a side plate which the CVA rifles do not have.
7) The rib also looks like it may a different type of metal. Should be plain steel.
8) CVA mountain rifles could be bought as a factory complete rifle or kit.
It is a nice rifle that cleaned up would look nice. Don't know what you can finish the trigger guard, ram rod thimbles, and butt plate with. If they are an alloy metal, bluing or browning may not apply well or at all. Same goes for the barrel rib.

Deer Creek Products has and sells most all the parts for the CVA mountain rifle.

I have an all original 76-77 Made in USA CVA .50 Mountain rifle and a 78-79 .54 CVA Mountain Rifle.

Are the locks bridled and of good quality or just barely reliable ?

 

[Hawk54]

The CVA percussion locks have always worked ok for me. Sufficient pop in the springs. The flintlock locks I have dealt with are adequate at best compared to better quality locks and sometimes not even that. The ones I have are bridled. I can't speak for all of them and some people seem to be happy with theirs but one I have I had to get a new spring for it to get it to spark adequately right from the start. On one I have the frizzen spring got noticeably weaker after being shot a bunch to the point you could push it down with your finger with hardly any effort. The main spring was just fine.

 

[dpasek]

A co-worker saw the TC Hawken rifle kit I built for another co-worker and asked if I could repair his. It was his uncle's and has seen some wear.

My research has left me confused. It is a CVA 54 cal Mountain rifle but from learned they only came as kits, didn't have a patch box and were hard wood stocks. This has a patch box and what appears to be a maple stock. The butt plate, end cap, trigger guard, rib and thimbles to have a spray on pewter finish. The ram rod is synthetic. These appear to be different from the pictures I've seen. Most are plumb blue, but some have dark bluing on some of the attached parts. The exterior of the barrel has some rust and pitting, and I'm pondering cleaning it and removing the rust, so I can refinish the barrel. The other parts can be spray-painted after stripping if that is the correct thing for this rifle. I have experience using semi cold bluing but think it will look as strange as the pewter. The last option is to strip and blue the entire rifle. Lastly he has experienced soe sparking issues but judging from the use condition m guess would be a new flint is in order.

What is the age of the rifle and opinion on how to proceed with its restoration are appreciated.View attachment 283243View attachment 283244View attachment 283246View attachment 283247View attachment 283249View attachment 283250View attachment 283251View attachment 283243View attachment 283244View attachment 283246View attachment 283247View attachment 283249View attachment 283250View attachment 283251

The barrel has no marking other than : Connecticut Valley Arms
Black Powder Only 54 Cal

Serial Number: 00083XX

I built a CVA Mountain Rifle in .50 cal from a kit years ago. The barrel in your exhibit looks like it might have been finished in brown. I would stay with that since it is more authentic than blue or black, and looks better IMO. What I used was a mix of nitric and hydrochloric acids prepared for making the brown finish. It came in a glass bottle with a yellow and brown label, I think. It required that the barrel be put in a humidity box for a couple of weeks and polished with steel wool every couple of days followed by retreatment with the acid. This produced a really beautiful thick,tight dark brown finish that holds oil well. It is a lot of work, but it is worth it. I finished all of the ferrous furnishings including the lock on my rifle with this brown color. It is much better but more work than the Birchwood Casey Plum Brown finish. My rifle is not readily accessible ATM but if I can get it out, I might post some photos.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

A co-worker saw the TC Hawken rifle kit I built for another co-worker and asked if I could repair his. It was his uncle's and has seen some wear.

My research has left me confused. It is a CVA 54 cal Mountain rifle but from learned they only came as kits, didn't have a patch box and were hard wood stocks. This has a patch box and what appears to be a maple stock. The butt plate, end cap, trigger guard, rib and thimbles to have a spray on pewter finish. The ram rod is synthetic. These appear to be different from the pictures I've seen. Most are plumb blue, but some have dark bluing on some of the attached parts. The exterior of the barrel has some rust and pitting, and I'm pondering cleaning it and removing the rust, so I can refinish the barrel. The other parts can be spray-painted after stripping if that is the correct thing for this rifle. I have experience using semi cold bluing but think it will look as strange as the pewter. The last option is to strip and blue the entire rifle. Lastly he has experienced soe sparking issues but judging from the use condition m guess would be a new flint is in order.

What is the age of the rifle and opinion on how to proceed with its restoration are appreciated.View attachment 283243View attachment 283244View attachment 283246View attachment 283247View attachment 283249View attachment 283250View attachment 283251View attachment 283243View attachment 283244View attachment 283246View attachment 283247View attachment 283249View attachment 283250View attachment 283251

The barrel has no marking other than : Connecticut Valley Arms
Black Powder Only 54 Cal

Serial Number: 00083XX

It's a Track of The Wolf stock upgrade.

For a while back in the 1990's, Track sold upgrades for both the TC and CVA rifles. (they still might list such upgrade stocks) Better wood for the stock, different metals for the hardware. The idea for the TC was to get it closer to what a Hawken would look like so there were (maybe still are) replacements for the nose and butt in steel, and a real sideplate. With the CVAs the idea was simply getting fancier..., you could find one piece stocks for the "longrifle", as well as stocks for the CVA Hawken and Mountain rifle. Take a look at the wood around the lock aka the lock mortise.... that screams after market pre-cut stock.

I'd take the steel hardware, even the barrel, and strip it all down, and derust it back to plain metal, then re-brown it all to have a uniform look. Should be a right pretty piece when done.

LD

 

[Frontier's]

Factory cva stock that was reworked, nothing aftermarket about that stock.

 

[OldMaineWoodsman]

As an aside, my first muzzleloader was a .50 caliber CVA Mountain Rifle. It definitely had a maple stock.

 

[ronaldrothb49]

My first rifle was a CVA Mountain Rifle kit back in the 70's when they first came out with them. I had been looking for a rifle for awhile and couldn't find one I liked until CVA put this on the market. Couldn't say what kind of wood it had but it was very plain. several years later when I decided to rehome it I did an artificial stripe on it to make it look better.

 

[duca]

I’m gonna say that this Rifle started out as the Big Bore then someone added the rest of the hardware. Have you started the make-over yet? Take your time. Pictures please!

 

[LonestarShootR]

I am a newbie to black powder shooting. I recently acquired a early model CVA mountain rifle in a small collection I bought so I am learning about them.
What I am finding out is that they seem to be fairly popular still to this day. After reading this post there are many opinions on what is what, factory original, aftermarket etc. I would opt to do what you feel is best for your friends rifle that he would be happy with since it's not really a true historical piece.

 

[tom mesa]

Here is the TC Hawken Kit I built. Note the patch box, it is the same shape and two screw design that is on the CVA project. The CVA is the same shape in the article but a four screw design. I noticed the trigger guard and thimbles are black in the picture above. I think I like the idea of a dark blue. More work but...

Yes they were known as the Big Bore Mountain Rifle and came in 54 and 58 calibers.

View attachment 283686

My Big Bore Mountain Rifle is .54 cal . It doesn't look like the one in your post.

 

[flconch53]

My Big Bore Mountain Rifle is .54 cal . It doesn't look like the one in your post.

That is closer to what I have always seen

 

[Freezer]

This is a strange animal! The barrel doesn't have proof marks. The wedge plates appear to be brass. The thimbles and butt plate are steel and don't appear to have ever been blued or brown, instead they appear to have been painted pewter at the factory. Deer Creek lists a patch bow, and it is the same two screw configuration as this one but theirs is German silver, this one appears to be brass. The lugs are German silver.

The fit and finish on this rifle is not good, and the metal has casting lines. It took a long time with a finish file to remove most of them. The butt plate shows no signs of factory bluing on either side. There are dimples and indented fabrication lines in it that were hard to remove. The rear sight had a casting line down the middle, and the sides were not smoothed or finished.

Does the breech plug unscrew? Is this something I should attempt in order to clean the barrel well?

I'm flipping the coin on how to finish the metal, I have Casey Plumb Brown and Brownell's Oxphoblue. They both apply the same way and I have had great success with Oxphoblue. Opinions please.

I don't think I'll mess with the stock too much. I'll apply oil to the in-letted areas to improve weather resistance, polish the metal, and replace the boogered and mismatched screws.

There was debris in the flash hole, which would explain the FTF he was experiencing.

My over all impression is meh! It's nothing like the Thompson I built. It's not a fine rifle, but neither is Mossberg or Taurus. It will shoot and drop deer. It's simply a serviceable piece with sentimental background for the owner.

 

[Hawk54]

The early barrels did not have Spanish proof testing marks. The metal looks like a person applied that silver painted on finish on the metal. Strip it of and brown all the parts. The early mountain .54 rifles were blued but look nice browned. I wouldn't mess with the breech plug. It can be cleaned thoroughly with the right type and shape breech scraping tool. The stock looks nice as it is.

 

[Freezer]

I started the brown procedure today. I started with the trigger guard and butt plate. First, let me say I haven't been a fan of Casey's products, but their Plumb Brown works. I watched several videos on browning and combined a number of them for this job. I used a decrease, heat, apply, neutralize, card, and repeat method. It took 8–10 coats, I lost track, but it came out great. I heated them again, then applied oil. I'll let them cure. I'll do the rail, thimbles and screws tomorrow. I may need another bottle to finish the barrel.

I believe this was a kit. The browning on the barrel was very thick and not carded correctly. It was almost like he didn't heat the barrel or cure it correctly. After he had so much trouble with the barrel, he decided to paint the rest of the small parts, much to my sch grin. I have the barrel stripped and didn't damage the manufacturer stamps to get it clean, which caught me a little strange, happy, but strange.

 

[Freezer]

It is finished. I will give it back to my coworker this week. I think I have honored his uncle's memory. The pics aren't great.

Thanks for your help, my next project is a CV Kentucky rifle for me.

I inserted too any pics and can't figure how to edit them, sorry/