CVA Mt Rifle history revisited

[chapmans]

Several months ago I started a thread about the CVA Mt. Rifle history and I mentioned that somewhere I had a picture of the very first CVA Mt Rifle, well I think I have found it! It was in with other pictures from a photo album that was Don Kammerer's all pictures of guns that he built.
If it is not the proto-type it is the first gun built with the factory parts. I think it may be the first because it has a walnut stock.
If I come up with any more pics I will post if there is an interest.

Regards, Longball58

 

Interesting Longball...now that would be a nice gun to add to any collection....I know I sure like my Mtn rifle

 

[Mountainman56]

Wow! :thumbsup: I wish mine looked like that. IMHO they were one of the best shootin muzzleloaders you could buy off the shelf.

 

[Little Wattsy]

Wow! :thumbsup: I wish mine looked like that. IMHO they were one of the best shootin muzzleloaders you could buy off the shelf.

DITTO...Real tack drivers!

 

Wattsy,

My first black powder kit. I was all of 22/23 yrs. old. What a joy, man i didn't know from douglas barrles. It was easy to build, shot like crazy, perfect starter rifle.

Jay

 

[MikeChapin]

I love mine. It has been a tack driver for thirty years. The only gripe I had was the LOP and drop were too short for me. I ended up restocking it with a Leman stock with the proper pull and went on to take lots of deer and prizes.

 

[merdean]

NICE. I bought my kit in 1980. It still shoots great. Easy to build and looks good, too. Yours looks better...Nice pic. :hatsoff:

Merdean

 

[DougMPhoto]

Looks good.

I built the Big Bore Mtn Rifle. Bought it in 1978-1979 or abouts. Still have it. It's a .54 caliber Flintlock and no patchbox. I put a replacement L&R lock on it, the CVA lock always gave me trouble with misfires. I still have the lock, maybe I'll try to redo the frizzen someday.

 

[SimonKenton]

Got my Big Bore 54 in 1981 and have relied on it for backup if my flinter packs up ever since. One powerful gun!! I missed a shot at over 75 yd. but clipped a 1.5 or 2" sapling clean through. One of those gawky baby trees that's all stem. Fell like a bomb had been attached.

-Ray

 

[chapmans]

Thanks for all of the comments, this rifle is not mine, although I have several, but most of them have been transformed into specialty type guns for offhand target and X-stick shooting with interchangable barrels. This particular gun may very well be the Holy Grail of CVA MT Rifles the 1st CVA Mt Rifle was built by Don Kammerer and I found this picture in his photo album there are other pics around somewhere and if and when I find them I'll post. This particular rifle has a walnut stock which leads me to believe it may be the very first one.
Regards Longball 58

 

[Pork Chop]

Did you post that the CVA Mountain Rifle was a copy of an original of some sort? I saw that somewhere, but don't recall where. It would be interesting to find out if that is true.

 

[chapmans]

Yes I remember Don showing me a picture of a JP Gemmer squirrel rifle or a Hawken Squirrel rifle. I have most of his gun books I need to get them out and look for that picture. I remember it was a squirrel rifle because he thought a full blown Hawken would be too heavy and he liked the lines of the squirrel rifle better. If anyone looks for it it has the same trigger guard that the CVA Mt rifle uses.
Regards, Longball 58

 

[TANSTAAFL]

Back in the mountain man craze of the 1970s, the CVA mtn rifle was ubiquitous, they were everywhere. Low priced in their day, accurate, readily available and not a bad rifle in all respects.

I wonder how many are no longer in use, but just sitting in a closet gathering dust? I know of a least three now non-shooter's who like to just keep them around for the shining times memories thingy.

 

[tg]

I have seen a half dozen of them hanging on the wall as decoration by non shooters who would not let go of their "piece of history"

 

[chapmans]

I took some photos today of a cross sectioned Mt Rifle that Don used to display in his shop and in his booth at Friendship. Way back when CVA had a booth, Don went over and took a finished rifle right off of the shelf and cross sectioned it!
It is (was) a .45 and every usable part has been scavenged, now all it is is a piece of history.

Thats not an original sight in the slot, he probably just put that sight in to keep from getting cut while handling it.
I think the most interesting part is the breech plug.
Longball 58
PS: I am still working on some old catalog photos and have the original proof of the buffalo that is on the catalog.

 

[Tumblernotch]

I bought one of these in flint off the shelf back around '78. It was very well built and had a beautiful, velvet finish stock. The only problem was the 90 degree turn the vent took to get to the powder. It seemed to clog about every other shot. A gun builder friend of mine took out the plug and got in there with some small grinding bits and rounded and enlarged and some other magic and made it a good bit more reliable. That was back before I got the knowledge and enough nerve to do much of my own gunsmithing. It was a pretty good gun though and looked more like the original Hawken rifle (other than the lock) than any that I've seen since. I traded it for an original 1854 Lorenz rifle in the early '80's.

 

[rhwestfall]

Yep, they were good ones. I've got a .58 (no patch box) that is an absolute hammer. Has been my go-to gun for 4-5 years now. Has a birds-eye maple stock, browned barrel, and mostly browned furnature, except fore the barrel keys and slots. Shows quite a bit of wear and abuse (I am at least the third owner). Should probably spend some time refinishing her....

 

[silverfox]

I got a kit in .50 the first time they showed up on the market. Used it for hunting and target until my son took it away about 5 years ago and he is still using it. Never had a bit of trouble with it in all these years. Very accurate rifle out to 100 yds.
I got a .45 from Gunbroker last year that has never been fired. Am refinishing the stock and will pass it down in the family someday.
Last year I was given a rifle that had a rusted barrel anyway that was why it was free. I scurbbed the barrel and shot a 48 on a 6 bull at 25yds the first time out. Yes they are shooters.
Fox :thumbsup:

 

[tg]

In the '78 BP gun Digest there is a lengthy article about CVA and it mentions that the Mt Rifle is an excellant copy of the famous Hawken Bros. gun.I think this was before thr big bore was introduced.

 

[4440]

I found a CVA Mountain Rifle Flintlock kit in .45 caliber in the late 70's for around $60. at a department store in Winchester, KY that was going out of business. It has the Douglas barrel. Still shoot it on a regular basis and it is like most, extremely accurate. I decided a couple of years ago to do a percussion conversion which has worked out well, and I can easily go back to flintlock. I shoot left handed so the flintlock on the right side caused a little anxiety. Also picked up a L&R replacement lock in percussion but the original CVA percussion lock that I got from a friend continues to pop the cap so there is no need to change at this point. The balance of this rifle is just about perfect.