CVA Siber

[gbeauvin]

Hey! I took my wife to a gunshop the other day (well, more like she took me... we were visiting the grandparents so we had a child-free afternoon to ourselves) and she fell in love with a percussion single-shot. It was marked a "CVA Siber", and it had engraving on both the barrel and the lock. The tag said it had a case and a ramrod, though neither was under the case (and there was no ramrod channel on the pistol). It was a .45 (according to the tag, I don't remember if the barrel was marked)

A bit of web searching turned up a few hits, indicating that this pistol was better quality than your run-of-the-mill CVA, but I was wondering if any of y'all could give me more info? I'd like to know what a reasonable price would be, and what sort of things I should look for before plunking down the cash?

I'm assuming I should ask to run a patch down it and be sure it's consistently smooth, but my only "muzzle-loading" experience has been with my Pietta Remington 6-shooter, so I'm not sure what a patch down the barrel should feel like.

My wife doesn't really like my remington (though she shoots it better than I do), but she adores this Siber, so I'm hoping it turns out to be a reasonable deal and I can get it for her for christmas. Anything that gets her excited about going to the range with me is a Good Thing(tm)...

-GB

 

[Rusty_Nail]

A prior post on the Siber.
http://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/fusionbb/showpost.php?post/818862/

Pics are gone. Whoever posted took them off their source site.

 

[zimmerstutzen]

The Siber is better than any production pistol, except perhaps some of the high end Pedersoli's. Very Very Lucky find. I have the old CVA parts catalog with the Siber drawing and parts. As I recall, almost none of the parts are interchangeable with CVA parts for CVA's other guns.

 

[zimmerstutzen]

Also, I don't know what new list was, but the gun unless abused is worth more than a TC patriot in my view.

 

[J.G. Terry]

Ten or so years ago some of these pistols surfaced. The pistol came in a case with red satin lining with rod. The tag in the box was marked "Dikar" and "Siber" indicating the gun dated from 1988. This pistol was purchased as new old stock. Also,picked up an extra barrel and set triggers at time of purchase. These guns have a single set trigger and did have engraving with French Gray finish.The quality of wood and checkering was good. Several of us successfully used them for traditional matches using .440 and .445 round balls. I recently had some work done to mine and plan to use the pistol again in local matches. I would not sink a war pension into one of these guns.

 

[Zonie]

The 3rd edition of "Blue Book of Modern Black Powder Values" says the CVA SIBER pistol was discontinued in 1994.

It is a .45 cal gun with a 10.5 inch octagon barrel in the white and engraved. The lock was also engraved and left in the white.
It has checkered walnut grips.

The prices given at the time (2003) were:

$400 for 100% condition
$345 for 98% condition
$260 for 95% condition

Those prices equate to the following in 2013 dollars

$508
$437
$330

answer thru the CPI inflation calculator

http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl?cost1=400&year1=2003&year2=2013

 

[gbeauvin]

Thanks, guys. So at $400 it looks like it's not a steal, but not a bad deal either. The main thing is my wife loves this gun (she thinks the engraving makes it look more girly, plus she likes the balance in her hands), but I wanted to make sure we weren't buying a pig in the poke.

Time to start saving pennies, and looking for a place to hide it until christmas! (yeah, right, like i'm gonna hide it... the sooner I can get her out to the range the better!)

-GB

 

[zimmerstutzen]

GB I suspect that they will have some collector value in the future. It is far and away superior to the TC Patriot and they are going for 300 to 400 in average condition . Plus if she likes it, so much the better. Compare it to the price of a Pedersoli LePage and you'll see it isn't that bad.

I like a bargain as much as the next guy, but for a semi serious pistol target shooter, a Siber holds extra value that may not be apparent for the guy who sees it as expensive when compared to a Traditions Crockett. They neither see or appreciate the differences. Your wife and you will love it.

 

[FishDFly]

If your wife is happy, that is all that matters, nothing else.