Early CVA Mountain Rifle

[trailblazer]

I just acquired an early CVA from a friend of mine.
He got it from his grandfather and it appears to be the Mountain Rifle built from a kit.
The trigger guard and butt plate are steel. Nose cap and thimbles might be pewter and the patch box is brass. It has set triggers and the 32" 50cal barrel is marked Made in USA #001286X
It has a simple rear sight, screw adjustable for elevation and brass blade front.

I tried to refinish the stock starting with Minwax
maple stain to bring out the beautiful grain but it came out very light and repeated coats won't darken it at all.
What type of stain might penetrate and bring out the grain of this stock?
From the description, is this the Mountain Rifle?
:hmm:

 

[Bountyhunter]

I have one.

The wood in the stock is harder than the hubs of Hades. Couldnt get it to take any stain either. Most of those stocks were Sycamore. It starts off as a soft wood but has a good figure, but as it ages, it gets harder than a brick bat. I just sealed it up and left it light. I even stripped it once and tried to rub shoe polish in it to see if that would take--it wouldnt. It just dried and then wiped off.

 

[Grenadier1758]

You are probably going to need to use an oxidizing stain such as Aqua Fortis or Chromium Trioxide to get that maple dark with the striping just leaping out at you.

I think that Laurel Hill is available from Track of the Wolf, October Country or Dixie Gun Works. There are other sources as well. I'll let other forum members tell you.

Many years ago I stained my CVA Mountain Rifle with Birchwood Casey Stain. It has a nice red tint to the final color.

The CVA Mountain Rifle has a silver patch box. The rifling is 1 in 60" of barrel. These guns are good shooters.

 

[2172]

MY CVA Mtn rifle is numbered 11xxx..it took a Birchwood Casey stain well, have never done anything more than use a paste wax on it from time-to-time..it is a medium brown, not much red, not much figure...shoots very well..Hank

 

[trailblazer]

Thanks guys. I might start by giving the Birchwood Casey stain a shot. I never heard of Sycamore being used for gun stocks. I did a Google search and found it's fairly common.