New cva sidelocks

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torlagh

32 Cal.
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Recently bought two cva sidelocks, one nib bobcat, one almost new hunter hawkin. When I fire these for the first time, should I clamp them to a bench, tie a string to the trigger, and saftey check fire them from a distance, or is this just being too overly cautious? Thanks for your help with this question.
 
You will be fine as long as you don't shoot elephant loads. CVA sidelocks were pretty good especially the percussion models. It was an early faulty in-line that forced them to file bankruptcy.
 
Welcome to the forum. :)

As long as you are using either a real black powder or one of the black powder substitutes like Pyrodex or 777 you will be fine.

You do need something to measure the powder.
Powder in a muzzleloader is measured by volume, not by actual weight so get an adjustable powder measure and your in business.

You didn't say what the caliber is but generally speaking if it is a .45 then 45 grains of powder will be a good starting place.
If it is a .50 caliber then 50 grains of powder is a good starting place.

You should be able to load up to 90 grains of powder under a patched ball without any danger at all.

Don't forget. The fouling caused by shooting all of the black powders or their synthetic versions absorb moisture from the air and this will rapidly rust the bore unless you clean the gun after your done shooting.
Water is the best cleaner for this although sometimes we add a drop of dish washing soap to cut any grease that may be in the bore.
 
Just a short note to add to what zonie said. If you shoot it today you clean it today.................watch yer top knot............
 
my bubby has a bobcat in .50 shoots nice also nice light whait gun to pack on long hunts. only bad I can come up with is with a minnie and any thing over 70 grains of FFg she kick pretty good.
 
You might add alittle weight in the stock to make the Bobcat balance better and also the extra weight will reduce the felt recoil by a good amount. I've used lead shot or gravel in a sock for this and it works well. If you like it glue it in so it doesn't move around. Fox :thumbsup:
 

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