New Mountain Rifle!

[Kentuckywindage]

Picked this up a few weeks ago and just got her today!

.54cal CVA Big Bore Mountain Rifle with Curly Maple stock.

I plan on redoing all the browning as its worn badly. Over the Winter, I will strip the stock and restain it a brownish red as it brings out the curl nicely.
Replacement lock and triggers will also be on the To do List as i plan on keeping this one for a long while and want to just simply replace the easy stuff with better and nicer looking equipment.

25 yards with 60 grains pyrodex P, homecast wheel weight .530 ball with a .015 bore butter patch.

 

[nw_hunter]

Looks like a good winter project!
Looking forward to seeing the photo's after your finished :thumbsup:

 

[douglas duncan]

the wood on the rifle sure is a pretty always did like the curly maple.
it even shoots good, good find

 

[Mulebrain]

KY!

It looks super just the way it is! Has a real nice older look to it that I love.

I would use it, and just let the barrel do what it's gonna do!

 

[zapeters]

KY, I agree with Mule Brain. It looks pretty good in the picures. But if you do refinish the stock, I would use AQUAFORTIS Reagent (Track of The Wolf has it) instead of stain, it sure does bring the curley out like you wouldn't believe! My Mountain Rifle was Aquafortised and then oil finished, I'll have to post some pics of it on here.
Zach

 

[Kentuckywindage]

I wont be doing anything to it right away.

Once i buy the new lock and triggers "Possibly new trigger guard" I will be reshaping the grip of the stock to look more like the Hawken. The V where the wrist of the stock meets to the rear part of the "paddle" area. Thats where i will be doing the work.

$100 for a new lock, not bad!

What triggers "If needed" Do i need to use to go with the lock?

Any one have Deer Creeks phone number? This has a 1" barrel channel and i could have sworn that they had a .58cal barrel with 1" channel for the mountain rifle.

 

[Jim Buchholz]

I'll be glad to do that referb for ya.I,ll send it back as soon as it is done.(in about 10 years or so)
Really!!

 

[Kentuckywindage]

I'll be glad to do that referb for ya.I,ll send it back as soon as it it done.(in about 10 years or so)
Really!!

:haha:

And to think that i had a .54 Flintlock big bore Mn Rifle in perfect shape that i sold many many months ago :youcrazy: What the hell was i thinking?

 

[Jim Buchholz]

When I begin to think of a CVA as a vintage old classic I know I'm getting old,and desirable.

 

[faw3]

Deer Creek got hit in the storms a few weeks back and are getting put back together, 765 525 6168. I always get hung up on this one rifle, I've got 2 that are just like yours but are Deer Creek Elk and a Deer Creek rifle in 54 cal, only thing different is they used the org Douglas rifleing mch so some barrels are match grade. Didn't the CVA have a patch box?? Fred :hatsoffreally its been to many years for me to remember.)

 

[Mulebrain]

I wont be doing anything to it right away.

Once i buy the new lock and triggers "Possibly new trigger guard" I will be reshaping the grip of the stock to look more like the Hawken. The V where the wrist of the stock meets to the rear part of the "paddle" area. Thats where i will be doing the work.

$100 for a new lock, not bad!

What triggers "If needed" Do i need to use to go with the lock?

Any one have Deer Creeks phone number? This has a 1" barrel channel and i could have sworn that they had a .58cal barrel with 1" channel for the mountain rifle.

Mine is in .58, and is a little more than 1" across the flats.

 

[Mulebrain]

Deer Creek got hit in the storms a few weeks back and are getting put back together, 765 525 6168. I always get hung up on this one rifle, I've got 2 that are just like yours but are Deer Creek Elk and a Deer Creek rifle in 54 cal, only thing different is they used the org Douglas rifleing mch so some barrels are match grade. Didn't the CVA have a patch box?? Fred :hatsoffreally its been to many years for me to remember.)

Patch box was only on .45 and .50. Why it was omitted on the .54, and .58 is a mystery.

I do know that Deer Creeks Barrel selection is getting rather limited on CVA, but you can try.

 

[Bearbait2]

Mr. Kentuckywindage,
Are you having some mechanical problem with the current lock and triggers? Or are they just rusty/pitted?
Best Wishes

 

[Otter]

Never thought I would say this (especially about a CVA), but, here goes . . .

The older CVA's, particularly the Mountain Rifle, are becoming somewhat "collector's items". I don't think they will ever gain a lot of value or be worth a great deal of money, but still will be, at least, somewhat collectable. If you refinish one that is essentially in decent shape, you will ruin any of that collector value. Yours, being in shootable shape and having "honorable" wear and tear on it, would be better served just left as is, cleaned up and left alone.

I know you say you will be keeping this gun for a long while, but why would you want to replace the trigger set, trigger guard and lock on a gun that was an inexpensive entry level gun to begin with? By the time you get done with the rework you say you want to do, it won't be a Mountain Rifle anymore (and lose any value as such), nor will it be a Hawken. If you want a Hawken, spend your money on a Hawken repro.

Obviously, you are free to do as you wish, I would just encourage you to think hard about it. I refinished the stock on my Mountain Rifle, and now wish I hadn't. It's too late for me, but you still have time to change your mind. Yours looks great just the way it is . . . plus you can safe the money for a Hawken . . .

 

[Kentuckywindage]

Mr. Kentuckywindage,
Are you having some mechanical problem with the current lock and triggers? Or are they just rusty/pitted?
Best Wishes

Current lock and triggers are perfect. I had a bit of a problem getting the lock to engage full cock, i had been messing with the screws and forgot which one did what :haha: I figured out out later on and everything works perfect. Actually going out to 70 yard line pretty soon and see how it does.

I know that putting the extra $$$ into the lock and such would seem pointless but i really love how the rifle fits to me and i see a new lock as a good inventment even though the factory lock works perfect as it is.

I have a hard time of keeping rifles in my hands for long, I figure that if i do this rifle the way i would like it, It will hopefully be in my hands a lot longer that normal.

 

[Mulebrain]

I whole heatedly agree with Otter on this!

I refinished mine because it really needed it! It was scraped up pretty bad, and someone replaced the trigger guard, with a nasty looking thing :shake:

So repaired the trigger guard, and finished it up real nice, because it was "really" needed.

I have actually never seen a better looking Mountain rifle, than the one you have there!

I just love patina I guess, and natural patina is hard to replace :thumbsup:

 

[Pork Chop]

It is yours, so do as you will, but it seems to me that you are looking for solutions to problems that don't exist. The lock and triggers work fine, but you want to replace them "just because?" It fits you perfectly, yet you want to reshape the stock? I don't get it. I agree with the others that have chimed in, it has a genuine look to it which will be lost if you strip it, shape it and refinish it with new hardware...

 

[wwpete52]

I second the motion about AQUAFORTIS! I've used it several times (once on a CVA Mountain Rifle).

Also, weren't the original USA made Mountain Rifles made by Douglas?

 

[Zonie]

"Also, weren't the original USA made Mountain Rifles made by Douglas?"
-
That's the rumor and it may be true especially for the early first guns CVA made.

Folks tend to forget that there were several other U.S. makers who made barrels back in those days including Numrich, Green River, Green Mountain and Sharon.

Whoever the maker of these Made in the U.S.A. gunbarrels was they didn't mark the barrels with their company logo so the mystery remains.

 

[rickjf]

The CVA Mountain rifle does not have to be made into a "Hawken" to be historic or interesting. Most rifles of the time look more like it than the Hawken. Look at the thread on "Sporting target rifles?" and look at the Texas frontier rifles.