Old CVA Kentucky Pistol Kit Question

[Gordon Horn]

My neighbor came over today and had an old (he said 30 years) CVA Kentucky Pistol Kit with him and wanted to know if I'd like to buy it. I don't think he's done anything more than just screw the parts together to see what it'd look like. Well, I've been wanting to get a pistol so I could participate in some of the pistol shoots at the BP Club shoots so I asked if I could look it over for a few days. My question is; whats this thing worth? Its a .45 cal percussion, needs to be finished up, but its all there. He said something about $20. The price on the box was $43.98.

 

[Don]

BUY IT! even at the price on the box its a great deal!

Don

 

[patch knife]

I have one I built in 1984 . I hope yours shoots better than mine . Be careful if you have to bend the trigger guard , they can break at the rear screw hole (don't ask me how I know that :haha: ). For 20 bucks you can't go wrong , have fun with it !

 

[Gordon Horn]

This one does need bent in a little. Is there a good way to go about this without breaking? That screw hole is in a bad place.

 

[Rick Davis]

Is there a good way to go about this without breaking? That screw hole is in a bad place.

Same procedure if you break it off at the screw hole, as I did along with many, many other CVA pistol kit builders. Unless it's VERY close to alignment, it will very likely break if you try to bend it. This should work with a brass triggerguard, as it happened to me. At the time, I was in auto tech school, and we had acetylene tanks & welding outfits everywhere.

-1. Find a good welding/autobody/fab/service facility shop that can braze FIRST.
-2. Break the tang off at the screw hole and reposition the pieces in the mortised area in the stock. Note correct alignment angle & position.
-3. Make a simple jig with nails and scrap wood to hold the triggerguard pieces in place away from the gun.
-4. Have the welding shop braze the guard back together. Tell them it's okay to fill in the screw hole, and too much brass is okay but pits aren't.
-5. File the brass down to fit in the mortise in the gun. Sand & polish repaired area to match.
-6. Redrill screw hole, countersink.

Finished.

 

[FV Rago]

I remember those CVA broken trigger guards.

20 bucks, deal. You can make it the way you want it. I see alot fo the old CVA's used selling in the 60 to 80 dollar area.

Good Luck

 

This one does need bent in a little. Is there a good way to go about this without breaking? That screw hole is in a bad place.

Get it as hot as possible with a propane torch and dump it into a pail of water. that will aneal it enough to make it fit without breaking. The bend is going to occur along the bow, not at the tang mount. The bow is thin and a propane torch will do fine.

The fit of wood to metal on most of those pistols was atrocious. Get plenty of acraglass, epoxy and wood filler to close the gaps and plan on an artifically aged finish to cover the patchwork.

 

[LRB]

I built one in the seventies. From a rest I could hit cans every shot at 40yrds. Do as Ghost said and anneal the guard, you should have no problem with it.

 

[Zonie]

Even if you break the trigger guard, the guns still worth over $20!! :grin:

zonie

 

[patch knife]

The bend is going to occur along the bow, not at the tang mount.

On the pistol I built , bending at the bow was not an option . The tang was bent so far foreward , I would have had to bend the bow into a circle to put the tang at the proper angle :haha: . It broke because I did not anneal it and I was bending it from the end of the tang instead of foreward of the screw hole , the SOB snapped at the screw hole like a dry pretzel . BTW the wood to metal fit IS atrocious . I had to use acraglass to fill the gap between the nosecap and the stock . It doesn't look too bad though , looks kind of like a fancy spacer :haha: . I got a new trigger guard three years ago from the company that bought CVA .

 

[Gordon Horn]

Thanks for the advise on anealing. Should I go ahead and finish the rough brass first or aneal first, then finish? Sounds like it'd be easier to finish soft brass, but that may not be the right way. You guys are right about the fit of things here. I'd planned on using acraglass under the barrel. It will also need some behind the nosecap to fill in a gap there. Maybe other places too. There is plenty of wood to the stock and I'm thinking I could taper the whole thing toward the muzzle a little more and give me a look I'd prefer. Don't know if this old relic is worth all that work, but it'll give me something to tinker with this winter.

 

[Rick Davis]

It never occurred to me to try annealing, maybe that would have been a better technique. What can I say? I was 16 and not the sharpest tool in the chest. I initially made it in high school shop when guns were okay in school, I got an "A" that term and converted the shop teacher into one-of-us in the process.

I refinished it about 4-5 years ago with polyurethane varnish. Here's the Derringer today, a little dusty from our recent move:




In 2000, my daughters were bugging me to make a gun with them, so we did this CVA together. By this time the parts were Spanish and the barrel markings were electropencilled. I'm okay with this, but the crown is atrocious. Does this look like your gun?

 

[Gordon Horn]

This one looks similar, but not exactly like yours. On this one, the lock plate engraving is different, the thimbles are'nt flat brass but have decorative rings and on the side opposite the lock, it has two bolts holding the lock on. Other than that, its pretty much the same, maybe just an older model. On the barrel, the only printing is "Connecticut Valley Arms Inc. Black Powder Only .45cal" and the serial #0076580

 

[Bill Bryan]

I've got a flintlock vesion I bought and finished when I was in high school in the 70's. I think I paid about $50 bucks. It still shoots fine.

 

[Rick Davis]

I've got a flintlock vesion I bought and finished when I was in high school in the 70's. I think I paid about $50 bucks. It still shoots fine.

Now that's a keeper! If CVA, it might be US-made.

 

[cowpoke1955]

Flatlander,
You pistol sounds just like mine. About 10 years ago, a shooting friend of mine asked me if I wanted to buy an old pistol. He just bought a new T/C Patriot and didn't need this old pistol anymore. For $25 I got an old sock full of parts. I took it home and put it all together. Replaced the ram rod and front sight. Took it to the match the following month and out shot my friend with his new pistol. Mine shoots right on at 25 yards. I use .440 balls with pillow ticking and 20 grains of 3Fg goex. They are a blast to shoot. Take the deal!

 

[Rick Davis]

You could probably ebay the barrel for $25 alone. Agreed - jump on this while the deal's on the table.

 

[AeroncaTAL]

This one looks similar, but not exactly like yours. On this one, the lock plate engraving is different, the thimbles are'nt flat brass but have decorative rings and on the side opposite the lock, it has two bolts holding the lock on.

This sounds like the kit I'm working on right now. I bought this thing, oh, must have been 20 years ago. It was a return at a gun shop, some parts were missing and no instructions on how to put it together. Well I soon gave up in frustration and tossed it in a corner in the garage. Well I've dug it out and am now in the process of finishing it up.
Scott

 

[renovato]

Whatcha building now, Scott? Sounds like that gorgeous GPR gave you the building bug.

 

[Gordon Horn]

I have to admit that this thing is giving me some ideas that are a little bit different than what was originally planned for this pistol. I might have to work within some original diameters, but I think, with all the wood provided, that I maybe could do some slimmimg and trimming and just maybe make a really nice looking shooting arm out of this. Of course there's also the possibility that I just may butcher it up. I've been thinking of building a pistol this winter from scratch, but maybe I should just take an old kit and see just what I can do with it. At least I have all the parts needed already. I've always heard that CVA made some nice barrels. I think I'll give it a go. Now I have to convince the neighbor that this piece of junk is only worth $20.00. :haha: