Seeking Info to Upgrade CVA .50 cal Frontier

[RFindley]

I picked up a CVA .50 cal, 24" barrel, 1:48 twist Frontier from a friend that's probably been fired less than a dozen times. Made in Spain around 1992 or later. No rust. He made it from a kit and lacking wood working skills the rifle is somewhat lacking in final finish. Didn't fit or finish the brass and just used a clear acrylic coat on the stock.

I want to break it down, clean up and finish the hardware and stock and go with a darker wood stain. Thought it might be nice to make it look a little more like a Hawken by adding the small patch box and maybe a nicer butt plate. Does anyone know it the CVA Hawken parts will fit the Frontier stock?

Also any suggestions to upgrade the Frontier? Appears to possible be a good shooter.

Thanks

 

[Greg Blackburn]

I'm not big on anyone turning something into something else but it's yours after all. Flat buttplates have less felt recoil.

I like patch boxes but never used one. I'd think you could get any patchbox and inlet the stock to fit it.

 

[rafterob]

I would just refinish it, working on getting a good wood to hardware fit. For a short barrel like that you really don't want a curved buttplate. You could add a patchbox. But like many others, I never use mine. When you are ready to stain, get back on here because those Beech stocks can be finicky about taking stain.

 

[mooman76]

[QUOTE="rafterob, post: 1733500, member: 9814"
I would just refinish it, working on getting a good wood to hardware fit. For a short barrel like that you really don't want a curved buttplate. You could add a patchbox. But like many others, I never use mine. When you are ready to stain, get back on here because those Beech stocks can be finicky about taking stain.
[/QUOTE]
Ditto here. I had one many years ago and wish I still had it. A friend talked me into selling it to him and as I thought, he let it sit without cleaning it. Mine shot great, with RBs and Lee REALs. They laughed at it when I showed up to a meet Being it's small stature, but they stopped laughing when I took two events with it.

 

[Justin.44]

I have one too, it has a (subpar) reddish finish on the wood and the barrel was left in the white. I'd like to do something similar. From what little I've shot it I can tell it's a good shooter.

 

[kje54]

I would just refinish it, working on getting a good wood to hardware fit. For a short barrel like that you really don't want a curved buttplate. You could add a patchbox. But like many others, I never use mine. When you are ready to stain, get back on here because those Beech stocks can be finicky about taking stain.

Pull all the metal and first use a stripper to get the acrylic coat off. Once it's dry you can rasp, file and sand the stock to your heart's content, make sure all your metal parts fit the inlets correctly. Strip any acrylic on the metal parts, file and sand the brass, restain the stock, use whatever finishing oil that you prefer (I use Minwax Tung Oil) then put it back together.

 

[RFindley]

Thanks for the feedback. Totally disassembled the rifle and have started to work on brass to wood fit. Brass wasn't ever completely cleaned up before original assembly. Lock looks very simple but will polish some surfaces. Bore very nice only found a small spot of rust under the nipple drum when taken apart. Other than a possible a small patch box I'm going to keep it the way it came. Working on original butt plate to wood fit now. I still have a lot of wood to trim down yet for a slimmer feel. I'll have to shim the lock so the hammer sits center on the nipple. Looks like the original inletting was about a 1/16' too deep. Either blue or brown the barrel. Hope to have a nice shooter when done.

 

[Carbon 6]

I tried to gussy one up, all I did was make it uglier. They were $100.00 guns new, but shot great with conicals.

 

[kansas_volunteer]

For shimming where it can't be seen try using two part epoxy putty. You can find it with the glues at most hardware stores. When set it can easily be worked with common woodworking tools and it sorta takes a stain. If shimming a lock already inlet i think you could press it into the soft new putty and mold th lock shape in.

 

[stewart.leach]

I have a CVA Mountain Rifle, bought years ago at a garage sale. Fit of tang and barrel to stock were quite sloppy, and groups seemed large compared with other rifles. Decided to try to make a silk purse out of this sow's ear. Totally stripped it down, removing finishes on all wood and metal parts except the maybe pewter nose cap and wedge escutcheons. Steel parts were refinished with BC Plum Brown, which came out nice. Stoned the lock internals, and made shims of sheet brass to take out the lateral slop in the set trigger internals. Modified the rear sight with a set screw in the base so windage was easily adjustable.

Bedded the tang and barrel in the stock with the then new on the market Acraglas Gel epoxy. This was complicated by the fact that the bore for the ramrod is not a drilled hole, but rather a routed channel. Used a plastic ramrod to take up most of the space space in the channel, then filled remainder with plasticine modeling clay. Clay was also used to fill tang screw hole, some space ahead of the tang that communicated with the trigger inlet, openings in tang, wedge passages, and barrel dovetails. Taped off around the tang, and on edges of forearm. Bedded tang first, cleaned it up and installed, then bedded barrel. Clean up took a while as some compound had flowed out over the clay filling of the rod channel, just chisel and file work.

Stock was stained with many coats of Laurel Mtn Nut Brown. Finish was many rubbed in coats of Formby's Tung Oil Varnish. Made a new ramrod from a warped hickory dowel as the retainer spring had been eliminated.

In the end I didn't get a silk purse, but did get a rifle that looks pretty good and improved accuracy. Was it worth all that time and effort? Probably not, but I learned a lot and enjoyed the problem solving. Rifle now makes appearances at Colorado Parks and Wildlife Hunter Ed Instructor clinics, and Ft Lupton Trapper Days events.