Its a neat little gun. I have the older cva model. I think i use .310. Definitely no patch. Pick yourself up a quarter inch oak dowl to load it with. Im not even convinced the ramrod on mine has a true purpose beyond cleaning. Its too short to load; but i can clean with it. If you have a narrow enough ball starter, then that is perfect for loading.
Also, VERY IMPORTANT: DO NOT load too much powder. You'll warp the hinge. And then it wont lock up tight anymore. You'll feel that hinge rocking from the recoil if you go even a few grains past the maximum load. Try not to over do it, or else you'll have a peening job ahead of you, and that may or may not fix it if its bent too bad.
It carries in your pocket like a pocket knife. You never notice it, but its always there when you need it, but thats also what makes it dangerous. Technically, you should not set it at halfcock and put it in your pocket and forget about it. If you start doing work, lifting, getting in and out of vehicles, you risk bumping it and shearing off the halfcock notch and shooting yourself in the leg. But its your leg, and you do what you want with it. Lol. I do carry mine occasionally.
Also, VERY IMPORTANT: DO NOT load too much powder. You'll warp the hinge. And then it wont lock up tight anymore. You'll feel that hinge rocking from the recoil if you go even a few grains past the maximum load. Try not to over do it, or else you'll have a peening job ahead of you, and that may or may not fix it if its bent too bad.
It carries in your pocket like a pocket knife. You never notice it, but its always there when you need it, but thats also what makes it dangerous. Technically, you should not set it at halfcock and put it in your pocket and forget about it. If you start doing work, lifting, getting in and out of vehicles, you risk bumping it and shearing off the halfcock notch and shooting yourself in the leg. But its your leg, and you do what you want with it. Lol. I do carry mine occasionally.
