Unruly CVA Mountain rifle

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Tasbay

40 Cal
Joined
Jan 24, 2020
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Location
New Zealand
Have a 58cal Mountain rifle that's been causing me issues with homemade powder but shooting fine with bought (unavaliable) powder. My other front stuffers all shoot well with the homemade, talk about princess and the pea. Finally got to putting a ball mill together and milling two of the ingredients before mixing in with the other disolved ingredient. Had the CVA out to the range yesterday and introduced it to the new brew, it loved it. Mucking around with the sight picture it grouped about tennis ball size at 50yds. Then I settled in over a sand bag and shot a 4 shot group measuring 1-1/4 inch at 50 yds, shots basically all touching. Finally the darned thing is happy & so am I.
 
Have a 58cal Mountain rifle that's been causing me issues with homemade powder but shooting fine with bought (unavaliable) powder. My other front stuffers all shoot well with the homemade, talk about princess and the pea. Finally got to putting a ball mill together and milling two of the ingredients before mixing in with the other disolved ingredient. Had the CVA out to the range yesterday and introduced it to the new brew, it loved it. Mucking around with the sight picture it grouped about tennis ball size at 50yds. Then I settled in over a sand bag and shot a 4 shot group measuring 1-1/4 inch at 50 yds, shots basically all touching. Finally the darned thing is happy & so am I.

Had one of those 30 plus years ago. It was a kit I put together. It shot extremely well with almost any charge of powder. It sure dumped big Red deer and Hogs. I sold it at a very weak moment, something iv'e regretted ever since. Glad you got her sorted with your powder.
Cheers.
 
I don't understand the topic of your thread(?)
What is the problem with your big bore CVA MR?
Nothings wrong with it now that I have refined the powder to a degree that the MR will shoot accurately. For some reason it was the only muzzle loader I have (I have a few) that would not shoot acceptably with home made powder till now. Has taken about 3 years of trial and error to get it to shoot nice little groups.
 
Problem didn't make sense to me but if he said so, it must have been. Ever once in awhile you run across a particular gun that is really picky for some reason. Glad you got it sorted out though.
 
I once had a finicky cva...i also didnt know as much about cleaning very early on. So can't say how finicky it would have been if i knew better... but i do remember it being finicky. I suppose its possible his alteration in powder processing made just enough difference to get the gun up and running with it. But now i am wondering if the cvas have something in their design that is different from his other rifles...very strange that the other ones shot fine on the old batch of powder and it was just the cva, and that he had to refine his batching process before the cva would shoot it as well as it shot store-bought. To me, it means the other rifles have something in their design that makes them more forgiving of less than perfect powder which is lacking in the design of the cva... i suppose homemade powder gives us a window into gun design that we don't often get to peer through. I do love cvas. But a design difference seems the clear culprit, assuming his cleaning was consistent.

Very interesting...
 
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As we can`t converse about homemade powder lets just say the non commercial powder I have been using for about 30 years shot well in my Pedersoli and T/C guns with 1-48 twist. It also shot well in a GPR and a Zoil Zauave, the latter two being 1-66 twist. I consider shooting well being from a ragged hole to 2 1/2 inch groups at 50yds. The CVA MTR has always shot like an old lady flinging poo and groups of 8-10 inches with my non commercial powder but it does shoot just fine with Goex FF. I had tried all sorts of ball/powder combos and always clean between shots, but always with the same results until I introduced milling into the equation and that seems to have fixed it. At the moment and pretty much usually it`s darn near impossible to get commercial black powder or substitutes where I live and shipping is a no go. The other incentive for me to get all my muzzleloaders shooting non commercial powder is the fact that for the cost of one pound of Goex I can produce about 40 pounds of non commercial.
 
Got learn how to make BP, any good resources??

Anthony

Thats the thing, homemade bp is a touchy subject that this forum prefers not to approach. Aside from merely mentioning the topic, which is fine, It against our rules, however, for there to be any discussion of the processes involved in making it, or indication of where to find such info...

While, making it can be done legally as long as the person follows certain restrictions and does not distribute it to others (i believe), it gets pretty touchy from there as more members get involved, possibly distributing it in an innocent manner and inadvertantly breaking the law and that occuring on this site; and also, a complex set of liabilities begin creeping up concerning risks of accidents, or faulty information on its formulation and that info being distributed here. This all amounts to lawsuits, criminal proceedings, and other things that we can guarantee will get this forum shut down for good.
 
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