Whats wrong with CVA

[breech]

I got into blackpowder in the early 1980s with a T/C senneca and a hawkin.I enjoyed it and even started moulding my own bullets and for some reason lost alot of interest and went back to modern only keeping a muzzle loader for deer hunting.My wife passes away a couple of years ago and last winter having too many electrical cords plugged in my house burnt down.I lost everything and did some real soul searching.I decided to stay with a friend until spring and I was going to move to montana and hunt everything.All I am gonna use is black powder guns.Having been out of it for so long the hatfields are now gone and most everything is centerede around inline rifles.Well not knowing really what to buy the plan became to buy whatever I felt would fill the bill for a certain need,try the weopon out and if it shot and worked well I would keep it and continue the process untill I was done.Well I like traditional type guns but knew I was going to need a scoped carbine 50 cal for things like pronghorn sheep and mountain goat and such.I ran across a CVA rifle although 13 yrs old was unfired in the box.Its is called a(TROPHY) with a walnut stock 1 in 34 in twist 24 in barrel,monte carlo stock,Offset hammer and was drilled and tapped for scope I bought it even though I paid full original resail for it.Upon buying it my best buddy told me I had made a mistake because CVA guns were junk plain and simple.I scoped the rifle using see through mounts and a simmons pro diamond scope.The gun drives tacks espacially using sabbots.Other than the ramrod which I replaced I cannot find avything which stands out as being a problem now or in the future.Can anyone tell me what is wrong with CVA guns as I have heard their guns have problems.Is there a certain part that is prone to breakage or is the whole gun faulty or is what I am hearing not true.

 

[Doc Arroyo]

CVA's aren't junk. They are designed to be safe and manufactured as inexpensively as possible. That put's them right on the edge of junk. And a number of Monday morning and Friday afternoon guns do cross that line!

The metal in the locks is low grade alloy that isn't hardened. In fact I don't know if it can be! The barrels are often rough as a cob, but usually are accurate with moderate loads. And a number of us have had magical cracks appear in the mystery wood they use for stocks.

You have already bought it, mounted the scope and are happy with the accuracy, great. Shoot the hell out of it. But keep looking around. You might end up like alot of us. Start off with the CVA, move to the GPR, then switch to flintlock, and start building your own. Cuz that off the rack gun just doesn't seem authentic enough!

It ain't a disease, it's a life style! :crackup:

 

[lonewolf5347]

highgain cva has been around a long time ,I would agree that it is not built like a t/c or lyman but if not abused and over done with the powder it will shoot true and last a long time.I think a lot of guys misread the manual ,all they see is mag.charges 150 grains and do not read the small print pyrodex pellets,not loose powder,
I have a cva eclipse 50 cal. and it print some excellent groups.

 

[Don]

I own 4 CVA rifles and I'm happy with all of them. Are you going to be able to hand it down to your great-grand kids? Probably not, but they are accurate, low cost guns that can get the job done. The locks do tend to be chaply made and I have had to tinker with them a little. Afterward they are reliable and fuction fine. When the time comes that I come into some money I'll buy something nicer. But if funds are limited or your just a cheap S.O.B. like me, CVA rifles are a good choice. If your someone who has some money or is going to use a gun real hard then spend your money on a pricier gun.

Don

 

[Bob J]

There's nothing wrong with the two CVAs I have experience with; got my first blackpowder gobbler in Spring of '03 with a CVA 12 ga double. Was given a CVA .50 inline as a gift and let my brother shoot it in yesterday at the range in prep for ML season in two weeks ( I hadn't used it in two or three years, yet scpe didn't need adjusting as it was printing cloverleafs with 90 gr Black Mag 3 and CVA aerotips).

 

[Breakfast Boy]

Before I finished my GPR kit last weekend, the only smokepole I've ever owned was a CVA Sharpshooter in 50 caliber. Killed a couple deer with it. I only paid $120 for it new, about six or seven years ago. I've gotten my money out of it. :winking:

 

[rich e]

Nothing wrong with the CVA's I have, they all shoot reliably and accurately, in fact I have a 50 cal. Kentucky hunter that is vary accurate, won me a few medals at local shoots when my eyes were younger, its still my favorite hunting gun. I have a 54 cal Lyman GPR, that I bought for hunting, but my CVA is more accurate, and lighter to carry.So the GPR stays home now. I do have a CVA mountain rifle, 45 cal in flintlock, the gun shoots good but the lock is not vary good, vary slow and not much of a sparker, but there cap guns work just fine.

 

[Donny]

Me, and many a fellow shooter has had our tails handed to us at a shoot by guys with CVA sidelocks. :master: They are inexpensive, and many guys seem to want to spend more money for a better lock, new barrel, convert to flint, etc. ::

 

[Teach]

I bought a CVA for my son about 7 years ago,a 50 cal St Louis Hawken 1 in 66 twist caplock.He shot it for a few years and did exceptionally well with it,one day at a Rondy the lock packed it in and I had a caniption fit,(middle of a range match)told him we were selling it and getting him a "Good Quality" rifle,which we did,which doesn't shoot as good.
I rebuilt the lock and loctited the tiny 1mm screw which had caused the problem,and sold the rifle to a buddy in our club.He wasn'nt shooting it so I I bought the rifle back off him last month for my son's new girlfriend ----and she loves it.

 

[cayugad]

What's wrong with CVA rifles? Well nothing I can find. Granted they are not the quality you might find in a Thompson Center, Lymans, or some other brand, but they are indeed shooters.

Last year at the end of summer I bought a CVA Mountain Stalker .54 caliber sidelock rifle. Why? Well they were selling them for $39.95 at Bass Pro. For that price I figured I had nothing to loose and it would make a good beater rifle. Let me tell you, the friends I shoot and hunt with had a great laugh over my "thirty dollar rifle."

After some experimentation, I worked up an excellent roundball load with the rifle. It actually was impressive they way it shot roundball. I went to the next gathering of the gang with my "thirty dollar rifle," and after that day they were not laughing anymore. Also that year I took three deer with it.

I was so impressed with the inexpensive CVA I bought a .50 caliber (my first inline) Staghorn Magnum when they were on sale. It is nothing fancy, but a good shooter all the same.

 

[gordy]

Cayugad:I agree with You all the way.I bought one of my Grandsons the little Bobcat for 58 dollars w/tax,and it has performed excellent with round ball.I have two CVA Hawkens in .50cal.one percussion with 1:48 twist and one flinter with 1:60 twist,I also have an older CVA Kentucky in .45cal.with 1:66 twist and the CVA Trapper 12ga.shotgun.All of thease guns perform as good as some costing twice the price or more.As long as the loads are kept within common sense limits,I feel their as safe to shoot as any on the market.I can't vouch for their in-lines,as I have never owned one ,and chances are I never will.For myself,"any" kind of in-line has no appeal. :: :imo: :thumbsup:

 

[vradin]

Nothing wrong with an inexpensive, budget, frugal-living rifle like the CVA Bobcat or clones. Yeah, the lock isn't the best, and the plastic stocks on the new ones look and feel pretty crummy, and the sights are just plain old ugly. BUT... they're shooters. I use 4 of the camps and one of my own all summer, and other then filing the nipple to get better alignment, no major problems until one of the older models went off in my hand and broke the mainspring and bent the hammer.

I'll take off the lock and barrel and retire them- change the lock and barrel with a newer plastic-stocked rifle, keep the stock after a refinish.. so other than a refinished stock, new lock and replaced barrel it's still the same old gun- right? :crackup:

I also have a couple of CVA inlines at camp. I'm not a big fan of them- hard to cap, pain in the butt to keep the bolt area clean, but shoots well enough for the kids to pass the Merit Badge requirement.

vic

 

[Rat]

What do you mean..."it went off in my hand"??

My rifles always go off in my hand(s).

Rat

 

[graybeard]

My wife bought me a CVA "Kentucky" percussion in .45 caliber more than 20 years ago. No one told me it was junk so I've been shooting it all these years and it still is more accurate than I am. Only work done on it was to smooth out the trigger pull, which I have had to do on many firearms. I replaced one nipple. If no one tells my "Kentucky" it's junk, I may well keep shooting it for another 20 years. Graybeard. :m2c:

 

I believe that we can rest assured that CVA and Traditions products will go down in history as the "barn guns" and "poor boys" of the late 20& early 21st centuries.

As with most other firearms, they have their place in the shooting world. In the case of these guns, you get much more than you pay for.

Trouble is that some folks do not know what they are paying for. They expect perfection from a $50 gun and raise h@@# when something finally breaks.

many years ago I reworked a CVA squirrel gun for PC events. You would not have known it was a CVA at 10 feet. It shot good too.

I wound up putting those CVA parts on one of the first rifles I built. I already had them and they were paid for! A $25 stock blank and I was toting a real PC gun for a change.

I finally bought a replacement lock from Dixie, a nice little ashmore that fit the lock molding well.

Couple of years latter I put a Green Mountain barrel on it.

If I could find that stock I'd put it all back together again and start the trip all over! It was a good run!

:m2c:

 

[RussB]

Gordy....I noticed you were the only one that mentioned the CVA Trapper. I've had my eye on one for some time now, but apparently this particular CVA model is made out of gold, or sumpin, from the prices I'm seeing.
A certain local fellow has teased me for several years about his... since he is a very accomplished taker of "anything that fly's"...and I have promised to steal that gun if he ever sits it down long enough. He installed a wrap-on sling last year that he refers to as a "bridle", he said it's so he can keep one hand on the bridle while I'm around. :crackup:

Anyway, I "think" Stumpkiller, has such an apparatus but I never hear him say much about it. Is anyone else shooting the Trapper? I'm thinking it could be shot as a smooth bore, if I could find one without those screw in chokes and no more constriction than maybe Imp Cyl....not sure about this, but it would certainly be no problem to hone it out to Cylinder.
Are they made without a choke? ....like I said, I don't know much about 'em, other than I want one. :huh:

Russ

 

[vradin]

What do you mean..."it went off in my hand"??
Rat

Nothing like me being clear as mud... I should have said- went off in my hand BEFORE it was supposed to. Had just capped it, was resetting the hammer to half-cock, and either the hammer slipped, or there was an ember in the barrel, or I just plain old goofed. At any rate- I have a lovely little powder tattoo on my left forearm and what turned out to be (at later inspection) a filthy clogged lock, broken spring, and from smashing my thumb knuckle a bent hammer. Best guess so far is that the hammer fell without a trigger pull because of the dirt and crud in the lock.

vic

 

[Rebel]

Russ, i had a Trapper at one time. I sold it because i had a LOT of misfires and hangfires with it. May have just been the one i had. Mine didn't have screw in chokes, it was choked modified. Have had a number of CVA rifles and never had that kind of problem with ignition with them. :m2c:

 

[RussB]

In my last post I forgot to mention I did get my grandson one of those CVA rifles from Wal-Mart last year, If I remember correctly it was about $65 w/tax. I believe it's called a Mountain Stalker...or sumpin similar. It has a 1:48 twist and it's in .50 cal, and it will literally hammer a patched round-ball dead in the red, at 75yds. Very accurate for that twist rate. I cast a .504 Minie that weighs 382 grain, last year I loaded that little rifle with 75gr FFFg under that minie and touched her off, and let me tell you brother....that little rifle seemed awful big for a couple of seconds. Way to much for my 13 year old grandson!...Too much for me too!
:redface:

But other than that, I like the feel and balance of about 6.5# rifle...I'm sure he has put at least 1,000 rounds down range since I got it for him, mostly round ball, but he likes it, and I like it. Ain't no fleas on that little rifle.
Russ

 

[gordy]

RussB: They (CVA) changed the Trapper a few times over the years.The model I have is chrome lined for the use of steel shot.It has what is called a european modified choke,seems to be a little tighter than the American version of modified. CVA had just changed from an unlined bore with choke tubes to the chrome lined version when I bought mine.I did want to be able to shoot round ball from it,but the choke is too tight.I hope some day to have a PC fowler so I'm not going to cut the choke back to use round balls.Mine tended to hangfire after 2 or three shots,but I polished the fire chanel and polished the recess in the breech plug now it will go about 6 or 8 shots before it cruds up enough to cause trouble.Also,if You pop a cap or two every third shot before reloading it will shoot all day without a hangfire.I intend to put a hot shot nipple in place of the one that came with the gun,but I'm too cheap to replace it till I wear it out.I think I paid about $240.00 +tax when I bought it.the gun is nicely finished and points exceptionally well.Weight is only about 6-1/2 pounds.I've owned several center fire guns that cost much more that wouldn,t balance or shoot as well as the Trapper.With the right loads it will pattern with the best.Hope You can swing a deal on the one Your looking at,I think You'll enjoy it. :: :thumbsup: