CVA SXS 12 gauge

Well I went and bought a CVA 12 gauge double barrel from the guy on the forum, Supercracker. I got it the other day and am satisfied it will work for what I want. Its a kit gun S.C. put together a while ago and never shot, it looks unfired and he did a nice job. I haven't had a chance to shoot it yet and am looking forward to it. In doing research here, I found in nearly every thread regarding the kit shotguns, none had butt plates and of course this one does not either. I think I'll get a slip on recoil pad, mostly so I don't need to worry about damaging the butt while I'm hunting with it, hopefully it won't make the length too much.
OK, what I want to use it for is hunting geese (canadas and snows)and plan to use a load of nice shot hopefully at 1 1/2 ounce of #2 shot. If not, at least 1 3/8 ounce. In reading some of the older posts its been suggested to use 80 grains of 2f which I think I'll try and pattern for the better loads, this will be typically less powder than a "balanced" load but it has been suggested it will pattern better. Also I want to try using pillow ticking "shot patching" to help protect the shot and tighten the pattern at longer ranges. So I have some work to do.
Oh, don't worry about my using the nice shot for working up loads, found a mostly full bag of #2 lead left over from the days they would allow it for goose hunting so I should be fine.
Now any suggestion from you folks would be welcome and certainly considered. Thanks

Dunno how tall you are, but in my experience (I'm 6'4" with gangly long arms) most ML shotguns are just too darned short, even wearing a coat. I put a slip-on pad on mine for extra length, and it sure improved my shooting. Might get around to restocking some year, but probably wont.

Can't tell you about those heavier loads, because I limit myself to 1 1/4 oz of shot because the guns are so light. At the ranges I shoot (+/- 30 yards), I just don't have the need for more shot.

I am really sold on 1f powder (Goex in my case) because it pattern so well with 90 grains of that and the same measure of shot (1 1/4 oz). No fiddling with different measures when I load. If you have ready access to black powder, I'd sure give the 1f a try along with the others. In all my shotguns (20, 12 and 10) it patterns noticeably better than 2f, which is noticeably better than 3f.

BTW- My 12 SxS is a Navy Arms (Pietta), and for what it's worth, it has a butt plate. As I recall, so do the Pedersoli's. If you ever start wishing you had a plate, you might see if one of those could be made to fit.

I'm 6', maybe 6'1" on days when I have a spring in my step. I just wanted the slip on to get going quickly with the gun. I saw where some time ago Zonie put a plate on his CVA and he listed a link to where he got it, so it is an option if I get the time. The length feels right but I'm not sure about the drop, I think my cheek needs to go lower and may eventually require reworking the stock a little.

Clovis said:

...but I'm not sure about the drop, I think my cheek needs to go lower and may eventually require reworking the stock a little.

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A bud has a CVA kit gun, but I haven't shot it. Sounds like the two of you are about the same size, and he shoots it well. But then again, it's all about what you're used to. Only way to find out is to shoot it, but I bet you're itching to do that in any case. BTW- He doesn't use a pad on his, but we're shooting in pretty cool weather with coats and such most of the time.

Keep us posted!

Yeah you're right BB, I do need to shoot it before I start hacking on the stock, that was the plan, just speculating. As far as the length and a butt plate/slip on pad I'm really more worried about the butt possibly getting damaged during the loading process (don't see a stone and get a little rough on a tough loading wad) and it starts a split. Not sure what kind of wood the stock is made from and the only other gun I've seen or used without a butt plate or pad was a bb gun. And it can get cold here too, but you being in Alaska probably would not think so, and with a coat it would have a fine length of pull.
Any way, gotta shoot it, likely tomorrow as today is the last day of deer season (modern gun) and next saturday is muzzleloading season starting up, and of course Christmas is coming so I'll need to squeez it in somewhere. Thanks

I have a pedroseli sxs in twelve gauge and I use a shot cartridge in it. I make my shot cartridges out of three thicknesses of news paper rolled around a dowel rod, tied shut with kite string, filled with shot, folded over and tied shut.I load powder (75 grain FF ) two 1/8 inch leather wads and then the shot cartridge folded end out. I have found that anything thinner rips apart and doesn't do any good, thicker tends to keep the shot in a "slug".Also for hnting I use a simular wax paper powder cartridge. I never had good results trying to combine the shot and powder in one cartridge. I hope this heps you develope a load for your gun. :idunno:

Glad you're liking it.

There were a lot of guns built without buttplates. I think if you're not abusive to it you'd be fine. That said, if a crack did start to form you could then shape a BP to fit and it could be fixed as part of the BP installation.


I made some quick, waterproof and cheap speed loaders out of 3/4" copper tubing. Cut into sections about 3" long, drove half of a cork down the tubing to the midway point then used two corks to cap either end. Shot in one side, powder in the other. I made a dozen or so for just a few bucks. On some of them I took the time to run a string through the corks and attach it tot he tubing so the corks don't get lost. Very handy,if a bit heavy, especially when you're trying to keep up with someone else who is shooting a modern gun. Although, if I'm by myself I usually just load from a horn and shot snake.

I picked up one of those CVA doubles last winter and like it alot. I`m kinda an average sized guy, about 5`11" tall and the stock fit is fine for me.

I haven`t spent a ton of time with it working up the perfect load, but I get decent usable patterns at about 25yds with 80grs 2f Goex powder and 1 1/4oz #6 lead shot. One thing I did figure out is that it patterns better without the thick fibre wads between the powder and shot. When I was trying the fibre wads they were blowing big holes in the center of my patterns. What I`ve settled on for now is an 1/8th inch thick Circle Fly over powder card, the shot load, then a Circle Fly overshot card.

Something else, with my gun anyway, is the bores mic out to be actually closer to 13ga than a true 12ga. That said, the overpowder wads I use are 13ga size but I use 12ga overshot cards. The reason I`m mentioning this is because you might want to measure your bores before you spend money buying wads.

Hope this helps.

What Brownbear and Schutzen said.

In addition to miccing the bores, I'd weigh the gun. My 7.3 lb Pedersoli kicks pretty hard with 1 1/4 ounce of shot and 85 grs of FFg. If that gun weighs in at 6 lbs, 1 1/4 will be plenty. (Brownbear alluded to this in his post.)

If you happen to have some 12 gauge wads around, I wouldn't be averse trying them. Putting a powder card under the wad stops any plastic build up, and personally, I find that plastic build up comes right out when I flood the bores in cleaning.

With my minimal, seat of the pants type, testing I found the same thing with the full lubed wads. I got good results by cutting the lubed wads in half.

However, I only use the wads if I'm going where I"m going to be shooting a BUNCH. If not then I use 2 or 3 overpowder cards over the powder and 2 over the shot. I take my leather punch and snip a half circle out of the edge of them in stacks of 25 or so. Quick to do and makes them much easier to load.


EDIT: I'm talking about in my original 12ga. However I think you might get similar results in the CVA.

OK, Ole' Party Pooper checking in here.
Isn't it illegal to shoot waterfowl with lead shot?
And, the new hard, legal, stuff is not reccomened with bare bores like an ml shotgun has.
Dunno fer certain, fer sure. :idunno: Hope I'm wrong and/or you don't get caught. :shocked2:
No experience with goose loads but 80 grain sounds like a good charge to me. Any more and it will be a real shoulder thumper. At least it was with my heavier Brown Bess.

Hey Supercracker, and to all the rest who've taken the time to respond. I've got plenty of different wads to try, a couple of boxes of Herter's marked boxes with 1/2". 3/8". and 1/4" fiber wads (old, but still seem good) some .200 card wads, several containers of overshot wads, and some thompson center marked wool fiber wads (1/8" I think) lubed with bore butter. Also plenty of different plastic wads for shot shells (which I stuck in the bores and seem a little loose). I want to try using the 1/4" wad over the powder, then use the pillow ticking as a shot patch/wad and an over shot wad or two.
As a full disclosure, I've had muzzzleloader shotguns before, sold off the last double after they forced us to use steel on waterfowl and now that other shot is widely available I'd like to try some waterfowling again.
The 1 1/2 ounce I want to try is what I used to shoot in 2 3/4" shells in the old days here and seemed pretty effective, but if I need to back off to be safe with the gun or my shoulder I certainly will do so.
I was wondering if any one has an old manual for these guns an would have load data or knows if there is any on the net available?
Again, thanks all for any suggestions and/or comments as it is all helpful. Take care.

hey Rifleman 1776, you are correct shooting waterfowl with lead is illegal, but I plan on hunting with Nice shot (ecotungston) that I understand is legal and safe to use in older style barrels. I hope I am right on both counts. I was only going to use lead to work up loads as the nice shot is real expensive and will only use enough to confirm its the same as lead. And thanks for your thoughts on the powder load.

In my experiments loads consisting of equal volumes of 2F Goex and shot performed best in my cylinder-bored guns. I didn't try using less powder to more shot but several contributors here have attested to this working well too. My loads were of 75 to 90 grains volume. I had high hopes for the greased pillow ticking used as shotcups, but this didn't work any significant magic with my patterns. Now some of the shooters are saying nice things about using two strips of copier-type paper crossed over each other at the muzzle to make shotcups and this would likely be worth trying (I have no experience with using this idea). I found that my best results so far have come from jug choking of my present shotgun but a lot of shooters seem to do fine with plain cylinder chokes. Mr. VM Starr :bow: wrote a pamphlet (available on the internet) that talks about loads and shooting of our shotguns, and I have found this to be very helpful. I now use loads similar to what he recommends but all his guns were choked by himself and his loads may not be as good for cylinder-choked guns. For me like for Mr. BrownBear, 1F powder is my preference for even patterns and less recoil.

You can use steel just as long as you keep it off the bores like they do in cartridges!

Am I the only guy using 3f :haha:

Good luck on the geese, I have come close a few times but just not managed it,yet!

B :hatsoff:

Clovis said:

I was wondering if any one has an old manual for these guns an would have load data or knows if there is any on the net available?

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Hey Clovis, I do have the original CVA manual that came with my gun.

It recomends only 3 different shot loads which they simply refer to as "light load, field load, and heavy load". The three loads are 1oz, 1 1/8oz, and 1 1/4oz respectively. They also go into detail explaining that you should never use weighed powder charges, only what they call "Volumetric Balanced Loading". According to them the only recomended powder is 2f. This is what they have to say concerning the maximum load.

"CAUTION: A shot charge in excess of 1 1/4 ounces is considered unsafe and should not be used. A powder charge in excess of the volume area occupied by 1 1/4 ounce of shot is considered unsafe and should not be used. Do not use an unbalanced load (more shot than powder or visa versa). Do not use 3f black powder".

In plain english the maximum powder charge comes out to be about 90grs.


I don`t know where they came up with those recomendations but that`s what they say in the original manual for the 12ga doubles.

If I can help with any other info from the manual let me know.

Thanks Sgt, that's what I was looking for, it's not what I wanted to hear, but I will take it under consideration.
My load was based on what I had read here in other older posts over the last several years and comes from many recommendations from Paulvallandingham. He particularly favored a 1 1/4oz load over 75 grains of 2f and seemed to feel it gave a better load than a balanced load would provide. I don't know, I'll just have to try different things and see what I think of the results.
In addition I have shot steel from my New Englander using the plastic wads available at the time (early to mid 90s)and very heavy 2f charges on the order of 120 to 140 grains. I was able to take a canada with that load very cleanly, but I may have put a crack in the stock and it was not pleasant. I may also hunt with the New Englander, but around here when you are in a good spot to shoot snow geese, you not only have a good opportunity at one but more like one hundred and a second shot may ease a little frustration

I don`t pay attention to that "balanced loading" stuff they`re talking about but don`t plan on exceding their recomended 1 1/4oz shot load. I`ve been shooting 80grs 2f behind 1 1/4oz in mine.

I know what you mean about goose hunting. I`m a waterfowler myself. We mostly get Canada`s around here. Someday I might get around to trying them with the CVA.

Thanks Sgt, good info. In thinking about this I believe this gun, and really most others made today, is in reality a 13 gauge not a true 12. The wads I have seem to be large enough they would be difficult to start down the bore. There doesn't appear to be any choke constriction at the muzzle. I may try the plastic wads/shot cups when I'm shooting it to see if they have an effect on the patterns. I remember reading here someone had cut the wad part off the piece and just used the shot cup with an over powder wad underneath and I may try that as well. I was hoping to just use over powder wads and either a shot protector of pillow ticking or bare shot and a over shot card, but for the geese I may need to use whatever works to try to tighten up the pattern as much as I need to.
And I may still see if I can sneak in a heavier charge of shot to see how it goes.
Anyway hope to shoot it some today and I'll let you know how it goes. Thanks everyone

Well, shot the double yesterday, didn't try to pattern it, it acted like it wanted to rain and I didn't want to fool with big pieces of paper that were all wet.

It was a blast. Both barrels fired as they should, nothing came apart in my hands, only problem was that I had not noticed one of the nipples was battered and would not take a cap in the correct way, took two strikes to set it off and the barrel would then fire. A minute with a file and it was fine.

I loaded both barrels and capped one, fired it and checked to see if the load in the other barrel moved and did this every time and they never moved that I could tell and I tried a variety of loads and powder and shot amounts. I did not go over 80 grains of 2f or more than 1 1/4oz of shot.

Ended up trying some standard plastic wad/cups in the bores and they worked OK and may use them until I can find a wad/shot patch combination I like.

Other than that, it was fun, didn't kick enough to bother and seemed to throw shot where I wanted it to go. What could be better?