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cva article in american rifleman

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walruskid1

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this months american rifleman has an article on how they sold out and moved away from sidelocks. there even going to produce a centerfire rifle. i guess we didn't buy enough to keep them happy.
 
They never really built anything worth owning anyway. The Mountain Rifle did look a little like an original gun.
 
I think they sold good guns for the price. Mine have been accurate. One has easily paid for itself you could say.
 
It is my opinion that CVA sold a reasonably good product. I got in to muzleloading almost 5 yrs ago when I bought my then 11 yr old an inline from them. Soon after getting the "bug", I purchased a few sidelocks from CVA, Traditions, and TC. To this date, the people at TC and CVA have been the most helpful companies as far as service for broken or lost parts. Have not dealt with Traditionsservice dept but did sell my Tradion rifles since I had a few problems with them. CVA sidelocks have been very good performers for me and next year, as a 4H shooting instructor, will be using those Bobcats for my 4H group to fire at our meetings. Sure was nice going to Wally World and picking up a Bobcat for $50. For the money, the kids are going to have a blast bowing smoke and clanging targets.
 
Never owned one, but I sure got a lot of guys started back in the 70's with them, and they shot plenty good.

I used a CVA rock lock in my first flinter, after many a muley and goat, (antelope to pilgrims) it is still going strong 30 years later.
 
my rifles by cva were worth owning, they have accounted for many pounds of venison in the freezer. just because there not pc doesn't mean there not functional.
 
It was the gritty locks, shallow 1:48 twist rifling, and underproofed barrels that concerned me the most. They are as historically correct as a T/C or a Lyman.
 
For some silly reason, if I could find a nice orginal American made CVA Mountain rifle, I would like to give it a good home. I always liked thier looks and the ones I saw shoot, did pretty good. I personally haven't seen one in a long time.
 
My wife bought me a CVA caplock Kentucky more than 20 years ago. My understanding is that it has a good, slow twist for patched rbs. Anyway, it has always been a good shooter, no problems with accuracy or reliability. I did have the trigger worked on, but almost every firearm needs that. I put the rifle aside a couple ofyears ago when I got hooked on flintlocks, but think it is a great gun. I'm sorry they quit making them. graybeard
 
You can probably find a CVA Mountain rifle on ebay. People pull the barrels and sell them in a seperate auction.
 
Lets see, I have an original Mountain rifle. It is not for sale. I killed two deer with it this year. It will soon get the wood it deserves. I have a CVA Hawken. It has hammered many whitetails and has won more money than my wife gave for it in bets. I have a CVA Bobcat Squirrel rifle and it has taken a few squirrels, won one match, and finished second in another. I have a CVA Trapper shotgun and I got my bird this spring at a little over 40 steps. I took doves, squirrels, and rabbits with it also. I am about to buy one of the CVA Kentuckys with the 50 barrel, not the 45. I fully expect it to be a tack driver with full power loads. The 50 caliber barrel for the Trapper frame took a deer at 120 yards during the muzzleloader season with Lee Target Mini.
I am sure glad I am a good enough shot to make all of those bullets go where I want them to using such poor equipment! Must be mental telepathy.
I just ordered a barrel for my first scratch built gun. I hope it turns out as well as my CVA's have been to me over the years. The loss of them in the entry level traditional market is another death knell for our sport.
 
runner, you must be a good shot to overcome so many handicaps. :hmm:

i agree that the loss of any supplier, including entry level, is a bad omen for our sport.
 
Naw, Swampman has a point if you stay with the period correct part of the equation, or if you compare the wood TC used to use to the wood CVA used. On things like that, CVA does not stand up to some others. On the shooting end, there he is dead wrong. I would guess that the Lyman GPR, the TC Hawken and the CVA Mountain rifle have won more traditional matches than any other production gun in history. The guns shoot very well and are relatively problem free once lined out. They sometimes come with rough edges that need a little TLC, but that is almost all guns.

I just invited a group of folks to do a squirrel hunt/gathering/get to know each other hunt at my place. I have a 36 and a shotgun. I can cover one newcomer. The way things stand today, there is only one gun out there for less than 200$ for a beginner. That is the Tradition's 32 on sale thru their website. It has a plastic stock. The next one is the Crockett that runs right at 300$ The Bobcat 36 is pretty much gone. If you do find one, like the ones a guy here in Mo. has, they want over 200$ for one. That is rediculous. Next is 435$ for a Traditions. If they want a shotgun, it is even more grim. The only traditional production gun I know of is the Pedersoli double. There is no traditional single at theis time that I know of. That makes the starting point way too high for our side to grow at all. Newcomers don't order a TVM fowler in the white to see if they like it. Hopefully some others that have traditional small game guns will step up for the hunt and we can get around six folks together and introduce some new folks to small game muzzleloading.
For anyone that loves our sport to be glad CVA is gone would seem to indicate that they have enough money to buy whatever they want, and that they don't want any newcomers to ever show up at any gathering they are at. That they are happyu if there are no young people at the events. To my way of thinking, that is simply wrong!
 
runner, i do agree with you. i'm just not into PC rifles. not that i don't like a period piece, but i value a rifle for how it shoots. after all, thats what they were made for. i have a cva .45 frontier rifle that has been tweaked slightly to remove a few rough edges. it will shoot 1" or less at 50 yds. with a prb. i built it from a kit for less than 150.00 about 20 yrs ago. now my son proudly claims it as his own. another generation starting out with a cva. he wants a brown bess and may get it for his birthday if i go back to work.
 
Hey Runner - re both posts... :thumbsup:

At least 3 of my current 5 CVA's are originals - a Mountain Rifle 45, Squirrel 32 and a Squirrel 36. I don't know what the vintage is of the other two, nor of the Kentucky 45 that I sold earlier this year. They are all great shooters, have been very reliable and taken a lot game and shot a lot of matches. Except for lesser fit/finish/wood maybe they are as good as the several TC's I also have (Hawkens, Renegades and a Cherokee) or a Lyman GPR, for both an entry level piece to start out with and for the main battery of those who choose not to go the tally for true PC and custom. Any of them are good choices along with several other brands not listed ”“ which one just depends on how much money you want to spend.

Loosing any serviceable sidelock from the production list of a manufacturer is a blow to traditional muzzle loading as I see it, whether entry level or custom, but probably more so the entry level arms. Greenies just wanting to try out shooting black for a small cash out lay are left with few choices now.

I'll stick my neck out a little further and also say that IMHO CVA doesn't deserve the bad rap for dropping the sidelocks I've seen posted in other palavers on MLF either. Business is business and to show a profit, so if sales don't meet costs they really have little choice but to drop the line. TC made that choice when they lost the tooling in the fire and dropped the Cherokee and Seneca lines. Obviously sales had not been high enough for them to invest in new tooling for either. They also dropped the Renegade until demand brought it back. Most of their efforts now are in the Omega and Encore ML's, so if the traditional lines don't hold the sales they will probably be the next to drop out of the sidelock business. CVA held on for a while by lowering quality to keep retail prices low and I would agree that was not a good decision on their part for sure, but they did try at least before falling to the plastic-plastic shooters.

All just my opinion and probably few will agree, but that's OK too. My leathers aren't flameproof, but I can always sew another set. :winking:
 
"At least 3 of my current 5 CVA's are originals"

I didn't know CVA went that far back :rotf:

You can get them on ebay for less than $100.00 all day long....
 
I will buy every mountain rifle that comes thru Ebay for 100$ Every one that is in good shape, I will buy. I could sell mine for 300$ tomorrow.
 
Yea, you and me both. The Mountain rifle was a very good shooting rifle. At least the early American made ones were.
 
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