Took the New for me CVA Mountain Rifle for a second test ride

Had success yesterday with .490 Hornady balls, .015 cotton patch and both 60 and 70 grains of Swiss 3F powder. The shots were only 50 yards but the groups were acceptable considering I’m pushing 73. I need to file the front sight down and drift the sights to center the shots but over all I am very pleased.
HOWEVER...dumb is as dumb does. While talking to a fellow shooter and not paying 100% attention to what I was doing I “dry balled” a load!! It was a easy fix as I removed the clean out screw, poured in a few grains of powder and shot it out. Waste of a ball and cap.
I also had a few hang fires and found that the spent cap had formed itself to the inside of the hammer nose. Had to pick them out with a small screwdriver. It’s a pain to check the hammer face every shot. I’m open to suggestions on how to fix that issue. Do I cut a notch in the front of the hammer face or maybe reduce the depth of the cavity in the hammer face. Anyway, it was a good day at the range. Here is a picture of the shots with 60 and 70 grains of powder. More work to be done.

stevenjay1 said:

I also had a few hang fires and found that the spent cap had formed itself to the inside of the hammer nose. Had to pick them out with a small screwdriver. It’s a pain to check the hammer face every shot. I’m open to suggestions on how to fix that issue.

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I've just gotten into the habit of rubbing my thumb under the hammer when I return it to half cock after the shot. You might try replacing the nipple, especially with something like a Hot-shot. I would be very reluctant to start messing with the hammer, if you screw up replacing it might be very difficult.

Take a good hard look at the hammer cup and clean it really well, I once had the problem of caps sticking in it all the time and found out there were 7 caps fused into the cup, and I thought only one was stuck in there.

stevenjay1 said:

Do I cut a notch in the front of the hammer face or maybe reduce the depth of the cavity in the hammer face.

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Carbon is right on with just make it a habit to run your finger under the hammer. Even if you did make it better I personally like to visual the hammer cavity. When you are hunting or competing, consistent ignition is a must! NO, I would not reduce the cavity depth! The cavity is helping to keep cap fragments from flying in your face.
Flintlocklar

Filing or grinding a notch in the front of the hammer cup helps, but not foolproof. I am now in the habit of checking the hammer after I have fired and rested the rifle.

I had that issue using CCI mag caps vs standards. The mags frag apart and stick in the cup very frequently when I use them. When I use the standards it happens much less, I find them to stay on the nipple more often.

A new nipple may be in order.

Good info. I’ll leave the hammer as Is and just work with it. This is a new nipple and was a hugh improvement Verses the original nipple I got with the rifle. If I do anything with the hammer it would be to polish the inside of the cup to remove any rough areas that would catch and hold a spent cap.

The early CVA Mt. Rifle hammer came with the closed cup described above. Later versions had the V notch cut in the front supposedly to divert the cap fragments away from the eye. I was told that the V let the cap fragment better to help cut down on the stuck cap problem. I never cut a V in any of mine, so don't know if it helped or not. I have not seen the stuck cap problem on Lyman, T/C or any custom percussion rifles, just the CVA. I just pop them out with the point of my patch knife during reloading.