flyin feathers

Ok, here goes...let the feathers start a flyin; I just brought a CVA Hawken repo, for $150.00 Its' a good lookin, factory finished gun with a nickel patch box and pewter end cap. Now, I am very weel aware that them three little letters are foul language around these parts. Can anyone light a match on this subject for this poor old hillbilly? Cause let me tell ya fellers, I took that ole smokpole shootin every weekend for the last month, runnin through dang near half a pound of .490 lead and it's the best shooting gun I have at 150yds w/ 80 grains BP. Regular as trips to the outhouse after eatning my ex wifes cookin. So why all the discontent. Is it a prestige thing or a HC/PC thing. Help me out yall cause I can't find anything wrong with it.

Not sure what your point is. Any item sold for money will have a percentage of buyers who hate it and tell anyone who will listen for 10 seconds how bad it is. So what?

If your thesis is that CVA products are universally disliked by the members of this forum I'm afraid you're going to be greatly disappointed. I venture to say that there are far more members here that are satisfied with CVA guns than hate them. There is a small but local group that seems to delight in coming up with cute names to call them, but they're certainly not representative of the majority.

Ya got me! I dunno. Around these parts their sidelocks are highly regarded. Of course everyone is a hunter and there's not a rondy in sight. You want to start a good old fashioned Oklahoma land rush, slip the rumor that one is up for sale somewhere within a thousand square miles.

I have seen many CVA's shoot as well as any other. The major problem that pops up is the chambered breech plug system used. Some never have a problem with it, but many do. Hangfires, failures to ignite at all, and harder to clean properly, which may be the cause of many of the other problems. If you are happy with it, nothing else matters.

In reallity, majorities don't necessarily make something good or right. Can we say for instance, Adolf Hitler? Mussolini, and some others even today? But in regards to the CVA's, most are pretty good in performance, although lacking in fit and finish, and close up historical correctness. They do pass the 10' rule though, which equalls many of the of the high dollar imports. I don't want one, but they fit in better than most of the cheaper imports.

I believe that the problem many people have with C V A is that they no longer make the tradional style rifles but ony the abomination which shall not be named. I have a C V A mountain rifle while the quality is not equal to thompson-center they were certainly a good value when they were still available................watch yer top knot...............

Well, I can only report on the ones I've seen, which I believe were all from the 1970's, and of those, the working parts, i.e. lock and triggers, were just manure. Parts break, springs lose their springiness, sears and notches get rounded off, and they just plain wear out way before they should. If L and R lock makes, and sells quite a few, replacement locks specifically for CVA's, that should say something about their quality. Yes, the breech design is problematic, but you can get around that with some extra attention to cleaning. Then again, I'm not familiar with CVA's across the board, so maybe some models, or years, are better than others.

I will say that the barrels I have seen, and shot, have been surpizingly accurate. It seemed like no matter what I put down the barrel of the CVA mountain rifle I owned, it would always shoot quarter-sized groups at 50 yards. That is, when it decided to actually fire. Bill

i have owned and use cva gun of all sorts.and some are very good for the money. i shot with a guy that won several shoots with one. The only bad thing in my experience are the lock parts have a Rockwell hardness of BUTTER. But no problem if you need parts for one just run down to a pawn shop in my western ky. lots of them hole guns shot one season, never cleared. barrel died of cancer of the bore. lock and stock still good.

there is only on person the the hole world that has to be happy with the weapon. if it fits shoots and your happy with do not let any one tell you that it is not right for you.
Shoot it. Clean it and enjoy it.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
So you be the holder, she is to ugly for me. :rotf: :rotf:

just kidding. on the last part the little boy in me got out again

greenmntmalitia said:

the lock parts have a Rockwell hardness of BUTTER

Click to expand...

:rotf: I almost compared the lock parts to pot metal, but I didn't want to sound too extreme. :rotf: Bill

Hmm. If that's the case, then why do my 5 35 year old CVA guns with all original parts still work? Did I just get lucky, or perhaps they don't know they're supposed to fall apart? Guess I better not let them see this thread, eh? :wink:

I understand, you're just reporting your experience, just like I am. That's what makes horse races! :surrender:

I guess you haven't been reading the forum too long. There are plenty of people here with CVAs and are quite happy with them. I have yet to see anyone berate a person for using one.

I have a 30+ year old CVA Mountain Rifle that has seen a lot of use in that time. I restocked it early on because the factory stock didn't fit me well at all. The lock, barrel and triggers are all original and have given good service. The barrel is still a tack driver and I'm very picky about barrel performance.

Your stick isn't going to poke much here.

Sounds like you have the CVA Mountain Rifle,if it has 2 barrel wedges. They are good shooters and everybody else has already chimed in that CVA's are fully up to the job they are intended for. It's kinda like a bunch of guys at a Custom car club talkin down down an off-the-line KIA. It does what its supposed to do, just not quite like a custom '68 Camaro Z28.

jaaydubb said:

Ok, here goes...let the feathers start a flyin; I just brought a CVA Hawken repo, for $150.00 Its' a good lookin, factory finished gun with a nickel patch box and pewter end cap. Now, I am very weel aware that them three little letters are foul language around these parts. Can anyone light a match on this subject for this poor old hillbilly? Cause let me tell ya fellers, I took that ole smokpole shootin every weekend for the last month, runnin through dang near half a pound of .490 lead and it's the best shooting gun I have at 150yds w/ 80 grains BP. Regular as trips to the outhouse after eatning my ex wifes cookin. So why all the discontent. Is it a prestige thing or a HC/PC thing. Help me out yall cause I can't find anything wrong with it.

Click to expand...

Welcome to the forum! :grin:

The only one that has to like your rifle is you. I have a CVA my parents gave me for Christmass in 1973(?) it has killed a lot of deer over the years. In the last 10 years I have fallen for flints so I do not hunt with it any more. The only problem I have had was the mainspring. DGW had one for $5.00. That said enjoy your rifle.

mykeal said:

Hmm. If that's the case, then why do my 5 35 year old CVA guns with all original parts still work? Did I just get lucky, or perhaps they don't know they're supposed to fall apart? Guess I better not let them see this thread, eh? :wink:

I understand, you're just reporting your experience, just like I am. That's what makes horse races! :surrender:

Click to expand...

Maybe it's because you do have five of them and probably some other guns as well so you just haven't shot any one gun enough to really test its endurance?
I can't say I've ever worn out a gun because the use is spread over dozens of them! :haha:
I'm not knocking CVA, they sold cheap and were a fair value for the dollar. My "little lady" shoots a CVA Squirrel Rifle which I rebarreled with a .36 caliber Green Mountain. The mainspring has gone soft and I haven't found a replacement which I can know for sure will fit. I'll probably just make one.

CoyoteJoe said:

mykeal said:

Hmm. If that's the case, then why do my 5 35 year old CVA guns with all original parts still work? Did I just get lucky, or perhaps they don't know they're supposed to fall apart? Guess I better not let them see this thread, eh? :wink:

I understand, you're just reporting your experience, just like I am. That's what makes horse races! :surrender:

Click to expand...

Maybe it's because you do have five of them and probably some other guns as well so you just haven't shot any one gun enough to really test its endurance?
I can't say I've ever worn out a gun because the use is spread over dozens of them! :haha:
...

Click to expand...

Pro'ly. I'm working on that problem, but I despair of ever reaching the goal. There's always one more gun that I just gotta have - too good a deal to pass up. :idunno:

thanks fellers, I guess that just about answers my question. More than a few things I have read about CVA have been negative. I just wanted to hear from the experts, and not someone with an agenda. I look forward to learning a lot from you guys. Thanks again!

Well, let me put it this way. If I could get my hands on one of those CVA mountain rifles that have stood the test of use and time, I would be in hog heaven. I love the way they fit, they way they carry in the field, the factory sights are fantastic in my opinion, and as stated before, the accuracy is outstanding.

Perhaps the quality of CVA changed at one point, and there are the before and after experiences that are being reported on. All my knowledge of them comes from the 1970's, when muzzleloading was all the rage when I was in high school. All of us youngsters seem to have bought rifles within a couple of months of each other, some getting T/C hawkens, and some getting CVA mountian rifles and those two piece CVA Kentuckys. All us T/C guys had fun picking on the CVA guys, as they were cussing their guns for sometimes not operating. Sometimes an older guy would walk over and try to help, see that it was a CVA, and walk away saying, It's junk, throw it in the trash".

I ended up with my brother's CVA mountain rifle, which I took from him to save it from going to the dump. The notches and sear nose in the lock looked like they had been bludgeoned, and the triggers looked about the same. I refiled the notches and sear, but it was like filing mild steel. I heated and stretched out and filed the rear trigger lever, so that it would once again engage with the front trigger. Again, it felt like soft steel.

I'm thinking that if the original poster got a "keeper", then he is going to be very happy with his rifle. Even if the lock wears out, a replacement from L and R will make it like new again. I just got a bad taste in my mouth from the poor quality I experienced years ago. Bill

well, take it from a crabby old vermonter:

have it the way you want it.

if the tool does a good job, and you got it for a good price,then you have a good tool for that function. in other words, if it makes you happy, don't get too overly wrapped around the axle about what other people think.

take out your rifle, load it up , and make good smoke!

just one guy's ffree advice, and no doubt worth every penny!