CVA 12 guage Double Barrel

Well, I wimped out on making a buttplate from horn after I saw that TOTW had one that almost matches the shape and size of the butt of the stock.
http://www.trackofthewolf.com/Cate...4&subId=144&styleId=539&partNum=BP-SHOT-C-2-I

I also wimped out and ground off the forward projection so it will be easier to install.

After reading about the hard kick I wished they would offer it in a soft material like brass but steel will have to do. :grin:

Durn free shotgun is costing me money already and I haven't even loaded it. :rotf:

I don't know, Jim. I am loading 2 3/4drams of FFg powder( 75 grains) behind a 1 1/4 oz. load of #5 shot, for hunting, and all my gun does is give me a shove. For trap, I reduce the shot charge to 1 1/8 oz. of #8 shot. Nice roar, lots of smoke, a terrific streak of fire out the muzzle, but still no "Kick".

I must be doing something wrong with my CVA 12 Ga. Dbl. :idunno: :shocked2: :rotf: :haha: :redface: :hatsoff: :hatsoff:

I can only guess from your photo, but if you're tall you may find the LOP too short. That added greatly to the sense of recoil with my NA Pietta, which is quite light. Adding 1" with a slip on pad (I'm 6'4" with long arms) helped so much, I'm giving serious thought to restocking.

I'm 5'-10" tall.

The current LOP with the wooden butt is 14".

After I get done fitting the steel butt plate I figure the LOP will end up at about 13 3/4 - 13 7/8".

Mounting the gun as it now is seems about right without a coat on so I think things will work out pretty good after the new butt plate is installed.

As some of you know, hunting Dove in Arizona is a light jacket or no jacket at all game and hunting Gambel's Quail can be downright Hot. Especially after chasing them up and down a few washes, so the idea of using a shotgun without a jacket is pretty much SOP here.

That sounds about right. With an added slip-on pad my NA Pietta is 14" to the rear trigger and 15" to the front. Just right for me WITH a coat. :grin: Funny thing, my old version of this model was just right, while this one is 13" and 14" without the pad. Makes me wonder if the previous owner shortened it, but if so, he did a seamless job and left no trace.

As you start shooting yours, watch for a tendency to throw quick shots high (too short) or to hang in your armpit when mounting (too long).

Perhaps this post should go in the The Gun Builder's Bench but I figure I'll put it here because many of you don't go to that area of the Forum.

When I started to rebuild the CVA I noticed that there is absolutely nothing that positions the barrels laterally except the face of the breech block.

While this does work, it is kinda like expecting a 2 foot long, 1" X 2" board to stick straight up when its placed on the floor resting on one end.

In the forearm, where the wedge passes thru the barrel underlug there is a giant milled cavity which more than clears the underlug/ramrod guide.
There is so much clearance that there is no way it can align the barrels with the stock.
It is shown in this picture


After measuring the size of the milled cavity I found that something could be placed under the bottom of the wedge slot which could straddle the underlug without interfering with the wedge pin.

If this "something" fit the sides of the milled slot and straddled the underlug it would serve to guide the barrel and hold it central to the forearm.

The block could be milled out of a solid piece of bar stock but I don't have a milling machine so instead I made two pieces of steel from a angle bracket I picked up at Ace Hardware. It was .143 thick.
These two pieces were soldered to a piece of 1/32" steel sheet stock making the total height .175.
I found that the bottom of the barrel wedge slots in the stock were .180 from the bottom of the cavity so this .175 height made the top of the new block .005 under the wedge slots.

The width of my barrels underlug was .240 so I spaced the two blocks .250 apart for a .010 total clearance.
The soldered assembly looks like this


I measured the width of the milled cavity in the stocks forend and it was .600 so I made the 1/32" base of the locator .590 so it fits easily into the forend but can only shake sideways .010.

I still need to remove the flux from the soldering and I think I will Cold Blue all of the surfaces except the bottom with Birchwood Casey Perma Blue so it will look somewhat professional.

I will glue it in place with some epoxy on the bottom.
The assembled locator will look like this.


After assembling the barrels onto the stock with the locator installed I find almost no side to side movement of the barrels and the barrels breeches fit snugly against the breech block.

The few dimensions I mentioned were for my shotgun and others may be different so if you own a CVA Double barreled shotgun and decide you would like to make something like this you will need to accurately measure all of the important features like the slot size, depth, wedge location and barrel underlug width.

It's slowly getting there.

I've installed a steel checkered cast butt plate, sanded and stained the stock, polished the locks and rust blackened the barrels.

I'm undecided about whether to leave the locks in the white or fire blue them like I did to the trigger guard.

It still needs the ramrod thimbols and some sort of front sight bead.

Looking good. I really like the stock color.

AARRRRRRRRRRRRGH! THE OLD "NICE WOOD" STRIKES AGAIN! :rotf:

Just kidding. It's a little 'inside joke' in some parts of the forum. :grin:

Thanks.
The stain is one heavy coat of Solar-Lux alcohol based Mahogany stain followed by one coat of Solar-Lux American Walnut.

Nice job Zonie - Looks like you got a $600 shotgun there! :hatsoff: :hatsoff:

leave the locks bright, i like the contrast. just my opinion.

Thank you for your opinion.

The locks silver color does kinda match the German Silver wedge plates.

Anyone else have an opinion about the lock/hammer color?

I really don't want to brown or rust blacken them because the engraving would really loose its crispness.
Then again, I wonder if a flying duck and some marsh grass might be something that was found on a mid 1800's shotgun? I don't know but it does look kinda nice I think.

You`ve got that scattergun looking good Zonie :thumbsup:

As far as the locks go, I agree with your thoughts that they`re probably not right for an original gun but I like them anyway. I`d leave them like they are. They make a nice contrast with the dark wood.

Bright for me. When you're holding that nice piece in position waiting for a duck, they'll never see any flash. Any movement you make while waiting is certainly the bigger issue.

I think the match between the key plates and the locks looks just right.

It's really a reproduction of an English style gun, and they certainly did put birds on their locks on occasion.

Nice work.

now THAT is nice. ive got a CVA double i got a few months ago and i really like it . its got chrome locks and trigger gaurd with ducks engraved on it , im geussing chrome cause i dont think it wouldve been nickle . anyhow it shoots great . thanks for showing yours

Sorry it took me so long to get back to this topic but the locks on this CVA are not chrome or nickle plated.

I just gave them a high polish with my buffing wheel and some "Stainless" buffing compound.

I also made my own ramrod thimbles after I found that I had a wind chime made from steel tubing that was just the right size.
As there were three tapped holes in the lower barrel separator for the ramrod thimbles, I made and installed 3 of them.

I have a like new set of barrels for one of those.

It sezz a bunch to compare before and after pics. Well done!

Now that little beauty needs to go hunting! :grin:

Really nice job Zonie!! I think I'd blacken or ebonize the ramrod though.
Robby