• Friends, our 2nd Amendment rights are always under attack and the NRA has been a constant for decades in helping fight that fight.

    We have partnered with the NRA to offer you a discount on membership and Muzzleloading Forum gets a small percentage too of each membership, so you are supporting both the NRA and us.

    Use this link to sign up please; https://membership.nra.org/recruiters/join/XR045103

CVA Frontier Carbine - pawnshop rescue

Muzzleloading Forum

Help Support Muzzleloading Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Joined
May 28, 2019
Messages
171
Reaction score
188
I needed an inexpensive percussion rifle for loaning out to new shooters when I take them to the range for instruction. So I went pawnshopping, for a factory sidelock. I found out that alot of the pawnshops no longer deal with them as it is too small of a niche market these days. Then I came to Top Kick Jewelry & Loans in Tacoma and scored paydirt. I looked at their T/C Hawken and Renegade rifles that averaged about $350, then I spotted a much cheaper looking CVA percussion Frontier Carbine, a .50 caliber caplock. The bore looked good, the lock functioned like it should, and the price was marked $149.95, exactly what I was looking for! :thumb:

So I took it home and cleaned it up that night. I then attended a scheduled monthly shoot at Capitol City Gun Club the next morning, my first time there and I did not know that "shoot" meant "match", I never had a chance to zero it in but I came in 5th place out of 11 contestants. :cool:

I used patched .490 ball over 75 grains of ffg Schuetzen BP, ran out about halfway through the match and had to use the cheap stuff, an old can of American Pioneer Powder ffg equivalent BP substitute, which has been in my range box for a long time as I rarely use it because it does not want to flow out of the spout.


310372182_203518462104067_1050856361162160130_n.jpg
310327873_203503162105597_6208300035796408868_n.jpg

310293682_203503182105595_2758358522976340872_n.jpg
 
Last edited:
This Frontier Carbine is a cheap gun, but it is very accurate. Anyone needing a a brush gun should not pass them up if spotted for sale at a pawnshop or gunshow. The short length would make it easy to load when sitting in a canoe. Applying some decorative brass tacks will make it look much more frontier era.
 
I needed an inexpensive percussion rifle for loaning out to new shooters when I take them to the range for instruction. So I went pawnshopping, for a factory sidelock. I found out that alot of the pawnshops no longer deal with them as it is too small of a niche market these days. Then I came to Top Kick Jewelry & Loans in Tacoma and scored paydirt. I looked at their T/C Hawken and Renegade rifles that averaged about $350, then I spotted a much cheaper looking CVA percussion Frontier Carbine, a .50 caliber caplock. The bore looked good, the lock functioned like it should, and the price was marked $149.95, exactly what I was looking for! :thumb:

So I took it home and cleaned it up that night. I then attended a scheduled monthly shoot at Capitol City Gun Club the next morning, my first time there and I did not know that "shoot" meant "match", I never had a chance to zero it in but I came in 5th place out of 11 contestants. :cool:

I used patched .490 ball over 75 grains of ffg Schuetzen BP, ran out about halfway through the match and had to use the cheap stuff, an old can of American Pioneer Powder ffg equivalent BP substitute, which has been in my range box for a long time as I rarely use it because it does not want to flow out of the spout.


View attachment 166693View attachment 166692
View attachment 166691
Excellent score! I bet I called twenty gun stores and pawn shops within 60 miles of my house and got the same answer. We haven't had an ML in years. Sad really. I finally found a Lyman Trade rifle flinter on GB at a decent price.
 
Back
Top