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- Sep 20, 2020
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Does anyone know if CVA ever offered a limited run of mountain rifles with stainless barrels or offered optional stainless barrels? Here's the scoop. Last year I picked up a CVA mountain rifle in 58 caliber at auction. It was advertised as having a 28" stainless steel barrel. I figured yeah right, it is likely a barrel that has been cut and left in the white. I don't know if the consignor told the auction house it was stainless or if they just figured that because it wasn't blued. Anyhow I bought it. Looking at it I'm not so sure. The barrel is 28". If someone cut the barrel the work was very well done. The muzzle is crowned very well and the the front sight dovetail well cut. It has a peep sight installed so the rear sight dovetail has a filler installed that matches the barrel. Plus it has one ram rod thimble and it is not in the position that either are on the 32" barrels . It is about 1 1/2" back of where the front thimble would be on a 32" barrel. A fair bit of work to remove and reinstall a thimble for 1 1/2". The barrel is stamped Connecticut Valley Arms and has a serial number so it's not a after market barrel. It does not say Spain on it. There is no rusting on the outside of the barrel or really much age related patina. So I figured maybe the previous owner sprayed it with a coating. However it has some scratches from use but there is no rusting in any of the scratches. Also the bore is spotless. No pitting or even age related staining of any kind. Plus I thought okay, I removed the barrel and tried some Oxpho Blue on the underside. I cleaned the area first and lightly steel wooled the area to remove any coating. All the bluing did was kind of tarnish the area a bit and most of that wiped off. So I was wondering was a stainless steel barrel ever offered for these? I'm still not sure if it is indeed stainless. I was thinking when I bought it that I would brown the barrel etc. But looking at the bore and after my "blue test" I think I might be opening a can of worms if I try to brown or blue it. I also have a CVA flintlock mountain rifle here that the barrel was left in the white. It shows patina and age related coloring from time like a normal steel barrel would show.