.50 CVA pistol

[BEP]

I do have one question. Never having had one of these. I dont see any barrel pins, wedges etc. Yet it looks like a hook breech like my rifle. How is the barrel held in? (I dont eve expect I'll NEED to remove it; but it would be nice to know how.)

The barrel is held to the stock by the tang screw and a smallish bit of wood captured by the nosecap. That's why it isn't usually a good idea to fire max loads in these pistols. I've never heard of a barrel breaking loose but the potential is there. Have fun.

 

[Adui]

Not a Patent breech, good to know.

Clean out screw. Already pulled it and ran a Q-tip into the breech to check for anything abnormal. Thats where I found all the gunk.

Comressed air- that's the plan, I have a compressor and a nozzle that has a rubber tip. I should be able to get a good seal with it by using the hole from the cleanout screw.

Cross threaded breach: I have no intention of removing the drum or the breachplug, that is beyond my capability given the meager tools I have. Besides, with what I have read on this forum and elsewhere about these things, Im not thinking that is a place I want to go even if I had the tools to do it.

Bridle and fly lock: I'm not too concerned, the lock it has works just fine, no need to replace it. I just have to remember to squeeze the trigger all the way back and NOT let up till it fires. Which given the mechanics of shooting is second nature anyhow.

Something I didn't do: blow air through the cleanout screw hole, the nipple itself might have been plugged,

I pulled the nipple and ran my nipple pick in it to clear it but didn't try the blow test again. I noticed when I inspected it it has a TINY flash hole, and the top of the nipple is cross drilled so there are two little holes opposing each other on the sides of the nipple about where the skirt of a cap will just cover them. IF the nippples I bought for my rifle have the same threads I'm replacing this one anyhow as I have a spare new one for the rifle.

 

[Adui]

The barrel is held to the stock by the tang screw and a smallish bit of wood captured by the nosecap. That's why it isn't usually a good idea to fire max loads in these pistols. I've never heard of a barrel breaking loose but the potential is there. Have fun.

:shocked2: Now THAT would be a bad day at the range!!

(I'm envisioning the barrel flying off and hitting a range officer on its way behind me LOL)

 

[Adui]

As a side thought Zimmer, I am actually wondering if the ball in it isnt a steel ball. I couldnt even dent the thing with my puller screw. (Assuming it wasnt just a plugged nipple that kept me from blowing thru the tube)

 

[azmntman]

Did you try to use the ram rod and see if its got a ball? Ya know, drop the rod, measure and compare on barrel outside?

If its not got a ball you should be able to blow through the barrel (or clean out screw) and feel the air on the other end?

 

[Adui]

Did you try to use the ram rod and see if its got a ball? Ya know, drop the rod, measure and compare on barrel outside?

If its not got a ball you should be able to blow through the barrel (or clean out screw) and feel the air on the other end?

Tried that more than once to be sure I was measuring it correctly. the ramrod stops right about where the drum enters the barrel, so not going all the way to the breach-plug.

I'm planning to blow barrel end with the clean-out screw removed to see if it was just a plugged nipple.

 

[Kansas Jake]

If air doesn't get the ball out you might have to try the grease gun trick.

 

[Adui]

Except I have neither a grease gun, nor a zerk(?) fitting to attach it to my pistol :cursing:

hoping to not have to go there, this was a splurge to begin with and isn't really in the budget..

 

[Kansas Jake]

Well, just come to Kansas and stop in for a visit. I have both the grease gun and a couple of boxes of different zerks.

I hope you don't have to go there either. If you have a neighbor who is a farmer/rancher, mechanic or works on hotrods, I'd bet he/she could help you out. You might have to buy a zerk to fit the nipple threads though depending on the size and if metric.

 

[Adui]

Well, just come to Kansas and stop in for a visit. I have both the grease gun and a couple of boxes of different zerks.

:thumbsup: ROAD TRIP!! :haha: :haha:

Wish I could, it would be fun! And I'd get to meet eye to eye with a fellow BP enthusiast from the forum!

 

[zimmerstutzen]

the ram rod will stop at the leading edge of the drum. it will not go further to the breech. Because the drum is threaded through the breech plug and then a funnel shaped hole is drilled from the muzzle into the face of the breech plug until it meets the flash channel in the drum. The hole into the breech face is probably only about 3/8 and funnels down from there. If you stick a piece of stiff wire down the barrel, it will go just slightly further than the ram rod. But it will not go past the flash channel in the drum. If you shine a bright light down the bore, you should see it through the flash channel in the drum.

The nipple sounds like one of those new fangled things that folks use on cap and ball revolvers. It has no place on a muzzle loader pistol or rifle. You want all the force of the percussion caps forcing flame through that tiny hole and into the flash channel. Those holes just let pressure escape.

 

[Grenadier1758]

where does the tip of the ball puller stop? You could have so much dried grease at the breech that you can't blow through and the ball puller is hitting the face of the breech. You might see the ball puller when the clean out screw is removed.

Its not uncommon for a bit of the drum to protrude into the bore and stop the ram rod.

Compressed air to start to see if you can clear the breech.

 

[Kansas Jake]

 

[Adui]

After the info I've leared here Im thinking you may be correct. Compressed air wont hurt it, and will definitely let me know if it is clear so Im going forward with that plan this eveningwhen I get home. Would be really nice if my original assesment was correct and this thing hasnt ever been fired :grin:

 

[Zonie]

I know this is going to sound weird but since you have the cleanout screw removed, if the nipple is out of the drum, use your finger to cover the nipple hole.

Now, put the end of the drum to your lips and give a good suck on it.

If you can't suck any air out of the cleanout hole, there's something in the barrel plugging it.

If you can suck air thru the drum hole, there is nothing in the barrel.

As others have said, most of the CVA sidelock guns had a breech that looks like the drawing in the upper right side this picture:

Notice, the ramrod will stop just about where the drum is.

 

[jdw276]

Shouldn't you be able to blow down the muzzle end? I know we don't talk about blowing down the barrel but I think this is a bit different twist on that PRACTICE?

With the nipple and clean out screw should be able to get air through it if nothing is there? :idunno:

 

[Zonie]

Yes, that would work.

The reason I mentioned sucking on the opened cleanout hole is because the volume of the hole between it and the bore is small so it is fast and easy to get a vacuum in that area.

Just a little leak will easily be detected in ones mouth by using that method.

Blowing down the bore on the other hand fills quite a large space with some pressure and given time I suppose a person could figure out if the pressure was going down but I think the vacuum method would be quicker and easier to detect a change if there was one.

 

[Adui]

:redface: No ball in the bore. Just lots og grease that reminds me a lot of the cosmoline my Russian unmentionable was packed in.

I do believe Ive purchased an unfired pistol! :grin: :grin:

 

[Adui]

Oh, and Im glad I didnt read this before testing it. Had I sucked on the drum with the cleaning screw out Id have gotten that plug of grease in my mouth that I blew out the hole when I blew down the barrel... :barf:

 

[Kansas Jake]

Congratulations on a good outcome and no gunk in the mouth.