CVA Hawken 45 Cal

[GaCop]

Won another muzzleloader on an auction site. It's a CVA Hawken, 28" bbl and is in 45 cal. It has a full buckhorn rear sight. I'll be picking it up Monday as the seller lives only an hour away. It has a 4 digit serial number. Seller says they've "had it quite a while but it was only fired once".

Tom

 

[Renegade Dan]

Some guys just have all the luck. :wink: Congrats! :thumbsup: Be sure and post some pics.

 

[cowpoke1955]

Great going Tom. Should make a dandy little deer rifle :thumbsup:

 

[Shifty]

I have one of those in a 54 cal works great on deer.With yours beening a 45 cal you might want to try conicals in it also,I know I'll hear about this statement. :thumbsup:

 

[Claude Mathis]

Seller says they've "had it quite a while but it was only fired once".

Well, let's hope he cleaned it. :wink:

 

[Lonegun1894]

I have one in .50, and they're not fancy, but they do work very well for a plain work horse rifle. Mine does 3-4" at 100 yds, which is the same as I tend to do with anything else with traditional irons sights, so I would think yours would shoot the same.

 

[GaCop]

I hadn't thought about conicals. I don't know what twist it is.......yet.

Tom

 

[GaCop]

I did send the seller an e-mail about bore condition and was told it was in very good condition. I snagged it for $150.

Tom

 

[GaCop]

With my old eyes and being unfamiliar with a full buckhorn sight, I'll be satisfied if I can get at least three inches out of it.

Tom

 

[GaCop]

Cleaned it when I got home as the previous owner didn't do a good cleaning when he put it away, rust was on the base of the stainless steel nipple so I removed and cleaned up the nipple and the threads in the bolster so that is clean now. The barrel had a light coating of rust that took some scrubbing with a bore brush wrapped with steel wool to remove. The bore feels smooth now but I'm still getting some red rust on a patch from the barrel area near the breech. I'm considering trying some ATF to soak the bore.

Tom

 

[Maven]

"I'm considering trying some ATF to soak the bore."

Tom, While ATF is good, ATF + acetone penetrates better. Kroil is good too, but not quite as good as ATF + acetone.

 

[GaCop]

Thanks! I already have acetone, just have to pick up some ATF. I ran more patches through it again today after hitting it with a bronze bore brush. I'm still getting rust stains on the patches but now the bore feels nice and smooth.

Maybe shooting it tomorrow (if the damned weather co-operates) will loosen up more rust.

Tom

 

[GaCop]

A bit of shooting and the bore is now fine. I'm using 45 grains of FFFg T-7 with an Ox Yoke .015" patch and it's grouping 2.55" at 70 yards now, giving me an average velocity of 1635 fps.

Tom