CVA Hawkin .50 cal Pistol

[TwoShadows]

If you still want to remove the barrel, first remove the ramrod. A light tap on the pin on the side away from the head of the pin should loosen it. Do this with a wood or rubber or plastic mallet. The tang screw is the only other place the barrel is held. A little pitting inside the barrel won't hurt accuracy unless you are a very excellent pistol shooter, and most likely not then. "Zonie is correct in saying to do it yourself. If you are going to get familliar with this black powder shooting, you will be better off to learn routine maintenence yourself. If you are speaking of re-blueing the barrel you could accomplish that yourself too. Plenty of folks here online to walk you through it. I personally plugged all holes in my last barrel job and boiled it in liquid bleach for about 30 minutes(outside of course).....gave it enough pits and etc to make it look 200 years old, but i like the ancient look while retaining a smooth bore and working parts.

'Zonie is also correct in the amount of powder for plinking or target shooting. Your pistol is a sturdy workhorse and will stand more if you decide to hunt with it. Loads of 50-60 grains are not unheard of. However I would have a competent shooter friend check it out if you question the sturdiness of it. I have taken quite a bit of game with a pistol...even to the size of a wild hog, but you will get recoil with that kind of load....make "Dirty Harry" flinch.

I believe your pistol is the model that has an adjustable sear on the lock. If this is correct the trigger pull can be lightened to your desired pull.

To prevent further rust or pitting on any of your firearms I highly recommend a product called Ballistol. I have tested it quite thoroughly and find it really good. Ask around for a supplier near you.

 

Happy Holidays one and all,

I am very much a greenhorn with BP firearms.

This past October, I found a used CVA Hawkin .50 cal pistol at a rendezvous in Winona, MN. Past on it because we had already spent too much money there.

The little woman surprised me with it for Christmas. I have polished up all of the bright brass, scrubbed the bore and bore buttered it along with a coat of Sheath for the entire pistol. Blue barrel has exterior pitting but not too bad. Bore had some oxidation but seems to have cleaned up very well.

I was attracted to this pistol because of its caliber which matches my Traditions Kentucky rifle.

I have already test fired a cap to make sure the nipple is open and all seemed to be fine.

Obviously, I have no owner's manual so my questions are:
1. Correct way to drive out the large pin that holds the barrel in place and what else must be removed/unscrewed before I can get the barrel off?

2. Can this pistol be loaded the same way I would load my rifle? (65 grains of FFFG)

3. Is using fine steel wool a bad idea to further polish the barrel? I have never had a firearm, blackpowder or smokleless, with barrel pitting so am I better off giving it to gunsmith and letting him polish and reblue the barrel?

The pistol is very pretty as is.

Any and all safety, care and maintenance suggestions will be whole heartedly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Zonie]

I would not advise taking it to a gunsmith. He will charge a lot and not really do anything you can't do.

Steel wool on a cleaning jag will get the rusty areas smoothed out but it won't remove any pitting. Sorry to tell you but you don't really have a fine target arm. I say this because if it were a $600 target gun it may be worth paying a gunsmith to rebore and re-rifle it but for what it is intended to do, a small pitted area or two won't affect its function a bit.
Because the humidity can get high up in MN I would suggest that you don't rely on just Sheath to protect your bores. By applying a liberal coat of paste wax to the bore of both your rifle and the pistol after using the Sheath you will have much better protection.

The load for your pistol should be around 20-25 grains. I would not suggest over 35 grains. Higher loads may not damage the gun but it is a waste of powder. Most of it will burn outside the muzzle.
Your rifles ball and patch should work fine in your pistol.

Happy shooting!

 

[Rocky Johnson]

A load of more than 30 gr. will slow the PRB down becouse the power won't all burn in the short pistol barrel will only add to the weight of the projectile and slow it down. Rocky

 

[TwoShadows]

Rocky J, Are u speaking from experience? Don't want to be arguementative, but my experience is quite different. I speak of course of true black powder and barrel lengths of 6 to 14 inches...all common lengths of pistols I own. Recoil is much sharper and it is my experience that more powder alone dosn't produce recoil. Wild hogs and deer harvested with a pistol must have enough velocity to penetrate. I saw a 30 grain load bounce off the head of a deer when administering a "coup de gras" to be immediately followed by a devastating result using the exact same pistol with a 60 grain load. Devastating to the deer I mean.

Revolvers may produce different results oweing to the gap between cylinder and barrel. I have little experience there.

If you have a good solid, well made pistol and wish to verify my findings, try increasing the load in 5 grain increments and observe the results on pine boards spaced about an inch apart.

Again, I cast no dispersions and apologize for taking you to task on this subject.
TwoShadows

 

[musketman]

quote:Originally posted by TwoShadows:
I saw a 30 grain load bounce off the head of a deer when administering a "coup de gras" That would have kilt a lesser deer...
See what using soft lead will do?
(here we go again)

 

I should stress that the barrel pitting only seems to be on the exterior of the barrel.

I will obtain the products mentioned and put advice to use. Will also wax the bore and entire firearm with a quality wax. Checking the penetration on pine boards with various loads seems to be a good idea, even for the rifle. Never thought of reducing the load because of barrel length. You guys do know your stuff.

I used to be a pretty good combat style pistol shooter when I was a firefighter in the Chicago area. Used a .45 auto on the PD combat range. Haven't done much pistol shooting since I have retired and moved to MN. Hope I can do well with the BP pistol.

I don't know why it took so many years for me to realize how beautiful BP firearms are. Nor did I realize how many folks are skilled in their use and maintenance.

I will check back for anymore responses in a few days. Thanks guys. Appreciate all you say to me.

 

[Deadeye]

Rocky, I'm with 2 shadows on this. I've chronographed a lot of pistol loads and the more powder the more velocity, never less velocity.
In my .54 I've shot 120 gr. 3f for 1131 fps with a PRB in an 8 in. barrel. I normally shoot 20 grs. 3f in a .45 or .50 cal.and as I recall they are about 900 fps. Those Kentucky deer must be hard headed.
Deadeye

 

[musketman]

quote:Originally posted by Frank:
Will also wax the bore and entire firearm with a quality wax.I like to pull the barrel (on guns that I can) and wax the untreated wood in the barrel channel.

When hunting/shooting in the rain, water will make its way to this unprotected area...

I feel this will keep the wood from rotting from the inside-out.

 

[TwoShadows]

Yep, em Ky deers is hardheaded, jist lak us kentuckians, 'n mebbe southern boyz in general. Heck iffn ya been fallerin tha other threads u kin see whut a arrgeemint got started over a bowl of tater salet!

Truf uv tha matter is, thet deer wuz shot rat beehind tha antlers 1st tyme....rat whar tha boss is so thik. secunt shot wuz tha same place 'n made a rat bodacious hole. Then agin, thet hull deer wuz tuff. Yew cuddent hardly stick a fork in tha gravy whin we tried ta cook hit. We wuz purdy hongry at tha tyme. Fer brekfust thet mornin they wuddent no meat...just bred 'n coffee, so pappy cut a pitchur of a big ol cuntry ham out of a magerzine we had in tha outhouse.....tied it to tha strang on tha lite bub over tha table 'n give her a swang. Wee all grabbed up a piece uv bred and tried to sop up tha shadder as hit swung by....

See, we wuz kinda pore at tha tyme...ol farm we lived on was so pore a rabitt wud hafta pack a box lunch to git acrost hit. Land wuz so pore thet I seed muh sister standin in uh pile uv cow manure tryin ta raise a umbreller one tyme.