CVA Kentucky pistol barrel help

[Loja man]

Good morning all. So recently I had my dad dig out his CVA 45 cal Kentucky pistol that he made from a kid before I was born. I can remember shooting this pistol when I was probably 12 or 13. Due to their work overseas it stayed in storage 4 to 5 years at a time. The barrel on this was extremely rusty. I was able to remove the drum. The barrel has soaked some in WD-40 and I have worked it over real well with a brass cleaning brush. Still the barrel is extremely rusty all the way down.
What are my options here? Can I have it re bored to a 50 cal? Any thoughts on possible cost involved? Do I look for another barrel?
I’d like to be able to bring it back. Would love to have it be something that we can continue to shoot. Maybe even take out in the woods deer hunting.
Thanks

 

[sportster73hp]

There is a company selling CVA parts on the internet. Not sure if they are new old stock or not. It was about $70 last i looked. I purchased a rusty one myself and wanted a 45 to match my 50

 

[Loja man]

So it’s actually a Jukar. Now I was thinking that because it said Jukar it was a CVA but I guess that’s not the case.
I looked around a little online but was not seeing a barrel available.

 

[ohio ramrod]

Jukar is the name of the barrel. Jukar barrels were put on several different Spanish made rifles and pistols as well as sold just as barrels.

 

[rafterob]

WD-40 is not a penetrating oil. Get something like KROIL. Sop it up good and let it sit for a couple of days. Then wrap some double or triple 0 steel wool around that brush and go to town. You will need to add and/or change the steel wool fairly often. Then clean the barrel well with warm soapy water and dry with clean patches. You may still have a pitted barrel but the rust should be gone. Depending on how badly pitted, it could still be an ok shooter.

 

[Loja man]

RafterRob, thank you for the advice. I have a bottle of Kroil on the way via Amazon. Currently I have the barrel plugged up full of WD-40 because that was what was on hand at my dad’s place.
I will keep you all posted as to how it goes with the Kroil.
Thanks

 

[ohio ramrod]

While waiting for the kroil, which is GOOD STUFF. You might try a mixture of automatic transmission fluid/acetone 50/50. It is reported to be even better than kroil. If you don't have any acetone it is available at most paint or hardware stores and is a lot cheaper than Kroil. lapping the bore can work wonders on rusty bores.

 

[Loja man]

Since the paint store wasn’t that far out of my way home. I picked up some acetone, which I use quite a bit anyways. Already had the transmission fluid. So I have the barrel soaking. I will either send the Kroil back or save it for another application. I’ll give it a few days and then see what Steele wool on a cleaning rod can achieve. I will keep you posted.
Lapping seems more involved than I personally want to take on. I suppose I could look into the cost to have a local gunsmith do it. But I’m new to the area and I don’t know any gun smith’s

 

[Kansas Jake]

Bobby Hoyt phone number 717-642-6696 Robert A. Hoyt 2379 Mount Hope Road Fairfield, PA 17320

You might give Bobby Hoyt a call and see what he would charge to bore it out to 50. Since it is one of the older pistols It probably doesn't have the funky patent breach like some of the newer CVA rifles and pistols.

 

[Scota@4570]

If it is breeched like other CVAs the drum threads into the barrel and breech plug. Removing the plug to re-bore will be problem because getting the index perfect to reinstall the drum is near impossible. Any idea of the threads on the plug relative to the bore?

Installing a new barrel, plug and drum is possible. Is the barrel any standard width across the flats? Can you do the work?

It will be a can of worms any way to you go. Keep in mind that the CVA locks of the period were junk. It was not a high quality gun. Maybe the best thing is to clean it and put it back together. Leave it alone and keep it as a reminder of your Father.

 

[coloradoclyde]

Keep in mind that the CVA locks of the period were junk.

Percussion Kentucky locks were just fine.

 

[Scota@4570]

They do not have a bridle. I had one break out the safety notch before the pistol was even taken to the range. The parts fit was terrible.

I guess it depends on one perspective. These guns were available in kit form for around $50 in the 1970s. You got what you paid for. Every part of it, the lock, the button barrel, the birch stock, and strange construction details were all about a price point, not durability of quality. All I am saying is that it may not make financial sense to put too much money into it.

 

[Scota@4570]

Here is another possibility. A liner, Barrel liners: muzzle loading rifle bore liners - Track of the Wolf

A decent gunsmith or machinist might be able to pull the plug and line the barrel. The liner can be secured with Loctite shaft sealant or solder. It depends on how the plug was done if this will work. The job will requires a lathe and a decent operator.

 

[user 49399]

Ditch the WD40. It's been my experience that automatic transmission fluid works best. It also makes a good lubricant.

 

[Loja man]

Good morning all.
So this is where I’m at. I let the barrel soak with a mixture of transmission fluid and acetone for about four days. Then my Kroil arrived. I drains the barrel and proceeded to scrub it with steel wool wrapped around a wire brush. I used the Kroil to lubricate the stairwell while I was scrubbing. Boy does it have a strong smell!
I was surprised at how clean the barrel actually got. Yet still pretty rough. I don’t have a bore light so I’m just using a flashlight to judge the barrel.
So I worked on reassembling the pistol. My dad had taken it apart so it wasn’t until I was assembling it that I found out the seer spring was broken. So I have a new seer spring coming. Once the seer spring comes I will shoot it and see how it goes.
I was able to remove the drum. Wanted to see if I could get it off to possibly replace it. The nipple threads are in really bad shape and the vent screw on the end of the drum is frozen in place. It will probably need a new drum or at least the nipple hole reboard and re-tapped. There’s enough thread still there to tighten the nipple down. Confident there’s enough threads to shoot it but it’s not a long-term scenario that thrills me.
So at this point my plan is to shoot it and see how it does. Depending on how it shoots will affect whether I try to mess anymore with the drum. What kind of accuracy are these capable of of a bench?

 

[rafterob]

You can't buy the original drum. The replacement drum does not screw all the way across the barrel in to the other side. It is easy to re-tap the nipple to a larger size. I have changed a CVA Mountain pistol to 1/4x28 and a Mountain Rifle to M7x1. Kinda depends how bad the threads are. The Mountain rifle was ovaled out by gas cutting so that needed the slightly larger 7x1. Track of the wolf has the proper taps.

 

[Scota@4570]

Re tapping a M6x1 nipple hole hole to 1/4 x 28TPI creates a dangerous situation. You have dealing with ~26 TPI and then changing to 28 TPI with about the same major diameter. That creates a bunch of partial threads. Going the the M7x1 repair nipple from track is the right way to do it.

https://www.trackofthewolf.com/List/Item.aspx/64/1/CVA-OS-S

 

[user 49399]

In my .45 cal CVA Kentucky pistol, I use 20gr of 3f, some wasp nest or newspaper wadding, a .440 round ball and same wadding on top. I can hit a coke bottle offhand consistently at 10 yards. Off a bench out to about 15 yards. It’s hard to overcome that trigger, but it’s not a target pistol. I get same results with a patched ball but this is quicker and easier.

 

[Loja man]

So it’s been a while since I posted about the pistol. Had a lot of other things going on. After replacing the sear spring I realized the sear was broken! So now I have a new sear in. But the location of the spring won’t let the sear release. In comparing it to a new traditions lock I would say the ketch groove for the sear spring needs to be moved higher up. Dose this make sense to you all? The bottom lock is the Jukar/CVA lock of the pistol.

 

[sportster73hp]

I am guessing the bottom one has the new parts. Your sear spring is hitting the pivot point of sear not the arm where it should touch. Looks like a redesign of the spring shape. Mine didn’t have the extra curve, just out and back