CVA negligent discharges from inletting

[ChrisPer]

I was irritated when I bought my CVA Frontier rifle to find the hammer would not retain on full cock unless the trigger was already set.

In my first competition I also had a negligent discharge as I raised the rifle after capping. This created an embarrassing hole in the roof over the shooting bay, but did no other injury.

I and forum members identified the cause of the trigger problem as compression of the forward support of the trigger plate. I did not associate this with the ND, and repaired it by crafting a brass spacer about 4mm thick under the nose of the plate. That fixed the trigger problem. http://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/fusionbb/showtopic.php?tid/250293/post/899776/hl//fromsearch/1/

12 months later I had another ND. I had no idea why, and eventually decided MAYBE I had set the trigger while I was raising the rifle, and pulled the actual trigger unawares. I paid careful attention to only setting when pointed at the target.

Several weeks later, I took sisters and niece out on the farm to give them a go of shooting. As I raised the CVA, again a negligent discharge - into the trees at shallow elevation. Utter terror but thankfully no-one was hurt.

I knew my finger was nowhere near the triggers and the trigger had not been set. Testing revealed that the full cock sear was not fully engaging. As I operated and tested the hammer and triggers, it worsened to the point that it would not stay cocked at all.

Pulled the lock, expecting a chipped sear edge, but it was in perfect working order. Same for the set trigger. Conclusion: the negligent discharges were caused by progressive worsening of the compressed too-small inlet support of the nose of the trigger plate.

The obvious solution was to ditch the spacers and rebuild the inlet to support the trigger plate properly.

Inlet cut further with chisel to allow rectangular filler blocks of Tasmanian Oak to be fitted. Note the old bearing area and fillets around routed inlet shape are completely removed:

After gluing in the fillers, I re-drilled the tang bolt hole and inletted the trigger return spring, and relieved the space for the set trigger blade to strike into.

The problem appears to be completely fixed.

Please keep a sharp eye out for any CVA traditional rifle users whose triggers are not functioning perfectly, and warn the owners/dealers that they need to get this repaired or risk a bullet through someone if it goes off unexpectedly.

Trigger problems from inlet compression have been reported several times on these forums. Is there a Safety Alert system I can report this into as a serious hazard?

 

[necchi]

Well you got the fix right this time.
It can be a confounding problem, everyone thinks it's the lock but can't find a problem,, all along it's the trigger cam riding too high. I have seen many CVA and Traditons Rifles with some kind of washers or plastic under the front of the trigger plate,,
And your right it is very common, but the problem isn't or should I say wasn't CVA.
They haven't made any traditional rifles for what? 10 years now or more?

The problem with these used rifles is the previous owners and abuse/neglect. Some Guy's have an idea that you have to be a Gorilla with a screw driver when turning that tang bolt into the trigger plate. So it's years worth of abusive "squeezing" and the dry wood that causes the eventual problem.
You see this alot with the Mountain Rifle, they're all old, and used,,

The fix I layed on my MR was much like yours, adding wood to the inlet. I also over size drilled the tang bolt hole and fitted a brass tube meticulously measured to fit from the tang to the trigger plate and epoxied that in, Unless you are a gorilla you can't over tighten that bolt now, the metal tube hold the two pieces at the proper distance,,

 

[jamesthomas]

Well, thank the Gods that nobody was injured!! :shocked2: I'm glad you were able to fix it, Btw, this just points out the #1 rule in shooting, never, ever at anytime have a gun pointed at somebody.

 

[ChrisPer]

The problem with these used rifles is the previous owners and abuse/neglect. Some Guy's have an idea that you have to be a Gorilla with a screw driver when turning that tang bolt into the trigger plate. So it's years worth of abusive "squeezing" and the dry wood that causes the eventual problem.

Thanks Necchi, you are right about that. Your sleeved hole solution is a very good fix.

I am told that it doesn't take gorilla force. One person told me the right way is just turn to snug, then 1/8 turn beyond. That seems to me unrealistic; it is foreseeable that very few would be so gentle, and the design should allow for foreseeable issues.

Please everyone, keep an eye out for people reporting trigger problems, or just buying old CVAs, and make sure they know that trigger 'problems' can become negligent discharges if they are not fixed.