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CVA Pennsylvania build

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Some pics of a 1978 Spanish CVA Pennsylvania kit i finished for a customer. Some pieces were missing, and Traditions butt plate and nose cap were substituted. The butt stock is beech, and the forend is birch. When he brought in the kit, it looked like they were 'select' pallet wood. NOT matching in profile. I tried to glue the front and back stock parts together, but to no avail. One of the previous owners had coated the wood with a wax finish, I drilled the pin holes 4 inches deep in each half and epoxied in 2 lengths of 10-24 all thread, using the barrel as a jig. Solid and one piece. After that, much rasping, filing and sanding, shaped the brass to the wood at the same time. smoothed and polished the trigger guard and brass parts. After the stock was finished sanded, I used stains to match the two wood types, Vanderhaves, and Laurel Mtn Forge. developed a uniform color.. Then I sprayed several coats of Pro-Oil finish. Assembled the stock and fittings. Then I struck the barrel with draw files and stones to get a good surface. Browned it with Plum Brown. Many coats and steel bearing in the platewooling the solution on while hot. NIce purple brown. Main spring in lock was dragging the plate badly, so I relieved the inside of the main limb, and polished every thing in sight. Decided not to put a ball bearing on the tumbler shaft hole in the plate. Came out nice, and not slab sided. Detailed the panels a bit. This was a break from our usual run of modern firearms.


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Some in the description due to bad typing. After the hot coats of Plum Brown, I dip degreased 4/0 s and steel wool in the browning, and make long strokes over the metal with a paper towel right behind the steel wool. Steel wool does get hot, so be warned. It smooths out lap marks and streaks in the brown. Then I neutralize the browning solution, rinse and dry the bbl, and apply a heavy coat of wax.
 
Sorry, but did i miss in your what material you used to fill the gap between the stock pieces? It appears white in your pics. Thanks.
 
No, the spacers are brass, just photo glare. The front and rear sections of the stock had shrunk so much since 1976 0r 78, that the factory brass plate didn't fill the gap. I soft soldered a square of 1/8 inch brass to the stock piece, and then cut the added piece to the same outline and drilled holes to match. It filled up the gap due to the shrinkage. Here in DRY Arizona, there is a lot of wood shrinkage, as all the residual moisture just evaporates. The kit was apparently 3rd hand from two deceased previous owners and parts had gone adrift. Each of the previous had fiddled with the the kit and lost bits. The current owner brought it to me, as I have restocked and repaired a number of older shotguns for him and he likes the work our shop produces. He said "Make it so I can shoot it", but I was not going to give him a fence post grade rifle. He's too good a customer, and a friend. Even my other gunsmiths, who give no quarter on criticisms of work, liked the finished rifle.
 
I like the fact that you turned a pile of not fitting parts into a fine rifle when many would have said the parts were not worth the work that would be needed to finish the job.
 
Some pics of a 1978 Spanish CVA Pennsylvania kit i finished for a customer. Some pieces were missing, and Traditions butt plate and nose cap were substituted. The butt stock is beech, and the forend is birch. When he brought in the kit, it looked like they were 'select' pallet wood. NOT matching in profile. I tried to glue the front and back stock parts together, but to no avail. One of the previous owners had coated the wood with a wax finish, I drilled the pin holes 4 inches deep in each half and epoxied in 2 lengths of 10-24 all thread, using the barrel as a jig. Solid and one piece. After that, much rasping, filing and sanding, shaped the brass to the wood at the same time. smoothed and polished the trigger guard and brass parts. After the stock was finished sanded, I used stains to match the two wood types, Vanderhaves, and Laurel Mtn Forge. developed a uniform color.. Then I sprayed several coats of Pro-Oil finish. Assembled the stock and fittings. Then I struck the barrel with draw files and stones to get a good surface. Browned it with Plum Brown. Many coats and steel bearing in the platewooling the solution on while hot. NIce purple brown. Main spring in lock was dragging the plate badly, so I relieved the inside of the main limb, and polished every thing in sight. Decided not to put a ball bearing on the tumbler shaft hole in the plate. Came out nice, and not slab sided. Detailed the panels a bit. This was a break from our usual run of modern firearms.


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I like the story better than the pictures. Well done!
 

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