Grandson's first BP rifle

[VEARL]

I bought my grandson ( 16 yrs old) his first 50 Cal BP rifle. It is a CVA Mountain Stalker in perc. 1 in 32 rate of twist.
Not a lot of money for it. Bought it from a man not wanting it anymore. He wanted $125 for it. I paid $ 75 for it.
Figured if grandson doesn't take to it, then I'll just plink around with it.
Can anyone tell me the pros or cons in this little rifle?
Info. greatly appreciated.

 

[robtattoo]

From my limited experiences with one, you got a real nice gun there!

Pros; Nice & light hunting gun, very handy in thick brush, good accuracy with 'correct' loads

Cons; Not the best sights going, not a fan of a PRB at much past 30yds (Definately a gun for those plastic herberts) Not the best trigger around, but can be fooled with to make it crisper.

Is it the wooden or plastic stocked version?

Reason I ask, is that the plastic version is very light & with a relatively hefty herberted conical, unless your powder charge is fairly moderate, it can give quite a whack to your shoulder. If your Grandson is a little recoil sensitive, it might open his eyes a bit!

I used to shoot mine with a charge of 70gn of 777 behind a 'projectile' & I happily took my first deer with it at 40yds :v

 

[bdhutier]

I think they're great starter rifles for kids, myself (they are the same thing as a CVA Bobcat). They're great mainly because they're:

1. Cheap
2. Accurate
3. Cheap

You can cut 'em, modify 'em, kids can miss something while learning the art of cleaning BP, and on and on. All while you don't really care (like you would if they were using your $2500 custom Baker Rifle), because you spent more on gas last week than you did on this rifle! Yet, it's plenty accurate enough to hunt with, or even compete with in 4-H or something.

Good pick-up, I say!! :hatsoff:

 

[bdhutier]

FWIW, my kids have never fires anything but .490 PRBs out of theirs, and it's always been spot-on. Of course, we all know that one barrel will love a .490 w/blue ticking, w/olive oil, w/68.4493gns of FF & 1/2 Goex. The next bbl off the line will only love sabots and pellets... :rotf:

 

[VEARL]

Thanks for the information.
Taking him to the range next weekend to work up a good load and sight corrections if needed.
Will keep it at 75 yds if possible.
Hopefully, he will enjoy it to the point that he will want to continue shooting the "ol' fashioned" :thumbsup: way as he calls it.