CVA Muzzle loaders

I have the CVA St Louis Hawken 50 cal. I have no complaints with this rifle except my poor shooting ability. That has nothing to do with the firearm tho'.

I use Bore butter on my patches for round ball and fire 777 BP substitute and don't have to clean after every third shot. I have shot up to 30 rounds and not had to clean/swab/wirebrush. I had a better clean up, not as hard and nasty, too.

If your using sabots or powerbelts or Black powder, then you will swab or brush the barrel after three rounds.

 

CVA makes a fine rifle gun, been using one for years,
only problem when i got mine there flintlocks wern;t
of dependable quality, so I put a siler kit lock on it and
have been using it for years

poncho

 

I've got two front stuffers, an old TC Renegade and a new CVA in line. I been shooting the TC for close to twenty years as both rock lock and concussion. I always have shot RWS caps on it and they may be old but they go bang. The CVA shoots 209 primers and they are about as reliable as it gets. My $.02

 

I've got caps that were in the attic for a few years, in the shed for a few years, and in the garage a few years that still fired perfectly. They were simply stored in thier standard tin. I think if they were quality primers at first they'll be quality primers later unless they get wet. This was even in semi-humid Oklahoma.

Simply put, if you're just going to the range and are taking other guns then I wouldn't worry about it. If you're going hunting then a small container of fresh powder and a tin of fresh primers is pretty cheap insurance.

A few years ago I lost a chance at a small 8 point buck (that came in RIGHT below the tree) with a new muzzleloader. Not because of the primers but because of the gun itself. Anyway, it's a miserable feeling when you pull the trigger and simply get a click. This gun was a bolt-action Remington 700 muzzleloader and I was able to cycle the gun 3 times and put on 3 fresh caps before he was out of range and not a one went off.

 

My most embarassing moments.

I had a similar experience to Bambihunter's. I had cleaned my rifle, a 50 cal. St. Louis Hawken, prior to dear season. I was in such a hurry to load and hunt when we got to the lease I did not clean all the bore butter out of the barrel. I was sitting in a tripod stand over a plot when three deer crossed the plot. I took aim and fired only to hear the snap of the cap but no boom of the charge. The deer stopped in their tracks to see if this noise was going to be a danger to them. One of them not 20 yds from me in plain view. I was able to place 4 more caps and try to fire the rifle before the deer decided the noise, whatever it was, was not a danger to them and went on their way. So clean your rifle bore thuroughly before you load to hunt.

 

My dad used an old CVA and never had any complaints about its performance. The only bad thing about this one was you had to lay your face right down on the stock to get a good aim, so when it went boom, you usually ended up with a black eye.

 

To elaborate on powdersmokes dilemna I do a few things that I feel works for me. Maybe it's voodoo, but it's cheap, easy insurance... I don't mess with it for the range but I certainly do for hunting.

After dry-swabbing the barrel before hunting season I put a cap on and fire it to remove any excess oil around the nipple. Then I use pistol or primer powder (although regular will work just fine if that's all you have) and pour some down the barrel slowly swirling your barrel so to speak so that the powder runs down all sides. Then I let it sit a few minutes to soak up any oil sitting in places the swabs couldn't reach, then I put a cap on it and fire it (without putting any projectile over the very loose charge). It makes a neat wump sound and looks cool at night by the way. I then run another dry patch down the barrel and then proceed with my normal loading ritual for the hunt. Another thing I do is leave the gun outdoors (in a vehicle or barn) overnight before the hunt before loading so that it is the same temp as the ambient air reducing condensation. With the exception of the mechanical failure described above, I haven't had a malfunction since starting these rituals. My first year or two was plagued with them and after doing this the problem went away.
I'm really not sure to this day which part of this recipe was the magic part for fixing my initial problems when I first got into smokepole hunting, but I know it's a whole lot more fun when you are sure your gun will go 'click' 'pop' 'bang' rather than skipping one or two of the last steps when you need it.

 

Wow....I feel very fortunate to have found this site and to top it off I can tell by the screen names and such that there are several western Md folks here....Hagerstown, "Fredneck" etc. I've been out in AZ for decades but am back East closer to my C'Ville VA birthplace and HS town, Walkersville MD. Live in Harpers Ferry WV now and looking forward to much more black powder than in AZ.....Forgive the stroll down memory lane. Question, any local sources for a CVA 209 in-line breech pluch wrench...straight slot not hex head style???? Prefer to walk in and purchase versus on line mail order. Thanks so much.