Good morning folks
Rich , thank you for the kind words .
BgF ,,,, Vey nice job ,, well done .
I could talk for days on this subject . But most times I find that it falls on death ears .
Myself I find that , yes , many of these guns were very good shooters .
Most certainly not all but IMO a vast majority .
So much so that even today I do a lot of re vamping and restocking . To the point that I have found myself in the process of building a duplicator to make replacement stocks as a way to bring down the costs of the hand made stocks that I do .
If I could give any advice , it would be to do some research .
Decide what you want . What you talents are and go from there .
Lets talk alittle about some options for what you have.
Bgf did IMO a very nice job , so look at his example
don’t get discouraged about the 2 piece stock . There are more then a few historic makers who produced long rifles with 2 piece stocks . The drawback is that CVA doesn’t do it the way those makers did . But with some modification you can fix that .
Cva also placed way more wood on their kits then what you need . This includes in the butt stock area . You will be surprised at how much you can change . Also as was said . Work on thinks like the mortises, wrists . Basically shaping things will give you a much nicer rifle with the stock you have .
As to the lock .
While you will find folks that have used them for years with no issues . That IMO is pretty much a rarity. The hammers , lock plats , springs ……. All are for the most part soft . Not much you can do with them . If you do decide to stay with the lock . At least get you a spare for parts .
Deer creek still carries CVA parts so keep them in mind if you decide to stay with what you have .
As to your trigger isssue .
As was mention for the most part the trigger will not be correct.
This is however compounded by the full cock notch being very deep and sometimes angled back . Thus you get a trigger pull from $#*! .
There is reasoning why CVA and traditions “ manufacture by Jukar “did this .
But we don’t really need to go into that .
This can be over come with a little work
Stock
Your stock will be of beech or birch .
Most common is Beech . For things like carvings , its not real fun to work with . Its just to soft . But it does shape rather nicely .
Hear again though think about what you want and do everything you can possibly do to make what you want , from what you have .
Picture it in you mind and then go to it .
Now some other options you have is replacements.
IMO replacing the CVA lock is a good investment and should be considered . Its not a must but it will in the long run make you a rifle that’s 100 X better .
For this I have used not only the L&R replacements . But also Davis Bailey ,makes a nice lock that will also work . The Davis however will take relocating the lock bolt or tapping into the area of the tang , behind the breech plug .
For a stock , there are many places to go ..
You can go as far as building from a blank or even a pre carve .
Pre carve imo is a great option because you can get what ever you want as far as shape . Then buy the hardware for that style
Price depends on what you want but normally you should be able to get a maple stock pre shaped , side plate , butt plate , TG and thimbles that will suit what you have for under 100-120.00 ..
However keep in mind , the more parts you replace , the closer you will be to building a assembly. So weigh you options .price and spend accordingly .
Here are a few of the revamps I have done . Not all , just a few . but maybe they will give you a minds eye as to what can be done .
now please note . this is not to thump my own chest .
but to give folks some ideas . one of the fun things about doing what you wanting to do is that no mater what you do , you will have a better gun then what you now have . it will still be a CVA , traditions or Jukar .
and you cant make a silk purse from a sows ear . but you can make a darn nice sows ear purse
These are CVA bobcats . Both originally came with plastic stocks . Both use the heavier CVA locks ,
obviously these are complete re stocks .
this is a CVA kentuck
this SXS is also a CVA that started life as a cap lock . i have no more then 300.00 in this . thast locks , stock and the price of the CVA i started with
same thing goes for pistols .
here are some pistols i have done . on these no new parts were used . this is just working with what was there .
and some elbow grease .
here is a little cheepy jukar that no one wanted . stared life looking like this
.PO said it wouldt hit a can at 5 ft . i wonder why LOL
and when it left my shop , it looked like this
and shot a 10 and 20 yard groupl like this
see its about what you want in you mind . then setting your hands do making that come true , the best you can , with what you have .
above all though , learn and have fun .
