CVA Pistol Kit

[Gruxxx]

OK, so I inherited a CVA Kentuky pistol kit a few years ago, and finally decided to build it.  This seems pretty straight forward, but I have a few light questions I'd like to have answered to prevent goofing up.  The barrel is .45 cal and is stamped, Jukar Spain.  I don't know when this kit was made, but the booklet copyrights are from 1979 and 1981, if that's any indication.  Questions:

1.  What is the best / safest way to remove light surface rust from the barrel?  (I don't want to use something that might interfere with bluing or browning at the end of the project.)

2.  The breech plug is already installed.  The instructions don't mention removing it, so is there any reason I should try to do so?  Is there anything else I should know about these Jukar breech plugs?  ...especially as in, anything to worry about?

3.  The base of the barrel tang groove in the stock sits much too low.  It allows the barrel to barrel to sit skewed in the stock, with the touch hole too low in the pan.  A couple of years ago, I thought I could fill up the groove with epoxy to bring the tang up, but realize that may not have been the best idea.  I presume it would be best to shave that epoxy back out of the stock and build up the groove by gluing in a shim of hardwood, correct?

4.  The instructions call for installing a touch hole liner, but none is included, nor is the touch hole threaded.  Instead, there is a 1/16" hole drilled at roughly a 45 degree angle from the breech towards the inside of the barrel.  I've never seen such a configuration.  How can I expect it to perform?  Would it be wise to drill it out slightly larger?



That's all for now.  Thanks!

[Dave B]

These are a great entry level project to get you thinking about the process of building. I have built a few of these at the start of my building experience. It was fun and I learned a bunch in the process. As to your questions

1 Cleaning up the rust on the barrel can be done with a green scotch bright pad. You will be polishing the barrel any way when you go to brown or blue the barrel. Some like to use a wire wheel. Either way it goes away. If you know its going to be a while before you get around to the finsh part it wont hurt to wipe it down with an oil cloth for now.

2 It is not wise to try to breach these barrels. They are safe as is and will fire with the funky touch hole angle.

3 Shimming the barrel up with wood to keep it at the correct level is a good idea. I would be inclined to use epoxy to bed the tang with spacer block in place. I would make sure your screw is aligned properly  to hit your trigger plate before mixing up the epoxy.

4. I suppose you could drill it out for a touch hole liner but you are not going to be shooting it regularly it is not necessary. The ignition was fast with my pistol with out one so your call on that. It is worth doing from the point of practice, if you want to look at it that way.

[Captchee]

 I would agree with what Dave has said . There is no reason to take the  breech from the barrel
 When it comes to the surface rust on the barrel .. Take you some 300 grit paper   on a sanding block . Run it down the barrel in  long passes . That way you don’t end up rounding off the barrel angles .

  I would also seriously doubt that the issue is with the tang inlet even though it maybe to deep .
 The tang cannot drop down  unless the  back of the barrel channel allows the barrel to drop down ..

 Take a small shim and place under the tang  so as to bring the flash hole up  to where you want it.
 Then blacken the barrel and put it in place . Chances are you will find that   the barrel will not be setting to the bottom of the barrel channel  from about ½ way back ..

 Here is another issue you may not have considered .
  Both Jukar and later CVA  and now traditions , often had their flashholes  located  in the bottom of the pan . Which is compounded when  the barrel channel is rolled  slightly . Thus the barrel wants to lay over a little bit .  This causes the flash hole to  be way to low .
 To check that .  With the barrel in place , lay a square up along the lock mortise and across the  top barrel flat . these two area should be square with each other . If they are not , there is a good chance that  you will need to work the barrel channel alittle on one side so as to roll the barrel back to square .
 Add into that the stocks are all over sized .  People didn’t realize this and they thought that  they only needed to  put the gun together . Never realizing  they needed to bring the wood down a lot . So its not uncommon to have the tang set low in the wood .

[Hungry Horse]

 I would use this entree level kit as a great learning tool. I agree pretty much with everything the rest of the gang propose. I would use this kit as a great opportunity to learn the technique of installing a touch hole liner ( my suggestion would be a Chambers White Lightning). I would also cut the trigger pivot point off the trigger plate, and cold forge a new trigger, that would be pinned much higher through the stock, for better mechanical advantage. This would give you a reasonable trigger pull.
 I shot one of these for years on many tappers runs, and survival walks, and found that they shoot just fine, if you bump up the powder charge to work with the rifle rate of twist the barrels have.
  I would also scour the shoots, and gun shows, for a bridle, and tumbler, from a CVA mountain rifle, to go in the lock.  Good luck

              Hungry Horse