CVA Mountain Pistol On the range

[frontier gander]

25 grains Pyrodex P, .015" patches lubed with the new stuff, .490" round ball, 20 yards.  I just got it late yesterday evening, so that gives me the excuse of the one flyer.

[Hungry Horse]

CVA didn't used a pistol twist in their handguns. So, to get this thing to shoot as good as it can, you need to bump up the powder charge. My old .45 CVA pistol wouldn't even start shooting tight until I got up around 40 grains. of 3F.

                       Hungry Horse

[Frizzen]

60 grs ought to do it

[Candle Snuffer]

Just aim in the upper left quadrant, opposite your group.   Well you could file down that front sight and bump the rear sight to the left when you're ready to zero.  These pistols are fun!

[frontier gander]

oh its a ton of fun!

I am going to bed the tang to take some wiggle out but after that I will mess around with some charges and find the most accurate before touching the sights.

[zimmerstutzen]

Move the rear sight back to the breech.
the additional sight radius will tighten your group

[frontier gander]

I dont want to do any kind of cutting or modding on this one, its just to rare to be messing around with really.

Just settle for bedding the action and for my eyes, add a thinner blade front sight as this one is pretty thick.

[necchi]

its just to rare to be messing around with really.

It's a CVA Mountain pistol,
These things sell for $75-100 on a regular basis around here and the sight components are still available from Deer Creek and ebay.
They never where notorious for accuracy because of the shorter barrel.

By all means keeping it in good and original condition is always a neat thing, because improvement through modification will be minimal at best, but they certainly aren't rare .

[frontier gander]

if you are finding them for 75-100, buy them up and put them on gunbroker, the last one i saw on GB went for over $320.

[zimmerstutzen]

This a stock CVA rear sight used on some models that requires just switching sights and moves the sight notch back two inches.  I have used them on several pistols with improvement in every case.  This sight is on a rusty barrel I bought a week ago at a flea market. 

As for rarity, the CVA Siber and Hawken pistols are rare.  The Mountain pistol in flintlock is rare and in demand because it is legal for the PA late flint season.   I purchased two percussion Mountain pistols on gunbroker in the past two years for less than $140    I got two or three CVA Kentucky pistols both flint and percussion for less than $100.   The flint Kentucky is only worth extra if it is the PA minimum caliber of .50

It is odd, that most CVA guns are currently worth more than their original retail price. Some 2 or 3 times that old price.\

[Hungry Horse]

 I'm with the this is not a rare gun crowd. As for bedding the tang, i would consider tightening up the hook breech system instead. On the one I had I used the rifle sight mentioned, and brazed the breech up solid, and shot 55grains of powder in it, and it shot like a champ. You can't judge the value of muzzleloaders by whats on GB, or EB. IMO.

                Hungry Horse

[Candle Snuffer]

frontier gander,

I'm going to throw this out there, but if I were you and you are buying up these old CVA's, I would find a source for the lock's main spring, as they had (and probably still do) a reputation for breaking.  Dixie use to sell them, though I don't know if they still do or not?

[Daryl]

I have a .54 barreled pistol with a 60 or 66" twist.  It really "shines" with 60gr. 3F.   When we first built it, I was able to shoot 5 shot, 2 1/2" to 3" groups with it, off bags at 50 yards. The recoil was a bit less & different than  my 4" M29 , but it produced similar ballistics to the modern gun.   

[necchi]

I would find a source for the lock's main spring,

Just a heads up for those that may not know (I know Jonathan does),
Deer Creek Products of Waldron Ind.
765:525:6181
Is and has been CVA's custom shop for decades. Rumor flying out there is they bought all of CVA's stuff when CVA closed traditional guns but that's really not the case, they have direct market with the Spanish suppliers for the CVA as well as Traditions arms and other Spanish made guns.
An excellent and knowledgeable Mom-n-Pop's type shop that has a lot of stuff.
No web site, it's phone and fax only but costs are appropriate to our pastime.

By the way they are the folks that bought the legendary Douglas barrel machines, also decades ago. And still run them making barrel replacements here in the USA.

p.s. I've always wondered,, How long does Deer Creek have to own those machines before they stop being Douglas machines and become Deer Creek machines?

[frontier gander]

yep they have great prices and do not rip you off when it comes to shipping.

[frontier gander]

This a stock CVA rear sight used on some models that requires just switching sights and moves the sight notch back two inches.  I have used them on several pistols with improvement in every case.  This sight is on a rusty barrel I bought a week ago at a flea market. 

As for rarity, the CVA Siber and Hawken pistols are rare.  The Mountain pistol in flintlock is rare and in demand because it is legal for the PA late flint season.   I purchased two percussion Mountain pistols on gunbroker in the past two years for less than $140    I got two or three CVA Kentucky pistols both flint and percussion for less than $100.   The flint Kentucky is only worth extra if it is the PA minimum caliber of .50

It is odd, that most CVA guns are currently worth more than their original retail price. Some 2 or 3 times that old price.\

Ahhh I see now. I think I may have one of those around somewhere.

[smokinbuck]

Rare? Got to go with Necchi on this one. $50-100 at the major shows around here. I'd do whatever it takes to get it to shoot like you want it to and not look back.
Mark

[frontier gander]

I tell you what, FINDERS, get me all the CVA Mountain Pistols you can find in rust free/pit free shape, no cracked stocks, if you can buy them for $50 to $75 I will give you $100 shipped for them.

You guys have NO CLUE what these suckers are worth when you drop them off onto gun broker or ebay. Especially ebay, they go crazy over these things and Ive never once seen one pop up on ebay. The mountain rifles are in the $400 + range these days as well. If you can find me the mountain rifles in the same price range and condition, buy them up as well and that $100 shipped offering still stands. In fact, $125 shipped for the rifle due to USPS shipping prices going up every time you turn around.

[smokinbuck]

That's why there are Fords, Chevys  and Cadilacs, there's a buyer for everything on the market. Not rare around here and certainly not my cup of tea. Happy Holiday.
Mark