Captchee - you inspired me to...

[prairie dog]

Captchee,

Your thread on reshaping that Junkar inspired me to try to do something with this junk pile.  There is a CVA Frontier rifle in .50 cal and a CVA flint rifle in 54 cal. The odd barrels are a CVA 54 cal which I believe is rusted beyond salvage and a Thompson Center 45 cal that appears to be in good shape.  I've nothing invested as all this was given to me.



The flint rifle is missing the most parts and the stock is cracked through the wrist and at the tang.  It is also missing wood at the nose cap.  A new stock might be necessary.

The Frontier rifle will need a new drum and sights to get it shooting again.  I do volunteer work teaching kids to shoot muzzle loaders with the Safari Club and Boy Scouts. My thoughts are to repair and refinish it for the kids to use.





I've decided what the first project will be and I am open to any and all advice from the brigade.

My first plea is for sources for CVA parts.  I know Track Of the Wolf and that's about all I know. (60 to 90 days back order?!)

I am also open to swapping for spare parts if anyone needs something from that pile.

I will take photos of my progress and the finished product to post here.

Again, I welcome any and all advice on this little project.

Thanks in advance guys.

[Forager]

Send the .54 rust-bar to get rebored to .62 smooth.

See if the .45 barrel can be made to worth with the CVA set-up.

Otherwise, part out the stuff that won't work with the CVA to get funds to get parts to make that one work.

What parts are missing on the flinter?  (Me, entering scrounger mode....)

[Spotted Bull]

Prairie Dog, where in North Texas are ya located? We might be able to get together and do some tradin' or teachin' or shootin' or whatever!

[prairie dog]

Bull,

I am in McKinney.  Getting together would be good.  I go to club shoots the second Sunday and as many rendezvous as possible.  We may have crossed paths before.  

You want to come up to Tool and shoot with us Sunday?

Captchee,

The flint lock rifle has a double set trigger, lock, 54 cal. barrel with sights, under barrel rib, brass nose cap, brass patch box, and brass thimbles.  It is missing a trigger guard, butt plate, wedge pin, under lug, and screws for the barrel rib.

Some gorilla bent the sear arm.  I believe I can heat it and straighten it.  Otherwise the lock works fine.  I got sparks even though the flint is in sad shape.

I think I could see making it into a smooth bore canoe gun?  Perhaps with a full length stock?

Right now I need a drum to fit that Frontier rifle.  Ordering one from TOW could take as long as 90 days.  Any ideas on where I might get one faster?

[Riley/MN]

There's a guy on ebay and gun broker that has a lot of CVA stuff - Pat's sporting goods  I think. The other place that has a lot of CVA parts is Deer CreekProducts in Waldron Indiana. No web site - call 'em at 765-525-6181.

[rickevans]

Pm sent

[Captchee]

i just saw this post this morning . however saddly im late and have a long day of work so i have to run . ill make a post tonight  i may have some of the parts you need . will check .

[Captchee]

ok . is the flintlock a TC ? if so , i have aTG and you could get a buttplate through TC.
aslo if it is , will the bad barrel fit   the stock . if so , have it bored . get a flintlock breech from TC nd you now have a smoothbore barrel for the rifle
  i also believe i have a boster  for the frontier . i just have to find it

[prairie dog]

The flint rifle is a CVA.  The barrel on it looks OK and it is a 54 cal.  
I am guessing that if I replace the stock I could use a trigger guard and butt plate other than a CVA.

Do you know what thread and size screws were used to attach the under barrel ribs to the CVA rifles?  I have no clue what size these things are and I'm going to need to order a few.

By the way, I found a drum in stock at TOW and ordered it today.  By the time it gets here I will have the barrel cleaned up and ready to test fire.  If it will group OK at 50 yards I will move ahead on refurbishing the Frontier rifle.

[Captchee]

as i recall ?? i belive they are 8mm..
  but you just dont know  as those often got changed out . IMO they were to small and most folks didnt locktight them in. thus they would fall out and get lost .
 I wouldnt order them from ToW .  they are not a hardened screw . if you have a local hardware with a line of specialy screws , they should have some  for a cents a piece

 as to the rest , i would re stock it anyway . get a nice parts set and make you a  short full stock out of it OR better yet a proper double keyed  plains rifle

[prairie dog]

Thanks for the advice everyone.  I am going forward on the Frontier rifle.  The flint rifle is going to simmer on the back burner for a while.  I have decisions and choices to make before I know which direction to go with it.

[prairie dog]

I got the parts I ordered from TOW.  I drilled and taped the drum for a 6.1 nipple and installed it last night.  I also installed an under barrel lug, wedge pin, and some sights off of an old TC.

I took the rifle to the local range this morning and test fired it.  I started with 20 grains and worked it up to 100 grains of 3-f.  It put all it's shots on paper with no hang fires, mis-fires, or hiccups.    

A young man had his ten year old son at the bench next to me and I offered to let the boy shoot it.  He fired a couple of rounds with 20 grain loads and enjoyed it.  Neither he nor his Dad had ever shot a muzzle loader before so the old rifle is already doing it's job of recruiting new muzzle loader shooters.




The next steps are to clean up the lock, install a proper set of sights, and put a new coat of lipstick on the old girl.

Things are moving along.

[Riley/MN]

A young man had his ten year old son at the bench next to me and I offered to let the boy shoot it.  He fired a couple of rounds with 20 grain loads and enjoyed it.  Neither he nor his Dad had ever shot a muzzle loader before so the old rifle is already doing it's job of recruiting new muzzle loader shooters.

[rickevans]

Nicely done sir!

[prairie dog]

Yesterdays progress.

Fitting sights to the barrel dovetails.



Re-fitting and shaping the nose cap and beginning to shape the stock.