Dikar

[del]

Can someone tell me some history on these pistols?  I just aquired one , .45 cal, I will be redoing it.  thanks  del

[2-bellys]

made in Spain most like the cva fair quality just don't over load it accuracy is not all that bad but  not a target pistol either

[Bigsmoke]

Not too sure about a Dikar, never heard of that one.  The Jukar is what 2-bellies was referring to, and his is a fair assessment.  Like all CVA's, the main problem is with a weak mainspring.

[R.M.]

I've had both the Dikar and the Jukar, and they were identical.

[Gambia]

On this subject does anyone know where you can get a caplock that can be fitted to a Jukar without a major inletting job.I have had a Jukar around for awhile with an unserviceable lock[ read junk].I have made some searches no luck.

[Mitch]

try a L&R replacement lock...

[Uncle Russ]

Can someone tell me some history on these pistols?  I just aquired one , .45 cal, I will be redoing it.  thanks  del

I can tell you that DIKAR is the same company that was making guns for CVA a few years back.

I also believe that after the contract was let,  the quality of the guns started to decline and there was a law suit involved regarding safety.
Although there was, to my understanding, no failure of any product, or no damage to persons, many of the guns "were thought to be unsafe" because of the metallurgy used in the manufacturing process.....(DIKAR was thought to be cutting corners, and saving a few dollars.)  
I am not sure of the outcome of the first law suit, but I do know that CVA got something of a bad rep for a few years because of it.

I also understand that DIKAR lost more than $1,000,000.00 a year in sales when CVA finally was free of their contract.
And, of all things, CVA then brought another law suit against DIKAR following the collapse of their arrangement for "loss of potential sales due to a faulty product"

This is an old story and was the talk of the Rondy-voos during the 1990's...it also made for great debate on "who" would be the next one sued, because the United States doesn't have a "Proof Standard" for muzzleloading weapons.

http://cvaguncases.com/uploads/CVA-Dika ... t_1990.pdf    

I may be wrong, but to the best of my knowledge, there are still one or two Law Suits going on with overseas gun manufacturers, and at least one of them brought about in the last six or eight years by gun writers.  

Uncle Russ...

[Three Hawks]

I'd almost be willing to bet that a replacement lock from TOW would be worth more than the entire Dikar pistol.  

I had a .45 Jukar for a while, no way of telling when it was made, a .440 patched ball with  20 gr. 3F was a good load.  

I ended up selling it for waaaay more than I paid for it after I had it two years or so.

It wasn't a bad pistol, all in all.

As for the mainspring being weak, Traditions is pretty good about selling replacement mainsprings, check their website.

Three Hawks

[Captchee]

DIKAR  i believe is a sub company of Jukar .
 who was CVA spllier and from what i understand Traditons as well

with some work and alittle effort they can be fin little shooters .
spend some time on the stock and they can look nice as well

as to your lock , old charlie . jukar and Dikar both mad a number of diffrent lock plate designs . you best bet IMO would be to  keep the lock and hammer and just replace the tumbler , sear , main spring

[del]

Can someone give an idea of a safe , light load for this pistol.  I have some .45 cal conicals that I have shot from my rifle, will these be ok to play with?  All I have is FFFg.  I am wanting to shoot this pistol some kinda bad.  I think it may be my new addiction.  I like the blackpowder pistols.  Might have to get a flinter.  thanks guys   <>< del

[Mitch]

try about 25gr of 3f to start...don't know about conicals, I'd use roundball....conicals might develop too much back pressure or something like that...I'd just use RB...or bore it out smooth and shoot ball or shot...

[Gordon H.Kemp]

Russ, Captchee, was Jukar making the CVA guns when CVA had to put out the recall on tue rifles with serial nos# ending in I think 95?

[Captchee]

i believe so .
 though trule i dont know for sure
 CVA has never nmade anything .
 they are like a general contractor  and farm out all their work

[Gordon H.Kemp]

The last time I was in Fla. afriend bought an in-line and asked me to check it out for him. One of the worst hunks of junk I've seen.They did sell a fairly decent weapon , at least they were fairly safe to shoot and the machine work and fits were ok. The CVA name has been sold several times sense the co. started in Conn.I think BPI  a sub company o0f Winchester wasa rhe last to use it.

[Uncle Russ]

Gordy, I really can't say.
There was time when I was fairly well up to date on who made what, and what company was really what part of what conglomerate, but since my participation in public shooting has all but died, I don't get to hear the horror stories any more.

I do know CVA has put some very accurate, very reliable guns on the market and it has always been a guessing game as to who actually made what when it comes to this company.

Now I'm hearing that Colt Black Powder Co. (Not to be confused with the original American Colt.) has always been made by Muruko of Japan...not that this is a bad thing.
Muruko makes some excellent guns and was a builder of Weatherby's for years. I suspect their "Colt Black Power" guns are of equal quality.

del asked, "Can someone give an idea of a safe , light load for this pistol. I have some .45 cal conicals that I have shot from my rifle, will these be ok to play with? "

Del, in the interest of safety, I would stay away from the conicals...at least for now, maybe forever.
Personally, I would start with a "lightly" patched round ball, meaning relatively easy to start, and I would use the same powder that Mitch recommended.... 25gr FFFg.

Depending on how 25gr FFFg works, I would start increasing my powder charge in increments of 5gr...

I don't recall reading if this was a caplock, or a flinter, but some reason I suspect it is a capper. Cap locks are fairly easy to see pressure changes in and  blow-back, or rebounding hammer, is a sure sign of waaay to much umph....BACK OFF!

As always, with old, untried firearms, safety is paramount...use the KISS method in everything you do until you are intimately familiar with that gun.

Uncle Russ...