CVA .32 cal. Pioneer pistol ?

[BGRooster1]

Does anyone have one of these pistols ? Is it basically a Traditions Crockett pistol ? I understand the trigger is no very good , is it possible to make it better ?

[BGRooster1]

This must be a very rare pistol . I thought for certain that someone here would have something to say about these CVA pistols .
 Are the Pioneer pistols generally good ?

[Stormrider51]

I saw a couple 20+ years ago.  Maybe longer, come to think of it.  They are pretty typical of the factory made muzzleloading guns of that era.  If it's still in good condition I wouldn't hesitate to shoot it.  It might be very accurate.  Try 20-25 grains of FFFg.  CVA didn't build bad guns back then by any means.  I had a CVA Mountain Rifle that was a tack driver.  It was a good enough shooter that I took time to correct the things about it that bugged me.  Like the nose cap that was held on by screws.  I cast a new one.  The ramrod ferrules were also held on by screws with holes in the outer side of the ferrule to allow tightening of the screws.  I made new ferrules and sweat soldered them into place.  Shoot your pistol and enjoy it.  Let us know how it does.

Storm

[greyhunter]

Search our site for .32 cal posts,one of our members has one and was asking about loads.  I forget his name, but I can see his avatar in my minds eye !

[BGRooster1]

Thanks guys . I have been looking at one , don't have one at the moment . It's kind of pricey but has not been used .

[Captchee]

Sorry , I just saw this thread .
 I have had a couple  through the years .
 They have the same issues that most CVA  pieces have .
Poor lock quality , soft lock plates and weak main springs
 Improperly set triggers
Beech stocks
 Over all though not bad shooters .
 Whats funny is the price often being ask anymore for just about any CVA .

As to your trigger issue .   Most times this is a combination of trigger placement and lock issues . The result is a very heavy trigger pull .
 What you can do is pull the lock and look at the tumbler . Later CVA tumblers have a   full cock engagement screw which allows you to  reduce the depth that the sear engages the full cock notch . Just be careful you don’t turn it to far and  thus  not get good engagement of the sear . If you lock doesn’t have that screw , then you can  simply  swap out the tumbler from a CVA lock that does .

With the trigger , the issue is in the location of the pivot point . CVA used a 1 minus location . In other words the distance  from the pivot to  the sear is often equal  or greater then the distance to the finger  area of the trigger . This makes for a very hard trigger pull.
IE its an effect of leverage.
 The other issue is that they did not set the trigger deep enough . So what you get is a lot of free play in the trigger . IE no mater if the lock is cocked or not , the trigger moves forward and back .
To fix that issue , what you need is a small wire spring . CVA applied this spring to later  guns  just prior to their  shutting down their traditional  product lines .
 Is simply a piece of 1/64 piano wire . A small hole is drilled in the trigger bar and another drilled in the pivot perch right next to the trigger plate . This small spring now hold the trigger back with very little resistance . So when you put the lock in , you have to hold the trigger forward just alittle . Once the lock is in place and you let go of the trigger , the trigger then  comes back to full contact with the sear arm .  
 Thus you have full engagement of the trigger to the sear arm and no slop in the trigger .

Know this does not change how heavy the trigger is .
To fix that  you can work over the tumbler  full cock . Which isn’t a good idea unless you know what your doing . that’s why they came out with the engagement screw .
 The best and safest way IMO is to adjust the trigger placement.
To do that , you need to know which trigger plate you have .
CVA used 2 different plates
a)  plate has a  trigger pivot  perch  on top of the trigger plate
b) plate has the trigger pined through the trigger plate  itself . This is the most common  seen

Not much you can do with  if you have (a)  but to  change out the trigger to one with a front lobe, which allows you  then re drill the trigger so that it moves back .
With (b)  you can simply remove the trigger pivot pin and re drill its location back alittle so as to allow the trigger bar to  contact the sear at a point  that’s  less  of a distance  from the pivot.
 Again it’s a mater of leverage. IE you want the distance from the pivot , to the point  where you apply pressure , to be greater then the distance  from the pivot to the object your trying to move .

 Now if you want to get the most out of one of these pistols here is what I would do

A) change out the lock   to one that has a fly on the tumbler . This allows you to then use a single  set trigger. So basically you looking at either one of the L&R replacement locks. ”which will run you more then what the CVA is worth money wise ”
OR
 Watch for  and pick up  a traditions lock from a Traditions that  had double set triggers .
OR change out the tumbler   to one of traditions tumblers that has a fly  
B) change out the trigger to a single set trigger
C) change out the trigger guard to  one for a dueling pistol which has a finger hook . You will be surprised at how  the addition of that hook  will steady up your hold  
D) double check the crown of the barrel . Make sure its even and  smooth , with no burrs where the rifling enters the crown .
 If the barrel doesn’t have a crown , then crown it .
 By doing the above , what you end up with is something much closer to an actual dueling pistol  that’s light and quick in the trigger . Change out the lock to one of the L&R  replacment locks and you will also have a pistol that’s fast in the action

[BGRooster1]

captchee ,sounds like  CVA's are pretty much all predictable on what needs to be done with them to make better shooters out of them.
 I have a .50 cal. Frontier I put together from a kit and a .54 Frontier Hunter . Nice little woods guns . They are not anything special , just get done what I need them to do.

Thanks to everyone for adding to this topic.
I had answered in the quick reply but it never showed up on the forum . That was a day or so ago.