CVA Muzzleloaders

[clfergus]

Was wondering what people think about the quality. I have been looking at the new Wolf model with the quick change breech. For 200 bucks it seems like a great upgrade to my old knight 11 cap.

Any other brands in the 200-250 range worth looking at? I saw some TCs at Wally world for 227.

 

[Cain71]

I have had a CVA Optima for a long time. As long as you keep them clean,they work just as good as the more expensive ones.

 

[TiminMishawaka]

I'm buying a traditions pennsylvania rifle only because I'm buying a kit, love putting stuff like this together, and love the old timey look. Pretty much a muzzle loader's a muzzle loader. Hit a pie pan at 100 yards and you're good. You're hitting them with .50 caliber bullets at least so if you hit the boiler room, they will go down.

The only three major advancements to come in the past couple hundred years are 209 primers, pyrodex and savage's smokeless muzzle loader. Outside of that it's just a matter of after market optics and taste. I bought my CVA at Wallyworld when they were clearing them out for like 80 bucks. Takes 150 grains of pyrodex, 209 primers and hits a pie pan at 100 yards.

 

[IndianasFinest]

I have a Optima, and a Wolf there both great rifles. The Wolf makes one heck of a brush gun since it is so short, but I am partial to the Optima since the recoil is less. Either one gets the job done nicely, and I have shot a few deer with each of em.

 

[MadCity Hoosier]

Has everybody already forgiven CVA for the exploding muzzleloaders they produced a decade ago? Surely, you've heard of this and seen the photos. There have been many lawsuits, and I'm surprised the company is still in business.

You see, the Spanish manufacturer was using extruded barrels and breech plugs with malformed threads. The result was a whole bunch of guns that fired in reverse.

Check out this for background: Muzzleloading Tragedy: the CVA Menace

Then, if you have a strong stomach, look here at all the photos and lawsuits brought against CVA: Home Page

I'll never own one and see to it that my friends don't either. $200 is really cheap, and corners will be cut to meet that price point. You'll have to decide if it's worth the risk.

 

[Eddie]

I won a CVA in a poker game maybe ten years ago. I shot it some but finally got rid of it. It was the .50 cal. Hawken Model. To me it seemed poorly made, and it was super-finicky; eight shots or so and it needed to be dissassembled and cleaned or it quit firing. I took it apart, tinkered with it and cleaned it over and over and it just never would work right.

 

[clfergus]

Has everybody already forgiven CVA for the exploding muzzleloaders they produced a decade ago? Surely, you've heard of this and seen the photos. There have been many lawsuits, and I'm surprised the company is still in business.

You see, the Spanish manufacturer was using extruded barrels and breech plugs with malformed threads. The result was a whole bunch of guns that fired in reverse.

Check out this for background: Muzzleloading Tragedy: the CVA Menace

Then, if you have a strong stomach, look here at all the photos and lawsuits brought against CVA: Home Page

I'll never own one and see to it that my friends don't either. $200 is really cheap, and corners will be cut to meet that price point. You'll have to decide if it's worth the risk.

Yikes, thanks for the info. I even found an article on chuckhawks discussing this. Sounds like as late as 2007 they found issues with the steel in there barrels being too soft.

I guess i'll look at an entry TC

 

[HICKMAN]

Buy and shoot them with confidence, the Bergara barrels is beyond comparison to the old barrels CVA used in the past.

hell... I know T/C shooters that buy Bergara barrels.

The CVA Accura is probably the best bang for the buck out there.

from another reader awhile back:

I’ve seen these articles about CVA blowups as well. But from what I’ve read from BPI’s and others responses that were posted on other web sites, this Randy Wakeman guy has been after CVA muzzleloaders for years. They say he is on Savage’s payroll, a company that has been pushing a “smokeless powder muzzleloader,” and also a competitor of CVA, and that he’s also tied in with some lawyers who specialize in lawsuits against muzzleloading gun companies. I saw on CVA’s web site where they did have a recall way back in the 90’s, so Wakeman and his lawyer buddies are probably trying to make money off of that. I guess there are no ambulances to chase. Who knows? But I know that the CVA’s I’ve owned over the past few years have all been great shooters, and I have never had any problems or heard of anyone else having problems. Go to there wabsite and look at the guarantee the are offering I have never seen that before.

It's basically a Mathews/Hoyt, Chevy/Ford, blah blah.

I've had T/C's and CVA's both.

I'll buy a CVA Accura and Nikon Pro-Staff scope for the price of just the Encore any day.

 

[singlesix]

Was wondering what people think about the quality. I have been looking at the new Wolf model with the quick change breech. For 200 bucks it seems like a great upgrade to my old knight 11 cap.

Any other brands in the 200-250 range worth looking at? I saw some TCs at Wally world for 227.

TC is a great company and they make solid M/Ls. What model was it? Oh heck .. I'd get it if it is one of those break open models.

I have a CVA Bobcat (retail $45.00) back in 2008, and I had no issues with this Rifle performance. The main spring broke and CVA sent a prepaid label for me to ship it for replacement. My cost .. ZERO.

 

[HICKMAN]

keep an eye out closer to hunting season, prices are nuts.

Even Dicks drops the prices on T/C's.

 

[paperboy]

I have an old CVA Staghorn and it shoots fine, no probs. A friend has a Wolf and has taken several deer with it. I was thinking about getting a wolf for the break action design. I really like them because they're short, light and a great bargain for about $160 on the average.

 

[ChrisK1977]

I have had several CVA muzzleloaders over the years. I currently have a bobcat and a kodiak mag. I have shot deer with it at 170 yards(a shade over). Most of the deer I have shot with the kodiak mag have been over 100 yards. Seems almost unfair for the deer, but I don't mind.
Chris Kiefner

 

[reload4ever]

Muzzleloading was one of my first passions I own a kodiak now and love it. Very accurate out to 175 yards and wouldnt be worried about it out to 200 yds. I know thats kinda pushin it but practice makes perfect.

 

[DeadeyeChrista'sdad]

These days CVA is one of the most under rated companies out there. Great quality, and mad innovation. Have you seen the Electra primerless electronic gun? That's nuts. I've got an old hawken, and a wolf. Those two are my keepers. Oops. almost forgot the old bobcat. It's a shooter, too. Looking real hard at one of their Apex combos. .50 cal and .308 together? hmmm..... You can get .50 or .45 in the blackpowder, and anything from .22 up to 45-70 in the centerfire. And that thing about the Bergara barrels is right. Awesome quality. And correct twist rates, too.

 

[hotfarmboy1]

I've got one of the CVA Buckhorn Magnums. And its done well for me. I bought it I think it was around 4-5 years ago and its performed great. Accurate and reliable. Also a pretty light trigger too.

 

[Claddagh]

I'm sure glad I read MadCity Hoosier's post and the page he linked to. It may have saved me some potential grief.

I own and shoot several repro C&B revolvers. Got that bug when I was a kid. A good many years ago I bought my one muzzleloading rifle: a .50 cal. CVA inline with electroless nickel finish and synthetic stock at the Kokomo Sam's Club. It was basically a whim, as it appeared to be a great value for the very modest price (c. $130, IIRC).

Fortunately, I fired it only 10 rds or so (just enough to regulate the sights) and put it away. I'd always wondered why I got that call, a few years later, from CVA asking if I still had it. They told me that there was a recall, and that it was because people who were trying to use very heavy (up to 150 gr.) charges in them had experienced "problems". They sent me a new receiver/barrel/breechplug assembly, but the receiver on it is round, not octagonal as on the original and wouldn't fit into the stock properly. I called them about it, but they seemed vastly disinterested and told me I must be "doing something wrong, because it should work just fine". As I almost never used it anyway, and never exceeded a charge of 85 gr. (volume) of Pyrodex R on the rare occasion when I did, I gave up on the installation left it as it was.

I'd been seriously considering selling it off, just to open up some storage space. Now I'll just chalk it up as a small loss. I'm certainly glad that I saw this before I could make up my mind, as I surely don't need that kind of Karma.

 

[Claddagh]

I'm sure glad I read MadCity Hoosier's post and the page he linked to. It may have saved me some potential grief.

I own and shoot several repro C&B revolvers. Got that bug when I was a kid. A good many years ago I bought my one muzzleloading rifle: a .50 cal. CVA inline with electroless nickel finish and synthetic stock at the Kokomo Sam's Club. It was basically a whim, as it appeared to be a great value for the very modest price (c. $130, IIRC).

Fortunately, I fired it only 10 rds or so (just enough to regulate the sights) and put it away. I'd always wondered why I got that call, a few years later, from CVA asking if I still had it. They told me that there was a recall, and that it was because people who were trying to use very heavy (up to 150 gr.) charges in them had experienced "problems". They sent me a new receiver/barrel/breechplug assembly, but the receiver on it is round, not octagonal as on the original and wouldn't fit into the stock properly. I called them about it, but they seemed vastly disinterested and told me I must be "doing something wrong, because it should work just fine". As I almost never used it anyway, and never exceeded a charge of 85 gr. (volume) of Pyrodex R on the rare occasion when I did, I gave up on the installation left it as it was.

I'd been seriously considering selling it off, just to open up some storage space. Now I'll just chalk it up as a small loss. I'm certainly glad that I saw this before I could make up my mind, as I surely don't need that kind of Karma.

Edited to add: The serial number on this rifle ends in -95, which is one of those cited in the article. The replacement assembly's in -97. The original is marked "Stone Mountain Arms", "Pro II" and has the Spanish 'Eibar' Proofmarks. The replacement is marked "CVA" and "Apollo" and bears the exact same proofs. Both the breechplug and endcap on the receiver appear to be significantly different from those of the original. As changing out the parts and glass bedding the stock to work with the differently shaped receiver would require no small amount of time and effort, and considering that I now have no way of being certain that either of these actually underwent the (what I had believed to be mandatory in Europe) individual Proof testing that those marks are supposed to certify, I don't believe I'll be shooting it again. Nor feel as if can I pass it along in good conscience. YMMV, and CVA may well have cleaned-up its act since. But personally I'm not inclined to be much of a gambler, especially when what's at stake could be someone's life.

 

[Steeler]

CVA is good to go. I`ve had zero issues with mine and know plenty of others that are quite happy as well.
I broke one of the screws that hold the trigger assembly soon after I bought an Eclipse. Sent them an e-mail and had a new screw at my door a couple days later at no charge.

 

[xHwyLT]

If your happy with Knight why don't you stay with them. Sportsmans Guide has the Knight vision for $199. Gun works fine ever since they replaced the disc system with a bare 209 primer breech plug. And Knight is back in business, they were purchased by PI Inc. a large plastics corporation, with a lot of the original Knight personnel. They just moved to a new location in Aethen GA. after being purchased. They will honor all warranties on Knight guns.