CVA Mountain Rifle

S

Springfield Kid

New member
Just bought a 50 cal CVA Mountain Rifle ...I have had no experience with these fine shooting rifles .
A good friend of mine owns 2 and I noticed they shoot as good as the shooter . He never misses a target .
I ran across a good deal on one myself the other day and paid 200.00 for one in good shape .
here`s what I discovered when I took mine to the range , these rifles are tack drivers , good shooters is putting it lightly .
I have owned side lock muzzle loading rifles made by every company in the USA , Spain , and Italy includeing several custom made with Rice and Greenmountain barrels .
Not one will shoot a round ball any straighter than this CVA .
So what is the deal here ? and where is this CVA of mine really made ?
It doesn`t say anywhere on the barrel where it was made . I would have to assume it was made here in the USA ony from what I have heard .
Is there a site where I can learn more about these fine shooting rifles .
Also is there a way to find out when one was made by serial number ?
 
Many of the CVA Arms rifles were made in Italy and Spain. The proofmarks will tell the story. Often the rifles were made in two different places and sold as the same rifle, even though some of the parts were not interchangeable. In general, they shoot well.
 
Some early CVA rifles were made in the USA. They had Douglas barrels and are highly sought after. CVA guns made in Spain will explicitly say so on the barrel; barrels lacking that stamp or proof marks are USA made barrels. I've never seen a CVA gun made in Italy.
 
BTW

By the way, Springfield,

Welcome to the forum.

Some good info here.

I apologize in advance for my long rambling posts.

Tnx,
 
Nor have I ever seen a CVA made in Italy.
I heard possible Douglas barrel from other places .
it is odd no (made in) anywhere on the rifle .
I`ve owned several of the made in Spain CVA`s ...there is no compairison .
I`m wondering if they could have been a limited production or something of the sort .
Silver patch box, silver wedge plates , iron butt plate and trigger guard pewter nose capped .
barrel is browned instead of blued . 2 barrel wedges .
Barrel is 32 inches long with a 1 in 66 twist ..rifle weighs 8 lbs.

I just bought another one on line , it has maple wood stock . ( I could not resist haveing a pair )
ok 2 is my limit , I`ll leave the rest for someone else to buy and enjoy .
Shooting one of these rifles will make you think , what the heck happened to CVA. :confused:
Thought a Pic might help
511no9.jpg


Thanks Doc
 
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robhof

That 1 in 66 twist is the reason for great ball accuracy. I've got 3 Hawkins style Thompsons and one is 1 in 20; for sabots only, one is 1 in 48 works fair for ball and minnie, and one with a green mountain 1 in 66 and it is a tack driver with the ball. Congrats on your score, most CVA's around use the Spanish hardware, good but not as good as USA.
 
Some of the earlier ones had Douglas made barrels, they were clearly marked made in USA. Yours appears to be the standard Spanish made rifle. The earlier ones also had 4 screws holding the patchbox, the one pictured does not appear to.
 
I know of no serial number database for CVA rifles.

Your gun may have been a kit gun, and it's very possible that any marks identifying the origin of the barrel were removed by the builder or a previous owner. In fact, that's possible even if it was a factory gun.

The factory CVA Mountain Rifle had a 32 inch blued octagonal barrel and German silver furniture, although the nose cap may have been pewter. It weighed just short of 8 lbs. There was also a kit version so the barrel may be finished in any number of treatments. It was discontinued in 1994, but CVA reprised the design for a short time in 2004; this second offering had a maple stock, a browned 32 inch octagonal barrel and hardware (except for German silver wedge plates and front sight blade) and a buckhorn rear sight. The barrel had a 1:66 twist rate to shoot round balls. It weighed 9 lbs.
 
Thanks for the help guys , the CVA Mountain rifle I have comming with maple stock has 4 screws holding the silver patch box , the one I have now only has 2 and plain wood .
So there will be a difference in the 2 , I`ll post the differences when I get it in my hands .
I hope it shoots as well as my first one .
I know CVA had their problem and sold the name and such ..
Both these older rifles do not have CVA on them it is spelled out on the barrel Conneccicut Valley Arms .
Could be they just sold the logo rights to the Spanish company .
I`ve hit a dead end rescearching on the net , but I have learned that a company called Deer Creek is still selling these Douglas barrels for them .
Track of the Wolf is selling an L&R drop in lock replacement for them .
A lot of CVA`s short commings have been in the lock dept , so if experience any problems with these locks , I will replace with the L&R and keep shooting .
Almost seems these rifles have been a well kept scerete over the years from me .
I`ve been shooting and buying since the 70`s and have always thought of the CVA rifles as junk .
Makes me wonder if there is anything else I miss .
Might be time for me to rethink some things , one is never to old to learn something new /old .
 
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Sorry for my misinformation, I didn't know they ever had been made in the US.

With a Douglas barrel, no less!

Well, that is why I am on this forum, can always learn something.
 
The Mountain Rifle was CVA's best. Some of the early ones did have Douglass barrels and should be marked made in USA. Kit guns did not have barrel markings. The inside of the lock plate on Spanish kit guns were stamped Spain but that's the only markings I have seen on them.
 
Not all CVA's with Douglas barrels are marked. I put together a .54 mountain rifle with the early model (1 year only) maple stock. When i bought the barrel from deer creek products, it came unmarked. Deer creek turns these barrels out on the original douglas rifling machine. No proof marks, no made in spain or made in usa. Just a serial # , caliber & CVA markings.
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Nice rifle Frontier Gander , and good pics .
I have read what you said about Deer Creeks replacement barrels also .
Could be both of mine have the Deer Creek barrels , neaither of mine have anyother marks like yours .
The one I have comming has the Maple stock ....sure was a nice looking piece of wood in the picture I bought from .
I only hope it shoots as well as the first one I bought ...its a dang tack driver .
I kept hitting the same hole when I benched it . I thought I was missing the whole paper untill I hung 4 different target papers to take a shot at each one ....wow
 
I have one that I bought in the late 70s. Was a kit gun and I didn't put it together very well. I think I shot it 3 times when I was 17. I have everything for it but the sights, which I robbed for another project. Pretty sure mine is a douglas barrel. Has the same markings as others in this thread but is a 50 cal. After looking at the pics on this thread, I have a renewed interest in finishing it properly.
 
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Noelf2
from what I have found in my scearching the net on these rifles .
Deer Creek has any parts you may need to finish yours .
They do not have a site , just the phone ..Deer Creek 765 525 6181
I like the front and rear sights that come on these rifles , they are more primitive looking than what you see on newer CVA rifles yet adjustments can be made easy, I`m sure Deer Creek has the original sights also .
Let us know how it comes out .
 
All

Springfield +1 on Deer Creek.

They are absolutely dynamite folks. In spite of the fact that they are quite busy, and in spite of the fact that I told them I was just looking for info and would not likely spend a lot of money, they stayed on the phone for a long while answering my inane questions.

I was looking for ASM parts for an 1863 Remy which unfortunately they did not have. He spent about five minutes talking to me about how to shape the Pietta hammer. I already had the hammer so he knew he was not going to sell me one.

I am a Raving Fan!
 
They are good folks at Deer Creek , they stay busy makeing parts for alot of guns that it is impossible to get parts for other wise . they are a real mom & pop operation .
I have gotten some ASM & Mowrey gun parts from them over the years .
Both the mom & pop seem to know their stuff . A+ from me also .
 
I got ahold of a blue book of black powder guns it listed the CVA Mountain rifle at 250 .00 plain stock silver funiture
It listed the CVA Mountain rifle with Maple stock silver funiture at 400.00 limited edition .
Looks like I wil have one of each .:D
 
I have one of these rifles too that was given to me about 15 years ago by my old Scoutmaster. I can't tell what wood the stock is made from because about 12 years ago my dad and I sanded it and refinished it. How can you tell what wood its made from, will the maple have a pronounced grain pattern?
 
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