I've been a lurker here for sometime and decided to make my first entree here a review of the CVA Hunter. I chose the .45-70 based on a combination of shooting distance (less than 100 yards), variety of game from the obvious deer through, well whatever I felt I could shoot (in terms of recoil) down to making chip shots at squirrels (great practice).
A lot has been written questioning the strength of the break-open action. Considering one of the cartridges it is chambered for is the .35 Whelen with a max SAAMI pressure of 52000, it should have more than enough strength of the typical .45-70 lever action pressures of 40000 (per Hornady). Some have questioned the fact that the chamber and bore of the larger .45-70 would contribute a weakness. The CVA comes equipped with a Bergara barrel, a company with a reputation for well made hardware. And what a barrel it is. It is definitely a heavy weight barrel, somewhere between 3/16" and 1/4" thick. I see no indications this setup is weak.
That being said, however, my groups were down right horrible 6+ inches at 50 yards from anything I shot. The groups where stringing both vertically or horizontally. I figured the problem to be the front stock and after a couple hundred rounds I checked the fit with the tried and true slipping paper between the barrel and forearm and it did not slide very far at all. I removed the forearm and sure enough there was plastic marks on the barrel, especially on the left side. Using a dremel tool and the sanding bit I removed enough of the forearm to ensure free floating. The forearm is attached via pillars, I VERY VERY carefully removed ~ 1/32" off the pillars and used a simple o-ring between the pillar and barrel and screwed it back together.
The next day I shot 9 sets of 3 shots @ 50 yards. My largest group was .8" ctc, the smallest was an amazing .2" ctc, the average was .65"! I will be the first to admit these 50 yard groups did not translate to simply double sized groups at 100 yards, these averaged 1.8".
The load I used for this was a 350 gr. Laser Cast with a max load minus 5% of TrailBoss for a chronographed velocity of 1315 fps. I used the IMR formula for determining the max charge. I won't give my exact load here because the variation in seating depth, case capacity, etc. may be different than mine.
So, I am now extremely happy with this very low cost firearm and hope others may benefit from my experience.
A lot has been written questioning the strength of the break-open action. Considering one of the cartridges it is chambered for is the .35 Whelen with a max SAAMI pressure of 52000, it should have more than enough strength of the typical .45-70 lever action pressures of 40000 (per Hornady). Some have questioned the fact that the chamber and bore of the larger .45-70 would contribute a weakness. The CVA comes equipped with a Bergara barrel, a company with a reputation for well made hardware. And what a barrel it is. It is definitely a heavy weight barrel, somewhere between 3/16" and 1/4" thick. I see no indications this setup is weak.
That being said, however, my groups were down right horrible 6+ inches at 50 yards from anything I shot. The groups where stringing both vertically or horizontally. I figured the problem to be the front stock and after a couple hundred rounds I checked the fit with the tried and true slipping paper between the barrel and forearm and it did not slide very far at all. I removed the forearm and sure enough there was plastic marks on the barrel, especially on the left side. Using a dremel tool and the sanding bit I removed enough of the forearm to ensure free floating. The forearm is attached via pillars, I VERY VERY carefully removed ~ 1/32" off the pillars and used a simple o-ring between the pillar and barrel and screwed it back together.
The next day I shot 9 sets of 3 shots @ 50 yards. My largest group was .8" ctc, the smallest was an amazing .2" ctc, the average was .65"! I will be the first to admit these 50 yard groups did not translate to simply double sized groups at 100 yards, these averaged 1.8".
The load I used for this was a 350 gr. Laser Cast with a max load minus 5% of TrailBoss for a chronographed velocity of 1315 fps. I used the IMR formula for determining the max charge. I won't give my exact load here because the variation in seating depth, case capacity, etc. may be different than mine.
So, I am now extremely happy with this very low cost firearm and hope others may benefit from my experience.