eddiep770

i just bought a cvabobcat 50 caliber 1:48twistand it had no instrustions and i'm don't know very much about blackpower guns.does anyone know if you have to use the round balls or can i use maxi-hunter 50 cal.hollowpoints.any help will be appreciated

Triple Se7en

That twist is user-friendly. You can shoot conicals, roundballs or sabots effectively. But the beauty of this sport is only your Bobcat knows whichbullet design of the threewill provide the most bullseyes.

Have fun finding out.

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Thompson Center Arms -- Triple Se7en Powder -- Buffalo Bullet Co.

dmurphy317

If you go to this link you can download the manual for your Bobcat. http://www.cva.com/warranty/Side.pdf

The Bobcat is a good starter rifle that with a little getting use to can shoot quite well. Good luck with your new toy.

nysbowhunter

The Bobcat is an awesome little shooter for not a lot of money. I own one and it shoots as good as the other high dollar rifles I own. You would do well with 80-90 grains of black or pyrodex RS and a patched round ball. You will have to file the front sight by hand to get your elevation right but you will get it (dont go too far)! Take the time to clean it with hot soapy water and it will serve you well. I can shoot inside a four inch bull at 75 yards with mine.(Better on a good clear day, I can't see as good anymore)In fact I hunt with this gun almost all the time. I will be glad to answer any question you have but it may take some time to get back to you, as I work too much, like right know. Good Luck D. (P.S. pay attention to Cayugad's posts on cleaning and shooting traditional rifles, He helped me alot when I started.)

cayugad

I shoot a CVA Mountain Stalker which is the same thing as your Bobcat except it was sold by Bass Pro and they changed the name. While my rifle will shoot maxi ball and powerbelts pretty good actually, it really shines with roundball.

I shoot 80 grains of Triple Se7en 2f, a wonder wad, and a .015 pillow tick patch and Speer roundball. A couple deer found out the hard way to not get too close to me one afternoon with this rifle. It knocked them flat.

As for the sights, they can get hard to spot in low light, so I took some white out (type correction fluid)and and painted my front site. It really helped. After that I finally threw a set of cheap fiber optic sights on the rifle.

When you swab the barrel, use pure isopropyl alcohol 91% and swab with that. It will cut down on the hang fires and misfires with the rifle. Also getting a hot shot nipple for the rifle will really make that a shooter. Also be sure to pop a few caps through the rifle before the first time loading. It will clear the fire channel and make the rifle much more likely to fire the first time you need it.

Be sure and check the alignment of the hammer to the nipple. It was one of the few problems that the Bobcat did have besides the poor quality factory nipple.

Pittsburghunter

Triple Se7en is about right it will shoot most everything out there but I would stay away from the sabots because even though you can get them to shoot in it there is a lot of work finding loads for them. Some easy loads to get started with are from my own experiences not from a book so take them with a grain of salt.

1- Roundball, an exellent choice for targets or deer sized game at ranges less than 100yds and this rifle will shoot them fine. keep loads under 90g for FFF powder and 100g max for FF. Goex and Triple Se7en are the only powders I use in this rifle.

2- Conicals, keep to the lighter side with this rifle because of the 48 twist and the amount of powder chucking the thing down range. For the sake of this post I will include the Powerbelt as conicals as they are full bore and ballistically simular.

I use 320g bullets max and powder between 85g and 95g. that is with both FF and FFF. FFF Goex (real black powder) I limit to 90g. exellet results with these loads.

If you can find 300g balletts like the ones made by Traditions they shoot exceptionally well in this rifle.



One final note this gun is built with traditional sights with no adjustment for vertical placement and if it shoots low your only option is filing down the front sight which needs to be done with care by someone who knows what they are doing. Good luck with the rifle.

Angel Eyes

Four years ago my wife bought me a .50 caliber CVA Bobcat sidelock for my birthday. Cost $50 then. Mine uses the little # 11 caps. Cute little gun but it shot poorly, failing to group at even 25 yds with a patched ball. Also shot low with its fixed sights. Too low to correct by filing down the the front sight. Finally figured out the rifling was too sharp and was cutting my patches. I hand lapped the bore and replaced the back sight with a step adjustable rear sight off an old junker Marlin .22 semi auto. Fit right in the dovetail. Blackened the brass blade front site with my daughter's black nail polish. Now it shoots incredibly well. Friends and I play games at the range putting clay birds on the dirt bank behind the 50 yard target. I can break clay birds targets every shot at 60-65 yds if I do my part. My friends with their far more expensive traditionals and in-lines hate to shoot against it. Mine likes 75 grains of FF Triple Seven with a pre lubed patched ball. I use a 80 grain hunting load. Bagged my first deer with it a week ago. A 6 point running straight at me. Dropped him in his tracks with a center shot. Sort of silly, but I wouldn't take a thousand dollars for my little Bobcat.....Mark "Angel Eyes"

dmurphy317

I too had to lap the bore of one of the Bobcats we have. It went from a 3+" grouping gun to a 1.5" grouping gun. It loads much easier too. The bore was tight on it at .498 so I use a combination of fire lapping and hand lapping to both smooth it and increas it. It is now .500 and very smooth.

yeoman

dmurphy - would you describe your "fire lapping" process? My alterior motive in asking is because I have considered using a swab with lapping compound as a bore fouling alternative and don't want to harm the barrel and perhaps could benefit while doing so. Thanks.

dmurphy317

The kit I used was purchased from MidwayUSA. The kit includes 3 grits of lapping compounds and 2 metal plates used to imbed the compound into the bullets you use (I used some Ballets). The coarse grit isquite coarse and can remove metal fairly quick so care must be taken (it is more like valve lapping compund than a polishing compound). The other 2 compounds are still pretty coarse so the best advise is to go slow and recheck often. I only shot around 15 to 20 shots to increase the bore by over .0015". I finished the process by hand lapping with some 2500 grit compound on a multi-patch wrapped bore brush for about 200 strokes, changing the patches and adding compound every 50 strokes, to polish the bore. It came out nice and shiney and ended up the correct size.

I would be very careful about using the compound as a bore fouling medium as the result may cause the bore to be enlarged and or damaged.