There have, in the past,been numerous posts here about problems or fear of problems with Spanish made CVA barrels and there were recalls of some of those barrels. My question: If there were in fact problems or concerns with some of those barrels, and, given the seemingly large number of CVA rifles produced, why are there no replacement or alternative barrels made by GM or anyone else for that matter? Seems they would have a ton of potential customers. Any ideas?
A & H used Spanish made barrels and you never saw them exploding.
When cva was actually cva they had the cva apollo on certain years that had a problem with breechplug failure and those have been the only cva rifle reported to have a failure that was not the users fault. 95-96 i believe are the year recalls. There are still apollos out there that are safe to use. Savage had problems with barrels exploding, TC in the 1970's had some issues with certain model barrels exploding on their sidelocks. This whole spanish barrel stuff is way over the head and is no longer a problem when you use your head and read your manual and know what the limit on each rifle is. What you have now are so called muzzleloader experts that come out to bash other brands while promoting other brands so they can fill their pockets. Take Randy Wakeman for example, hes a big BPI basher yet in his opinion, the winchester x-150 is one of the best muzzleloading rifles you can buy for $240 from what he says. Ive seen pictures of an exploded barrel on a TC encore and everyone that saw it started crying and calling it foul play, they did it on purpose. Wheather thats true or not, noone will know. You all know i own nothing but CVA rifles and have owned TC before. Every cva/bpi rifle i own has never let me down and never had problems. The "experts" like to throw out articles to scare people away from certain brands and run them into their pockets. Even GM had recalls on some barrels that were dangerous. And if these spanish made barrels were so dangerous, why dont the big shots that are looking to shut these companys down, buy barrels and start testing??? They dont do it because they know they would only help the spanish barrels by proving that they can stand the pressures of 3 pellet loads with a 348 grain bullet and therefore, they would only screw them selves by doing the testing.
Woa Gander, take a deep breath. You know I own a CVA, and like you, I'm not the least bit worried about it blowing up so long as I stay within tolerance. I'm simply questioning why no one seems to make replacement or interchangeable barrels for them. I have, since my post, determined that neither Dixie nor GM make barrels for them, though CVA suggested I call them. You'd think they'd know. The Dixie guy said " the CVA's are too inexpensive a gun. The barrels would cost more than the guns do". Well, not exactly true. Deer Creek, also suggested by CVA,has a barrel to fit my gun for $95 that's a 1:48. I'd like a faster twist than that. So someone can make a barrel for these guns under $100. Still wondering why there aren't more options. I get the feeling the industry may be lined up against CVA. Interesting.
Well maybe its because other brands need other barrel makers that know how to build a barrel suited for a conical to shoot properly?
GM barrels are kind of expensive though and i couldnt see putting a $150-250 barrel on a cva bobcat .. Just wouldnt make any sense. Now if i were building a full out custom muzzleloader then yes, i'd look for an after market barrel liike gm. Who'd pay $4-5000 on a custom muzzleloader that has a cva or tc barrel? lol not me.
I think Frontier Gander hit it right on the head. An average quality after market barrel will cost you $150.00 - $350.00, then you can get into the swamped barrels and even add more cost to them. If you have a rifle that costs $89.95 like my CVA Staghorn Magnum, it would seem foolish to purchase say a $200.00 barrel to put on that stock and hardware.
One very good point yeoman brought up though is.. Why doesn't BPI purchase Spanish barrels with twists which would interest other current CVA owners. I personally would really like a 1-70 twist barrel to fit my CVA Staghorn Magnum. That would be cool to get a roundball barrel for an inline rifle. Or even different calibers for inlines so you could make a small game rifle out of an inline rifle. Some .32 or .36 calibers would be an interest to me. The trouble is to keep costs down, what would a company have to do?
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"Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, a total wreck, screaming Yahoo, with a big smile on your face."
Just because one Spanish barrel maker is good doesn't mean another is just the same w/ any American maker....!
I get to purchase a CVA rifle @ a very reduced rate once per yr. from the factory. Each yr I give one up to a freind as I personally already own numerous rifles. All have been Kodiaks and all are great shooters. There are some minor problems w/ the design but none have had cracked stocks or any malfunctions. I do know there have been some problems in the past and there were several rifles involved but nothing I have heard of in 5 yrs.
I just happen to like TC and never have heard of any problems as mentioned above. There are some design issues I have brought to light and I still think they are some fine rifles. I have heard rumors about Savage but quite frankly I think they are just that...I don't see how you could blow one up.The ATF required them to change the module that held the 209 because it was possile to convert the rifle to center fire and avoid a 4473. They then went to a bolt that held the primer in the face. If there ever was a problem this might be a possibility but I never heard of one. I know several shooters who shoot them on a regular basis.
I take each rifle for what it is and none are poor shooters so far...
SHills
One of the big problems was the material a certain group that sells to a bunch of brand names was using. There were several compainies that had them produce to there own specs and did not have any problems. Lee
"I get the feeling the industry may be lined up against CVA. Interesting."
It's possible the industry is resentful for the price competition they've been up against, it's forced afew companies into financial ruin. It's impossible to profitably build a gun for 150 bucks using high grade materials...I bet that wouldn't cover R&D and advertising.No, can't prove that-just a hunch.
barrels
.. Just wouldnt make any sense. Now if i were building a full out custom muzzleloader then yes, i'd look for an after market barrel liike gm. Who'd pay $4-5000 on a custom muzzleloader that has a cva or tc barrel? lol not me.
