Are CVA's safe?
 

I'm new to black powder, know practically nothing about bp rifles, and just picked up my first gun, a CVA Plainsman .50cal percussion cap. Mainly I snagged it because the gun show vendor was willing to let it go for $40, on account of a blocked barrel, some surface rust, a missing wedge, and it having had paint splattered on it at some point. After some work I got the obstruction out (a bore brush, and boy was it ever stuck!) and cleaned it up pretty good.
It looks okay, and I'll have a smith look it over, but I have some reservations about it. I've heard two different stories about this company. Mainly that they're really good, and that they use inferior, soft steel and their rifles have a really nasty habit of exploding at pressures well below those produced by a standard load.
I'm really nervous about using it. Can anyone settle this for me?

That's hard to do. I have bits of metal in my right shoulder from one that an other fellow had blow a barrel while I was on the line shooting. They were banned at our club for several years. They have made great improvements in quality the last 4 years but I would be inclined to be very careful of an older gun. Lee

Corpsman
I don't know that I can settle anything for you,but, CVA has been around a long time,both as the Company who had some legal problems and as the present day Company.
You sound like a pretty sensible fellow.Common sense and caution will take you a long way in the Muzzleloading world. If a Gunsmith checks out your gunshow find and says its okay,I wouldn't hesitate to shoot it.However,go on the CVA web sight and research MAX loads for your rifle before you ever attempt to shoot it.Research ,ask questions ,use your common sense.There is a lot of knowledge to be had on this forum.
welcome and hope you enjoy this Sport as much as we all do.

The only unsafe CVA's are the 1995 and 1996 inlines. No CVA Sidelock has ever had a recall or safety issue. You can tell this by looking at the last two digits in the serial # on an inline.

What you are reading about CVA being unsafe, is coming from a Savage Salesman trying to use scare tactic to bring business over to his end.

The CVA Plainsman is one heck of a shooter, i had a .50cal flintlock and that baby loved 70gr 3f goex and a 405gr powerbelt. Also did really well with patched round balls.

You may find this helpful,
http://blog.cva.com/the-truth-about-cva-muzzleloaders/

And anytime you hear of a rifle blowing up, centerfire, rimfire, muzzleloader, And especially pistols, You will never get the true story from the shooter or by stander.
http://hpmuzzleloading.com/Alert2.html

look at it this way. you could probably double your money selling the barrel and stock seperatley on ebay.i own several cva-s and love em all.

True Liquid... I'd offer him $60 for it right now!

Any rifle can be made to blow. The question is the loads you are going to shoot. Keep the powder charge under 100 grains and you should be fine. That Plainsman with a roundball and 70-80 grain of powder are pretty accurate.

Thanks
 

Thanks for all the info! I feel alot better about this gun, and alot more informed, but of course I'll still have a gunsmith look it over. Fortuneatly I'm heading home for the first time in a couple years, and there's a BP speacialty shop there with a smith that will look it over and help me get any replacement part(s) I cant make myself. So, I have one more question, then. I'm new to black powder, and don't have a mentor, so I'm basicaly on my own. Is there a good book that anyone would recomend that would help me learn the basics (equipment, terminology, how to load/measure a charge, round selection, etc.)? I'm headed home next week and I'm getting a kit from the shop there, and I want to be armed with as much knowledge as possible when I pick out my rifle.

You are IN the book when you are here.

Cayugad has published a similar long list several times. Hopefully he still has access to the thread and can forward the information as to where and how to find it. I remember at least two times this has been published and the material is extremely well done.
He (Dave) has a lot of experience and did a great job putting all this together. (Sorry Dave; but I couldn't resist as the postings were very informative for a new shooter).