First off ... no the barrel did not blow. So get that out of your mind..

I took out my .54 caliber CVA Mountain Stalker today. I was shooting roundball at 50 yards with some excellent results/accuracy. I was only shooting 70 grains of Swiss 3f powder. I thentried some powerbelts but with terrible results.As I was swabbing the barrel clean of fowling to try some sabots next,I noticed the lock did not look right. The front part of the lock plate was sticking out too far from the composite stock. So I checked it. Sure enough, the the lock was loose. This is a simple fix of course, you simply tighten the lock bolt that runs through the rifle into the lock plate. But, when I tried to tighten the lock bolt, I noticed it would not tighten for some reason.

I then pulled the lock off and checked the back side. I suspected the lock bolt was broken. Well to my surprise, on the back side of the lock where the bolt threads into the lock/nut itself, it had split just a small amount. But enough so that the bolt simply turned in there with out engaging the threads.

So now we will get to see what kind of customer service BPI/CVA has monday when I call them. I think it will need a new lock, as the nut/part that attached to the bolt is held there with a simple weld of sorts. I sure hope they have parts around. This is a good rifle and I am not ready to give it up...

Time will tell.