Originally Posted by
Alpowa
Just starting out myself, with a couple new CVA's. I too am very happy with these CVA's even though I haven't shot them yet!
I have a good background as a lifetime shooter and understood the breechplug issues and whatnot before I bought the rifles; I have a Southbend lathe in the next room, and bought a couple of extra breechplugs when I bought the guns. I'm not worried about any minor problems that may crop up.
The firing pin bushing can be a challenge. I was lucky to have a set of Brownell's bits, but it gets complicated. I was just fooling around and polishing toolmarks off my pin when I had trouble. I thought at first the screw slot was too shallow.
The firing pin is just long enough to keep the bit from bottoming out in the slot. When I get this posted I'll grind a slot in the center of the bit so that it can fit the slot. I'll order another bit for a spare.
The bit is Brownell's #340-3.
Yep as you can see, the bushing isn't seated flush with the face of the frame. I had one "I forget which one" that was like that and i used a tiny screw driver " flat head" and was able to unscrew it by one "ear". I do this trick to ALL my break actions now.
Mike Bellm will be making us a shim kit for the CVA's that need to be shimmed. It lets the shooter screw down the bushing tight and tight after adjusting the head space correctly.
http://gandersmuzzleloadingblog.blog...pem-clean.html