CVA Kodiak?? HELP A NEWBIE OUT
 

I'm new to muzzleloading and could use all the advice possible. I am looking at the CVA Kodiak Magnium .50 cal. Does anyone have any experience using these, good or bad? I am also planning on shooting Triple Se7en and AeroTip bullets. I will be using this in MN for whitetails, so a scope is out of the question.
Thanks

RE: CVA Kodiak?? HELP A NEWBIE OUT
 

Depending on who answers, you will hear good and bad reports about a BPI/CVA rifle. While I personally feel there are better values out there, the CVA Kodiak I am somewhat sure will produce good results for what you want it to do.Kodiak owners do report excellent accuracy with them. Keep the charges around 100 grains and test some powerbelts, and some different sabots, and for open sights and the kind of shooting you intend, a MN whitetail will be in real trouble.

Have you considered a Huntsman, Sidekick, or perhaps even a Thompson Center Omega Z5? You can get those reasonable sometimes and they also are great shooters. But if your heart is set on the Kodiak, then have at it, as with all rifles, follow the manufacturer's guidelines, and be safe.

RE: CVA Kodiak?? HELP A NEWBIE OUT
 

I have one.... It shoots great with 2 50gr. 777 and 300gr speer GD. I get 2-3 inch groups at 100yards. I have nothing to complain about this Muzzy. You will like it. I'm in MN too.

RE: CVA Kodiak?? HELP A NEWBIE OUT
 

I love mine. I am currently using 45gns of BM3 and I forget the sabot. T/C cheap shot is a tight louding round. I have not tried to find the "magic load" yet so that is the reason for the light load. Clean up is easy (hot water) and I would recomment it to any one on a tight buget. Heck any one looking for a good rifle for that matter.

RE: CVA Kodiak?? HELP A NEWBIE OUT
 

The Harvester sabots alleviates tight bores using many sabot/bullets.

http://www.cabelas.com/products/Cpod0012633.jsp

RE: CVA Kodiak?? HELP A NEWBIE OUT
 

Better resale values andful-lifetime, transferable (no receipt necessary)warranty buying the Omega for a few dollars more. Plus, the Omega, Encore & Black Diamond were all designed to shoot three pellet loads well.

RE: CVA Kodiak?? HELP A NEWBIE OUT
 

Ive had no problems with my cva's when it comes to warranty. Ive bought used cva's and when i needed an replacement part, they sent it with no questions asked. Dont the omegas have an issue where the hammer assembly wont stay closed and keeps dropping? Something about having to unscrew your breech plug a little in order for it to catch.

RE: CVA Kodiak?? HELP A NEWBIE OUT
 

Yeah, I have another one that I use, that is MUCH easier to load but for the life of me can't remember what it is. I'll have to look when I get home.

RE: CVA Kodiak?? HELP A NEWBIE OUT
 

My experience with CVA and a Kodiak was less than ideal. I think some of it had to do with the fact it was .45. I'm glad your looking at a .50. I had some serious accuracy issues with my gun. I could not keep the darn thing on the paper at 25yds. After going through two scope, testing with iron sights, and over $100 in primers, powder, and various projectiles, I figured it could possibly be the gun. Called CVA to plead my case, they just told me to use heavier powerbelts. Trouble is, already tried that. I took the gun back to where I bought it, Gander Mountain, to see if they could help me out. I ended up getting my money refunded and I purchased a T/C Encore.
I had the Encore sighted @25 yds in three shots. 2 more shots @ 100 yds got me dialed in for that distance. The next 3 shots produced an 1.5" group. The difference between the two smokepoles was night and day.
I'm sure my experience is the exception rather than the rule. But I doubt I'll buy anything with a CVA logo on it again.

RE: CVA Kodiak?? HELP A NEWBIE OUT
 

Doegirl - if that's the case you better also stay away from Traditions, Winchester, New Frontier and a few other brands out there. I am not too sure about Remington. All of them are produced by BPI. The actual CVA is only a stamp or trademark for better words..

Some models of the BPI line just gave people fits to try and work anything up in them. Others tune in real easy...

RE: CVA Kodiak?? HELP A NEWBIE OUT
 

There is a safety feature with Omegas that prevents folks from firing their Ml if the breechplug is not screwed-in all the way. Just the opposite of what you mentioned.
================================================== ===

Also..............

The CVA folks will "occasionally' replace your defective parts -- within a reasonable time frame. T/C replaces both defective and worn-out parts "for free" ... for life. You can be the 3rd-100th owner of that ML - not having a receipt/proof of purchase.

Try that with CVA..... better-yet..... don't bother to waste your precious time. CVAs are sercieable MLs that you can find acceptable accuracy with - in many cases. But you improve those odds buying T/Cs over CVAs.

I''m getting challenged all the time by folks who purchase inexpensive, entry-level Mls and tell folks they are just as good as more expensive brands. Well in most cases.. they're not!

If they are just as good, then they are generally just as good in only one facet of describing "good' versus 'serviceable".Domost CVAs compare evenly with T/Cs and Knightsat....

1)quality?
2)craftsmanship?
3)warranty coverage?
4)accuracy?
5)resale value?
6)life of product?

The answer is "any typical/singular CVA" riflegenerally lacks in multiple areas I listed. The only difference isthe numbers I listed change with each CVA.

T/Cs and Knights are not perfect by-any-means. But with Knights and T/Cs, YOU HAVE LESS NUMBERS-ISSUES.

-------------
I'm done here on this thread!!!!!!!!


By-the-way....I just purchased & received a brand new Youth Hunter Stalker Carbine CVA sidelock yesterday. To be used with under 80 grains of powder 100% of the time. So don't tell me I'm anti-CVA.... anti-Traditions (own 3). I just happen to know a good gun from a serviceable gun manufacturer.

Keep buying your CVAs -- I'll keep buying my T/Cs. That should make us both happy.;)

RE: CVA Kodiak?? HELP A NEWBIE OUT
 

Now this in my personal opinion and i may have just taken the tone wrong. But you got an attitude problem. My first muzzleloader was a cva blazer, introduced in the late 80's at one of the first inlines. I bought this rifle in ooooooh around 1998. It was around 8-9 years old when i bought it brand new in '98 out of a gun shop. I owned that gun for 4 years until a gunsmith tried drilling out a welded breech plug and then realised it. I Emailed cva about buying an replacement barrel and was told they didnt make that rifle anymore and to send it back to them and they will send me a .50 staghorn inline as an replacement. Hmmm i paid $60 for the blazer and they send me a $120-130 rifle to replace a 10 year old gun? Seems like pretty good service to me! The blazer did a good job but the staghorn out did it by far. I've owned 5 cva's and have never had any issues. Unless you count the cva the gun smith screwed up. As for resale value. I only give a crap about that when i buy a new over priced car. I sold off all my inlines and kept the winchester x-150 my ex girl friend bought me. Its the only inline i'll ever need to own. Theres no point in replacing a perfectly good shooting gun because some other company makes a cute dropping trigger. It takes 2 seconds at the most to pull my bolt out of the muzzleloader. And so far ive seen more people complaining about not getting accuracy out of their omegas than ive seen about cva or any other ML company. Now the only thing i did replace on my winchester that i didnt like were the sights. Im extremly near sighted and the front sight was to small and was blurry for me to see. That was a $20 and that was personal issues. No company can make a perfect gun to suit everyones personal needs. Now cva has a cool inline that has a thumb flip up cover that seals the 209 primer. But it has something that the omega uses and that i HATE! Everyone is going back to HAMMERS! thats the reason i bought the winchester. If i want to deal with a hammer, i would stick to a traditional muzzleloader. When im out hunting, i dont want to pull a hammer back and flick off the safety. I want to aim, take saftly off, and fire! Every company out there is using a hammer now because everyone else is. Damn followers!

RE: CVA Kodiak?? HELP A NEWBIE OUT
 

That's a shame. You know I've been oogling over a Traditions sidelock gun from another forum. Now I'm not so sure.

RE: CVA Kodiak?? HELP A NEWBIE OUT
 

Traditions IS NOT part of bpi. I pissed cva off by asking about the traditions kentucky classic lol. I thought they were bpi but they are not.I own the traditions kentucky classic and it truely is a great product. I own 2 1/2 BP rifles. Winchester x150, traditions kentucky classic and im building a .36 rifle that uses a traditions frontier gander 28" barrel. ive had no problems with any of these guns ive bought from cva or traditions. And i sure in hell am not paying $500+ of a TC that does the same job the lower value rifles do. If not better... And a rifle is only going to last a long time in the hands of a person that takes proper care of it.

RE: CVA Kodiak?? HELP A NEWBIE OUT
 

Frontier, what safety? Perhaps an Omega owner can correct me if I'm wrong, I don't believe they come with safeties. The hammer at half cock IS the safety. It is the case with the Kodiak and the Encore, and I'm sure it's the same with the Omega.

RE: CVA Kodiak?? HELP A NEWBIE OUT
 

doe girl. I was referring to my inline about having the switch for safety. What i was saying is, i do not like the omgeas or any other ML that has a hammer. The point of having an inline WAS to eliminate the hammer and making the trigger like a centerfire rifle. Hammers should be a thing of the past, You dont see millitary rifles using an external hammer anymore. But thats beyond the point. And the external hammer isnt very safe, A wet glove or finger while lowering the hammer can be a mess if your thumb were to slip and drop the hammer. I remember when some cva's and white rifles had the double safety which was a great idea. I THINK it was the white that had the screw safety where it pulled the firing pin back and away so if u were to drop it, no firing pin would hit. What traditions were you looking at by the way?

RE: CVA Kodiak?? HELP A NEWBIE OUT
 

O.K. Frontier, now I see where you're coming from regarding hammers vs safeties. Thumbs slipping off the hammer being cocked back could result in an accidental discharge, for sure. The sidelock I'm looking at is the Traditions Deerhunter.

RE: CVA Kodiak?? HELP A NEWBIE OUT
 

http://www.frogcreek.net/cgi/store/R36128101.html?id=wQfDRWSE

Above is the deer hunter. But to be honest i would spend the $35 more and buy the kentucky classic. http://www.frogcreek.net/cgi/store/R2020.html?id=wQfDRWSE They dont show pics but you can type in the name of rifle on yahoo and do a search for a pic or two. Or you may also want to look up the cva plainsman rifle for $175.

RE: CVA Kodiak?? HELP A NEWBIE OUT
 

Doegirl - you can go back to "oopling." I just checked Blackpowder Products, Inc. a.k.a. BPI and Tradition's Rifle is NOT listed as one of their companies. Frontier Gander would be correct and I was mistaken. I must have been fooled by their Spanish made barrels. The same in appearance as those on my CVA rifles as well. Iwas under the impression they were part of the BPIfamily from pastdiscussions, but perhaps the conversation centered on the barrel maker.

Personally I own two Tradition's Traditional rifles, a Woodsman Hawkins and a Pioneer. I sold a third one I had which was a Panther to a friend for his son. All of them are .50 caliber and percussion ignition. All of them (now are) very dependable. Each one of them only had minor problems. The Woodsman would not fire caps consistently. That was fixed. The Pioneer developed a crack in the stock. Traditions advised me they no longer made that rifle so they could not fix it and advised me to glue the crack. I was not pleased with that response at all.The Panther had a ramrod problem which I fixed with a shim.

As Frontier Gander said, "And a rifle is only going to last a long time in the hands of a person that takes proper care of it." Although the Pioneer's stocked cracked, I feel was not my fault. Yet their customer service failed to take care of that problem. I guess they had a valid excuse.

On the other hand I cracked the stock on one on my Renegades made by T/C. I sent the rifle back to them, they replaced the stock and fitted the barrel, and lock to the new stock, free of charge. Even though the rifle was over 15 years old. Now that was what I called customer service.

I also bought but never kept two Tradition's inline rifles.They were an E-bolt if memory serves me. One of them would not cock, and the other would just go off when it felt like it. Both were returned. I got a T/C Black Diamond XR to replace them. That rifle is still going strong.

Soyou do not have to avoid that brand of rifle if you so wish. Although I feel there are better rifles out there. Again, personal opinion on my part.

RE: CVA Kodiak?? HELP A NEWBIE OUT
 

yup i had a problem with my stock on that old cva blazer. This was my first muzzleloader and so i really didnt know anything about them at the time. I used 70 grains pyrodex rs and a 285 grain maxi ball. Boy was that a mistake! I ended up using an epoxy to repair the broken area which worked great and i switched to lower grain bullets. That was a fun shooting rifle. Most companys wont replace stocks and barrels and such if they dont make them anymore. CVA was nice enough to replace my rifle with something else. ive only bought 1 traditions rifle and they've been great for me. I guess ML companies are like auto makers, Doesnt matter what brand you buy,every maker is bound to let a batch of bad eggs slip by. But thats whats nice about cva, traditions brands, they make the lower $$$ muzzleloaders for you to start off with. Ive never seen someone throw out big $$$ for a highend muzzleloader to learn off of. And you shouldnt i belive, You need to start off with a low price ML to learn off of and improve your skills. And if you dont like ML, just sell off the Cheapie ML and move on to another sort. I would still to this day own that old cva if it wernt for some moron gun smith lol. But, buy what you can afford. TC doesnt make an affordable begginer ML which hurts them i belive. If you are a young kid or a guy with a family and low income and want to buy a ML and walk into a TC store, that guys gonna be walkin right back out shaking his head and heading to a cva seller. Thats where TC screws them self. They need more affordable rifles.

RE: CVA Kodiak?? HELP A NEWBIE OUT
 

I have soldKnight, T/C,and NEF in most models, in good numbers. I have worked onvery few. I WOULD NOT SELL CVA and TRADITIONS unless the customer ordered it because I haveseen toomany and I did not want to have the headaches of my name being associated with theirs, I figured let Walmart deal with them.CVA / Traditions same company or not are less expensive for a reason, some models are cheap made.

I have never seen a traditions or CVA that would not shoot accuratly that was the fault of the gun.I admitthat price can be a big concern to someone on a limited budget and that CVA/Trad can help with that. Most people will not shootenough to wear out a CVA/Trad. But as someone who loves firearms and muzzle loaders history in american made craftmanship I look and the MODERN(last 10-15 years)CVA and Traditions in-lines and see CRAP!

If price is an issue get a NEF, I am no fan of them in high-pressure cartridges, butas a MZ you can't beat. If you don't want an accidental discharge due to slipped hammer don't redesign the gun, it uses a striker that must engage at full cock before the gun will fire.

Also for the CVA in-line avid. The day before our 9 day MZ season a customer came in with brand new disassembled CVA(he wanted to clean good and could not re-assemble). It looked like a can of worms and had no parts diagram with it. We were busy so I called CVA for help and was told there was only one person that had any experience with these guns and he was on vacation, send the gun back. I explained there was no time to send back, they explained they were sorry. I ask for a drawing to be faxed or e-mailed, they declined. I got the gun back together without CVA help, I did not charge the customer, I told him he had been screwed bad enough that week.

RE: CVA Kodiak?? HELP A NEWBIE OUT
 

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RE: CVA Kodiak?? HELP A NEWBIE OUT
 

i wonder if TC is like Rivers west. Made in america, assembled in Guatamala/ puerto rico?

RE: CVA Kodiak?? HELP A NEWBIE OUT
 

wow .what a pretty peice of wood (stock ) on that encore .

RE: CVA Kodiak?? HELP A NEWBIE OUT
 

Thanks, and that is the factory stock. That gun is ser# S1xxx. when the Encore first came out I had to have one in stainless. I kissed ever dealers butt i knew to get me one. They did not build the MZ as a package yet so I had to buy the frame as a pistol. Buy the butt, fore-end, and mz barrel separate. I love all of my guns, but this is one of my favorites. It is a shooter too.

RE: CVA Kodiak?? HELP A NEWBIE OUT
 

Hey newbee I am sorry if I vented on CVA/Traditions. To me things with USA names should be madein the USA, and be the best in the world, no exception.

I think you can do better than CVA/Traditions for your money, but if you can't you buy one and enjoy it. I would much rather see you with a CVA than not be able to take part in this great sport.:D

RE: CVA Kodiak?? HELP A NEWBIE OUT
 

I have done my research and I am planning on going with the NEF Sidekick. Seems like a decent rifle for the money and the reviews have all looked promising. Thanks for your inputs.