Thats exactly how i did my winchester. The action part of the barrel barely hovered over those beds the stock has inside it.

What load are you shooting?

Theolder CVAactions look almost like that action. Have floated the barrels on a couple dozen CVA guns for other folks and myself.Itake a bent half round wood rasp and rasp away the sides of the barrel channel.Do not rasp in the area 1.5 inches forward of the barrel lug. Rasp until the barrel floats when put in the stock. Check it with a business card.Then rough up the stock where the action sits with coarse sand paper. Although it does not look possible, it is fairly easy to glass the very rear of the action: Rough up about .5 inch of the stock to the rear of thechannel with sand paper.Drill a couple of shallow one-quarter holes in the stock at an angleand just above the rear trigger screw. The trigger screw does not matter. Fill the Allen wrench hole in the screw with grease.

Preparation for bedding: Put release agent onall metal parts that the bedding compound will touch: Putrelease agent on the sides of the action. Now do it one more time.

Bedding:

Put bedding compound in the holes you drilled in the rear of the action channel. Put bedding compound in the channelto the front and rear of the barrel lug.Put bedding compound in the lug recess. It is a well glassed lug that makes it possible to successfully bed these muzzleloaders that have only one action screw. Put the gun together and tighten the screw. Excess bedding compound will be forced out. Do not over do it with the bedding compound. You get another chance if the glass job is not perfect.

Takes me abouttwo hours to to float the barrel and glass the action on this type of gun. BTW: Everyone I everfired shot better than before bedding and floating.

I use AcraGlass gel for all my bedding. This is my old CVA Staghorn. Italso has an aluminum pillar. This gun shoots as well as guns costing ten times as much.

falcon, apparently oldsmellhound and I are having some similar issues. sounds like he is getting a little tighter groups tho. Where did you pick up the material to do the work in the pic? from a gunshop? My other question would be, did you have the ram rod in place when you bedded it?

You make a good point. The only disagreement I have is in your bedding price. Go to a plumbing store and for a couple of buck's you can have your bedding compound. Then all you need is a little Vaseline. Now you are ready to bed your rifle. It is pretty simple. As stated above do a little reading on it, and you will be amazed what you can achieve from an inexpensive rifle. Tom.

"Where did you pick up the material to do the work in the pic? from a gunshop? My other question would be, did you have the ram rod in place when you bedded it?"

My Brownell's AcraGlas Jel comesNatchez. Bass Pro should have it.Ihad the ramrod in place.It is a goodidea to coat the end of the ramrod with grease in case some bedding compound gets on it.

Falcon,

It looks like your Staghorn and my Cascade Magnum have essentially the same design. I understood everything that you wrote except one part. When you say "action channel" are you refering to the section where the trigger drops down? There is a small ledge on the stock at the very rear end of the action - there is a screw there. Is this the part you are referring to? Otherwise, I all seems pretty clear. Thanks for the advice and the pic!

"When you say "action channel" are you refering to the section where the trigger drops down?"

No,I could not think of a better term at the time. Your gun and barrel areone piece construction likethe newer CVA guns. I was thinking of the part of the channel thatbegins abouttwo inches forward of the lug and extends to the rear. Do not grind or filein this area. Justscratch it a little with sand paper so the bedding can get a good hold.

Looks like you have done a good job floating the barrel on your gun. Bedding adds support to the rear of the gun barrel/action. Your gun has a better stock than some of the CVA guns: Some of them are pretty flimsy and they flex a lot.

Falcon,

Thanks again for all the advice. I'll see where I can find some of the gel you use for bedding - the picture you posted was helpful for that. I've never bedded an action before - I assume with the gel there will be application instructions. I didn't file the action channel where the action rests on - when I get the bedding compound I'll rough it up with sandpaper like you said.

Gander- I've had time this year to work up 2 loads - 1: 70 grains 777 with 225 grain Powerbelt
2: 80 grains 777 with 200 grain XTP

The powerbelts actually shoot better (2.5" groups at 100 yards) but I haven't used them for deer hunting because of all the horror stories I've heard (I know all the arguments - I'm not trying to start it again). I used the XTP load to take 1 deer this year - it performed excellent, but I'm not happy with the accuracy I'm getting (4" groups).

I'm hoping to book some serious time at the range this spring once the weather clears up some to try out some new combinations.

oldsmellhound, If the PB works better, then try the Sabor tooth they are a greatly improve version of the same type of bullet. It may also be your load, normally start at 90 and work up to 120 for sabot loads. Lee

hes shooting a .45 and sabertooths are .50 only.

I actually melted a sabertooth when molding round balls, and the copper is actually no thicker than that of a powerbelt. I'll have to post some pics of that.

225 grain powerbelt with 70 grains one hell of a load for deer.

225 grain aerotip powerbelt with 80 grains triple 7, 80 yard shot right through both shoulders.



You can see where she dropped, the smuged dirt just a little bit above the branches,