well, have not shot it, thank god, I found a problem.

the drum is in awful shape. in case of problems I went on and ordered a couple drums from track of the wolf. 2.50 each.

been pming back and forth with fg on the matter. nothing so far has worked.

tryed break free, levering it with a flat head (broke the flat head), boiling it, and the extreme, took a torch to it.

gotta get to an auto store or hardware to get some liquid wrench. have not tryed that yet.

any other ideas?

I am going to call cva sometime tomorrow on it and see what they can do. and see how much it will cost.

How well did you inspect that gun before you bought it, corey?

Maybe we should build a check list of what to look at and look for when buying a used muzzle loader, and what tools you should have along for the inspection.

I consider myself pretty experienced. Even so, I sometimes forget to check one thing or another.

I inspect everything but the drum.

go figure.

"the drum is in awful shape"


Not sure what this means. Are the threads for the nipple in good shape? You don't want that nipple to blow off and become a projectile. Is the fire channel clear? If not soak it in hot soapy water and poke around with a nipple pick. I have a long piece of piano wire that works well too.

If you answered yes to both of the above questionsI think I would go ahead and shoot it.I don't know of anyneed to remove the drum, for cleaning I remove the nipple andflush with hot soapy water, works well. I don't even mess with the clean out screw.

Hope you figure it out.

I am not sure what part you mean. Is this the Bolster area, the part that sit on the side of the barrel where the nipple goes into. Also if what you are trying to get out is the bolster clean out screw... leave it alone. Many of the new rifles do not even come with it.

If you have any doubts.. send it back to the manufacturer and have them do it correctly. Even if it costs you a little money.

I believe that your rifle was made before CVA started building them like this:



At least that increases your chances of removing it.
Other folks have swapped out their drums, but that doesn't mean that it's easy. Even frozen revolver nipples can take days to get unstuck. One method they use is tocook it ina container of transmission fluidover a hotplate, let it cool, and cook again while soaking itover a period ofdays, or until they are successful however long it takes.
Soaking in kerosene or another distillate might help too.
Then try a goodfitting wrench, or drill ahole straight throughthe nipple holeandstick asteel rod through it,maybe evenusea cheater bar toadd some moreleverage.
While boiling water was a good try, it won'tpenetratelike a hot oil will.
Some folks describe a heat & then freeze method, orrapping it with something hoping that the shocks will help break the bond. Even using adead blowhammer to increase the strength of the blowsand not damaging the stem and causing it to twist offisthechallenge.
Maybe that's why sending it in to CVA is the best solution if you can't get it off yourself.
I always remove the clean out screw and try to clean the drum out the best that I can so it doesn't accumulate too much gunk over time. Idon't see how it would hurt to try to keepit clean, but I can see how it could hurt by not regularlyremoving the screw and cleaningout the fouling through the most direct route that it provides.
Drums aren't quite the same as the TC patent breechwhere theydiscontinued installing the tinyclean out screw. They probably just didn't want to dealwith thestuck and lost screws under warranty anymore anyway.I don't know of any drums madethat don't have a cleanout screw, and it's to their benefit that they do have one. If the lastowner kept it clean maybe this problem wouldn't have ever occcurred.

got it soaking in liquid wrench. have the info on sending back it to cva on file.

not going to work on it for a few days.

Sometimes it's best to walk away from it for a few days and come back with a new attitude.
Sorry to hear of your trouble Corey.

while saxman, I was ready for this one. I ordered the parts before I knew 100% there was something wrong. did not think it would be this hard.


I can't have a good shooter unless I have some type of problem.
i.e. my knight usak. had all type of scope problems. once I got it fixed. I have only, to this point, found 2 loads the gun does not like.

hoping this is just a start of great things to come

at 2:41 am my time, I got the old the old bolster out. only thing it is good for now is a fishing sinker.

use a every extreme method to do it.

best of all. it came out in one piece.