CVA Mountain Rifle info

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My 50 cal shot great. I took lots or groundhogs with it right after it was completed from 10 yards out to 90 yards. Took several Deer and a big hog too.
I'll be that one is a shooter. I never new they made then in .45cal. I just use Pillow tick strips cut off at the muzzle for patching.
 
ShawnT said:
My 50 cal shot great. I took lots or groundhogs with it right after it was completed from 10 yards out to 90 yards. Took several Deer and a big hog too.
I'll be that one is a shooter. I never new they made then in .45cal. I just use Pillow tick strips cut off at the muzzle for patching.

I need to Buy a Good .440 Roundball Mold now, I prefer a Steel mold, I am thinking RCBS on this one?

Where is a Good source for Buying Pillow Ticking? Does it Vary in thickness? I figure to start out with i will get a Pack or 2 of the Pre Cut Patches from BACO, They have .010, .015, and in Ticking they have .018 Lubed, and unlubed, I am thinking the .015 and .018 Patches? At least give me Something to Try until i can get better Stuff, I will get the .018 Ticking unlubed, I would prefer to use my Own Lube heated in to the Patch
 
Idaholewis said:
ShawnT said:
My 50 cal shot great. I took lots or groundhogs with it right after it was completed from 10 yards out to 90 yards. Took several Deer and a big hog too.
I'll be that one is a shooter. I never new they made then in .45cal. I just use Pillow tick strips cut off at the muzzle for patching.

I need to Buy a Good .440 Roundball Mold now, I prefer a Steel mold, I am thinking RCBS on this one?

Where is a Good source for Buying Pillow Ticking? Does it Vary in thickness? I figure to start out with i will get a Pack or 2 of the Pre Cut Patches from BACO, They have .010, .015, and in Ticking they have .018 Lubed, and unlubed, I am thinking the .015 and .018 Patches? At least give me Something to Try until I can get better Stuff, I will get the .018 Ticking unlubed, I would prefer to use my Own Lube heated in to the Patch
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I get it at Jo Ann fabric by the yard now. It can vary in thickness some too. They had 3 different rolls, 2 were just different colors (one blue one red) those were thicker than the other one but I did not take calipers with me but could feel the difference. I usually wash it twice, dry it first time and line dry the second. The stuff I have runs about .025, that is the newer stuff, and the old is .023 that depends on if you compress it much. They probably don't wash it, I found that Fluffs it up some. Except for the .32 I have not shot much roundball for quite some time now. My old 50 uses a .490 RB. I have an old RCBS mold if I recall right, its boxed up somewhere at the moment. Have not ordered a mold for the 32 yet but that may come. It would have to be made since my custom shoots a .315 instead of the .310.
 
So far Moose is the only one I saw that listed a .315. That is the one I plan to order this year sometime.
 
I have seen ticking at Walmart to, but have not looked in a while.
 
Glad to see your going to start playing around with RB...I expect you'll be an authority on it in around a years time considering your conical path! LOL. Not a bad thing at all.
I've found it is amazing how much a slight patch thickness change, patch weave change, kind of lube, quantity of lube, can impact groups. I think that's why I like it so much, lots of variables to mess with.
Buying fabric can be tricky as far as thickness goes, because like ShawnT said it changes once washed to get the sizing out of it. It does seem to fluff up a bit.
Just as an FYI, I've found that most brands of normal store bought cotton patches tend to run thinner than their advertised thickness. I use calipers to check mine, as I use them every day for work and am very comfortable with my ability to apply consistent pressure to them, but my measurements will vary from others (I'm betting you have a c-mic, use it for better consistency). The advertised .015" cotton patches seem to run about .003" thinner when I use what I'd call firm pressure on calipers. This is the same for the 3 or 4 different brands I've tried. With that being said I have not tried BACO patches. I'm the most impressed so far by a pillow ticking patch made by CVA that is advertised as .015", I've had every bag of them measure out at .015" with the same firm push I always use on my calipers. I like the consistency with them. I find them on Amazon.
What lube are you thinking of using?
 
October country sells .015 or .018 pillow ticking patch in strips for cutting at the muzzle. (ala. Dutch Schoultz) Dutch is an elderly gentleman that has helped a lot of people to shoot round balls. He has a black powder rifle accuracy print out that he has worked on for years and recorded his results and advice. He is a very funny man, I've emailed him many times and it seems like he is sitting at the computer to return emails. He is in a home now and has diabetes.
 
I was lucky to get a USA kit at a sale from 1977 in 45 caliber I found a book at another sale Ralph T Walker Blackpowder Gunsmithing that builds one it gives several well detailed chapters on the CVA Mountain Rifle I need to spend a chunk of summer break building this gun
 
October country sells .015 or .018 pillow ticking patch in strips for cutting at the muzzle. (ala. Dutch Schoultz) Dutch is an elderly gentleman that has helped a lot of people to shoot round balls. He has a black powder rifle accuracy print out that he has worked on for years and recorded his results and advice. He is a very funny man, I've emailed him many times and it seems like he is sitting at the computer to return emails. He is in a home now and has diabetes.

Good to know on October Country and Ticking Patch Material, I drive by there at least once a Month, i will swing in and Get some Material.
 
I am quite excited to get this new CVA Mountain Rifle and play around with Patched Roundball, it is something i have wanted to do for quite sometime. As most everyone on here knows i am a “Dyed in the Wool” Conical Bullet Shooter, But Patched Roundball will be a lot of fun for me to ad to my “Tinkering” list. I have a lot to learn about it, as I’ve done very little of it.

I got an email confirmation today that the Rifle Just Shipped, This will give me time to get some things together for it. As previously stated i am gonna HAVE to Put a Peep Sight on the Gun, I would rather leave this Rifle more Traditional Looking, But Simple fact is I cannot shoot regular open sights worth a Darn these days, my eyesight just doesn’t work well with them anymore. And since accuracy is my No. 1 Goal I will likely ad a 17AHB Globe front Sight as well so i can use my Fine Shaver’s BPCR inserts. I don’t think it will look to Goofy this way?
 
Lewis

Eastern Maine Shooting Supplies is offering 30% off on all orders, they have pillow ticking in 18"x36" , long strips or precut sizes that are dry,oiled or lubed.

They also have felt wads, which I recently received and plan to use for my conical shooting. I've always shot conical with nothing between them and the powder but hearing testimony of your results thought I would give them a try.
 
Not sure if CVA used a 3/8" dovetail, Lyman offers a 17AEU that is meant for a .360 dovetail. Perhaps someone who has better knowledge of these older CVA muzzleloaders could chime in.
 
Nothing is goofy if you can shoot little tiny groups with it IMO. The only sight restrictions I've seen so far from traditional clubs are no fiber-optic sights (and no scopes)...but you might check with the club that runs the shoots you are planning to go to before you get it all set up.
I would imagine the only time someone would/will ever possibly give you a hard time about the way the sights look is when they see the groups on your target are a lot smaller vs theirs lol.
 
Lewis
I have some patches I cut from two different cotton materials. I will try to get samples of both in the mail to you before Saturday morning.
Both have worked for me in my round ball guns. I like the "twill" the best. It mics out at about .020".
Welcome to round ball tinkering ;)
 
Thank you everyone!! I ran over to BACO this morning and picked up an RCBS .440 RB mold, some .015 Lubed Oxyoke brand (Not sure what the material is?) and a Pack of .018 Ticking that is unlubed. This will give me some stuff to start tinkering with. This mold sure casts a nice ball! These are Cast of my 1-40 Alloy, it’s what i had in my Pot so I went with it, I only Cast 36 of them to test. I will pour some of pure Soft Lead as well. Me being me I couldn’t help but tinker a bit here :D I tumbled them in my Vibatory Tumbler with some Liquid ......., and just a splash of “Specialness” It worked as I suspected it would! (Top Secret Stuff!) I only ran them 10-15 Minutes, They came out REALLY GOOD, NICE N SLICK!! I weighed all 36 of them, they were all “Spot On” 127 Grains, i only threw 1 back, it was 126.5 Grains :D Might as well be picky, the way i see it anyway. I plan to treat this PRB exactly as i do my Bullet stuff, If they ain’t perfect, FIX IT!

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Not sure if CVA used a 3/8" dovetail, Lyman offers a 17AEU that is meant for a .360 dovetail. Perhaps someone who has better knowledge of these older CVA muzzleloaders could chime in.

Sax, I am not sure about the Dovetail size on this particular Gun beings it is the Old Mountain Rifle with USA Stamped in a Flat, i will soon find that out. I have a 17AHB Globe sitting here, either way i will make this AHB Fit with my Dovetail File, if this Gun turns out to be the .360 (AEU) Dove Size i will remove the Material from the AHB Globe, and NOT the Barrel. I think the New CVA, Traditions Rifles are the .360 European (AEU) like the Lyman’s are, But I am not sure of that? I know for sure that my Lyman is the .360 European Dove, I have the AEU on it which is .494 High, I plan to Change that soon, i prefer the Shorter AHB Globe, Look how high my Peep has to be on my Lyman GPR for my 100 Yard Zero, The .404 AHB will allow me to get this MUCH lower
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On those Wool felt Wads, I ABSOLUTELY Swear by those things with Conical Bullets, be it GG or PP, But Especially so with GG, I am confident you will see what i mean, They Work!! So far EVERY Rifle i own does it’s best with them, I have had Hit and Miss results with the “Hard Card” Type Wads, My Money is on the 1/8” Wool felt for EVERYTHING!
 
Nothing is goofy if you can shoot little tiny groups with it IMO. The only sight restrictions I've seen so far from traditional clubs are no fiber-optic sights (and no scopes)...but you might check with the club that runs the shoots you are planning to go to before you get it all set up.
I would imagine the only time someone would/will ever possibly give you a hard time about the way the sights look is when they see the groups on your target are a lot smaller vs theirs lol.

RH, The place that i plan to Shoot with the PRB Guy’s has no restrictions on the use of a Peep, or Globe, I asked about that first off :) The only restriction is Bullets, i asked about my Paper Patch? That was a No Go! I even told em they were being used in the 1800s, That Didn’t matter none :D Hey i tried! LOL! I am excited to mess around with this Patched Roundball stuff!
 
Lewis
I have some patches I cut from two different cotton materials. I will try to get samples of both in the mail to you before Saturday morning.
Both have worked for me in my round ball guns. I like the "twill" the best. It mics out at about .020".
Welcome to round ball tinkering ;)

That would be AWESOME my friend!! Thank you!! I would love to try both Materials! Is this something i can buy locally? Order it? I will PM Ya
 
I bought both materials at Joanne Fabrics close to my house here is Spokane.
 

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