CVA Frontier .50 using bird shot?

cloud8a · April 5, 2011, 03:10 PM

I have a CVA Frontier in .50. I am wondering if you guys could tell me how or direct me to a place that will tell me how to create shot for it to rabbit or squirrel hunt.
Can this even be done?

sltm1 · April 5, 2011, 03:20 PM

To use that as a shotgun, you'll need to buy a smooth bore barrel. The rifling will fling the pellets into a huge pattern that won't be effective past about 10yds if that far.

Hawg · April 5, 2011, 03:35 PM

Quote:

Can this even be done?

Nope.

cloud8a · April 5, 2011, 03:47 PM

Well how about this. Will a rabbit or squirrel be destroyed with a .50 ball and maybe around 50 or lower grains of powder?

Hawg · April 5, 2011, 03:54 PM

If you make head shots you wont destroy too much meat. A .50 caliber ball no matter how slow its going will waste a lot of meat on a critter that doesn't have that much to begin with.

Old Grump · April 5, 2011, 04:31 PM

Knock that down to 40 grains, round ball and practice at 25 yards till you are head shot accurate. Never shot a squirrel with one but a rabbit shot in the middle at 40 yards left plenty of meat. big old hole clean through the middle seems to have been detrimental to his well being but he sure was good shake and baked.

bedbugbilly · April 5, 2011, 06:32 PM

+1 to what Hawg said. I haven't hunted rabbits in years but when I was young, I used my 58 cal. Remington Zouave to hunt rabbits with. If I caught them sitting, I usually could get a fairly clean "head shot" - if not . . . well . . . they needed to be "cleaned" anyways!

In a similar vein . . I used to have a 54 custom built Hawken that I made . . . I took a number of Racoons with it . . . . . now, I'm not speaking for Hawg . . . he might eat 'coons . . . I don't

- no offense intended Hawg . . . . on a Racoon though . . . I didn't care if I got a "head shot" or not . . I was more interested in "dispatching" the "bothersome little cirtters" - the same for when I used it on "possums". I also hunted rabbits with a 44 Colt Army that I had years ago - tried for head shots but sometimes wasn't always lucky enough to get a clean head shot. A 44, 50, 54 or 58 will "get 'er done with a head shot - or course, you want to check with your state's "game laws" though to see what they will allow.

I know that my grandfather used his 45 cal. halfstock plains style rifle - he was born in 1867 and for him, it was all about puttin' meat on the table - head shot or not. Hawg - no offense or insult intended . . . . I know you Southern boys sometimes have different appetites when it comes to meat preferences than us "Yankees" do - I have to admit I've tried squirrel, rabbit and even muskrat . . . never tried racoon or possum thogh . . .

Hawg · April 5, 2011, 07:03 PM

No offense taken bedbug. I don't eat squirrel or rabbit let alone coons or possum.

I know people that do tho.

bedbugbilly · April 5, 2011, 10:49 PM

Hawg - LOL

I have to admit Hawg, that my diet has gotten a lot more "refined" as the years have passed! I remember that the last time I ate squirrel I was about 15 or so. I shot one with a muzzleloading shotgun and my mother fixed it after I cleaned it. I swear, every pellet I loaded in that shotgun was in that squirrel . . . it's amazing we didn't die from lead poisoning. All a person has to do is to bite down on one of those pellets once and it's a "lasting memory". When my brother and I were younger, we hunted squirrels all day and we each got about 3 or 4. We had those old canvas hunting coats with the "game pouch" on the inside. Remember thosed? Well, we carried those dead squirrels around for a few hours while we hunted and when we got home, my mother took one look at us and ordered us outside in to the yard. The @#%&*! squirrels had fleas and she spotted one on us. She made us strip down in the yard and she hosed us down and used Casteel soap on us. By the time wwe were done, we were the best scrubbed kids in town. We never carried our "big game" in our coats again . . . it sort of ruined the pleasure of squirrel hunting after that! We graduated to "clay pigeons" to shoot the muzzleloading shotgun at . . . at least they didn't have fleas!

Hawg · April 6, 2011, 05:39 AM

LOL bedbug thats just too funny

April 5, 2011, 03:10 PM	#1
cloud8a Senior Member Join Date: April 27, 2009 Location: Texas Posts: 399	CVA Frontier .50 using bird shot? I have a CVA Frontier in .50. I am wondering if you guys could tell me how or direct me to a place that will tell me how to create shot for it to rabbit or squirrel hunt. Can this even be done?

April 5, 2011, 04:31 PM	#6
Old Grump Member in memoriam Join Date: April 9, 2009 Location: Blue River Wisconsin, in Posts: 3,144	Knock that down to 40 grains, round ball and practice at 25 yards till you are head shot accurate. Never shot a squirrel with one but a rabbit shot in the middle at 40 yards left plenty of meat. big old hole clean through the middle seems to have been detrimental to his well being but he sure was good shake and baked. __________________ Good intentions will always be pleaded for any assumption of power. The Constitution was made to guard the people against the dangers of good intentions. There are men in all ages who mean to govern will, but they mean to govern. They promise to be good masters, but they mean to be masters. --Daniel Webster--

April 5, 2011, 06:32 PM	#7
bedbugbilly Senior Member Join Date: November 19, 2009 Posts: 3,287	+1 to what Hawg said. I haven't hunted rabbits in years but when I was young, I used my 58 cal. Remington Zouave to hunt rabbits with. If I caught them sitting, I usually could get a fairly clean "head shot" - if not . . . well . . . they needed to be "cleaned" anyways! In a similar vein . . I used to have a 54 custom built Hawken that I made . . . I took a number of Racoons with it . . . . . now, I'm not speaking for Hawg . . . he might eat 'coons . . . I don't - no offense intended Hawg . . . . on a Racoon though . . . I didn't care if I got a "head shot" or not . . I was more interested in "dispatching" the "bothersome little cirtters" - the same for when I used it on "possums". I also hunted rabbits with a 44 Colt Army that I had years ago - tried for head shots but sometimes wasn't always lucky enough to get a clean head shot. A 44, 50, 54 or 58 will "get 'er done with a head shot - or course, you want to check with your state's "game laws" though to see what they will allow. I know that my grandfather used his 45 cal. halfstock plains style rifle - he was born in 1867 and for him, it was all about puttin' meat on the table - head shot or not. Hawg - no offense or insult intended . . . . I know you Southern boys sometimes have different appetites when it comes to meat preferences than us "Yankees" do - I have to admit I've tried squirrel, rabbit and even muskrat . . . never tried racoon or possum thogh . . . __________________ If a pair of '51 Navies were good enough for Billy Hickok, then a single Navy on my right hip is good enough for me . . . besides . . . I'm probably only half as good as he was anyways. Hiram's Rangers Badge #63

April 5, 2011, 10:49 PM	#9
bedbugbilly Senior Member Join Date: November 19, 2009 Posts: 3,287	Hawg - LOL I have to admit Hawg, that my diet has gotten a lot more "refined" as the years have passed! I remember that the last time I ate squirrel I was about 15 or so. I shot one with a muzzleloading shotgun and my mother fixed it after I cleaned it. I swear, every pellet I loaded in that shotgun was in that squirrel . . . it's amazing we didn't die from lead poisoning. All a person has to do is to bite down on one of those pellets once and it's a "lasting memory". When my brother and I were younger, we hunted squirrels all day and we each got about 3 or 4. We had those old canvas hunting coats with the "game pouch" on the inside. Remember thosed? Well, we carried those dead squirrels around for a few hours while we hunted and when we got home, my mother took one look at us and ordered us outside in to the yard. The @#%&*! squirrels had fleas and she spotted one on us. She made us strip down in the yard and she hosed us down and used Casteel soap on us. By the time wwe were done, we were the best scrubbed kids in town. We never carried our "big game" in our coats again . . . it sort of ruined the pleasure of squirrel hunting after that! We graduated to "clay pigeons" to shoot the muzzleloading shotgun at . . . at least they didn't have fleas! __________________ If a pair of '51 Navies were good enough for Billy Hickok, then a single Navy on my right hip is good enough for me . . . besides . . . I'm probably only half as good as he was anyways. Hiram's Rangers Badge #63

April 5, 2011, 03:20 PM	#2
sltm1 Senior Member Join Date: February 25, 2009 Location: Idaho Posts: 353	To use that as a shotgun, you'll need to buy a smooth bore barrel. The rifling will fling the pellets into a huge pattern that won't be effective past about 10yds if that far.

April 5, 2011, 03:47 PM	#4
cloud8a Senior Member Join Date: April 27, 2009 Location: Texas Posts: 399	Well how about this. Will a rabbit or squirrel be destroyed with a .50 ball and maybe around 50 or lower grains of powder?

April 5, 2011, 03:54 PM	#5
Hawg Senior Member Join Date: September 8, 2007 Location: Mississippi Posts: 16,188	If you make head shots you wont destroy too much meat. A .50 caliber ball no matter how slow its going will waste a lot of meat on a critter that doesn't have that much to begin with.

April 5, 2011, 07:03 PM	#8
Hawg Senior Member Join Date: September 8, 2007 Location: Mississippi Posts: 16,188	No offense taken bedbug. I don't eat squirrel or rabbit let alone coons or possum. I know people that do tho.

April 6, 2011, 05:39 AM	#10
Hawg Senior Member Join Date: September 8, 2007 Location: Mississippi Posts: 16,188	LOL bedbug thats just too funny