Gun Show Booty

[lockedcj7]

I didn't go looking for either of these guns but managed to buy them both anyway. I didn't pay what the ROA tag suggests. The long gun is a CVA .50 cal. I only paid $100 for it. I need it like a hole in the head but it was too pretty and too cheap to pass up.

[JWT]

You certainly got a couple good deals. The long gun has some darned nice wood on it. Congrats . Great find.

[Hawg]

That mountain rifle was really a great deal. It looks like it was a kit that somebody that knew what they were doing built.

[99whip]

Smokin' deal on the Mountain Rifle.

[Model12Win]

Nice wood.

[Old Stony]

Given those prices, are you sure you didn't buy them 30 yrs. ago?

[eastbank]

the ruger OAR would have come home with me with no reduction on the tagged price, WOW what a steal.

[reinert]

lock7,

I believe that nice looking long gun you stole () is a CVA Mountain Rifle. I remember back in the late 70's CVA did a pretty good job of coming up with a decent, rendezvous ready rifle that was priced quite right for the working man. You could either buy one factory made, or the kit. I'd say someone who knew what they were doing found a kit with a nice piece of wood and did it up brown (literally). CVA really did a nice job back when they offered that model (history now). I've seen kit guns, with just a few modifications built up to look (and did) as good as most any custom gun made back then; poured nosecap, different sights, and a Hawken styled hammer were just a few things one could do to make them look truly in the custom gun class. Amazing, really, what a skilled gunmaker could come up with on one of those kits. Yours looks like whoever built that one, used the parts that came with the kit, and did a fine job on it. You have a real find there; a gem for sure.

I had a .50 cal. CVA Mountain Pistol I got in the kit with a piece of tiger stripe maple for the stock; it was a beautiful thing once built, and shot really quite well. I paid 50 bucks for that kit back in 1980, and I considered that a good deal even back then. There was a stack of those kits in a Shopko store and I was allowed to look at the wood in each one and found that tiger striped gem and took it home for the workbench. Wish I still had it, but a buddy got it (who still has it) and every now and then in a blue moon, I see it hanging on the wall in his house.

BTW, outstanding price on the ROA, too. Makes me want to try a gunshow again sometime; haven't been to one for quite a few years now...

[Sure Shot Mc Gee]

"Now that ain't nice. Bragging about your luck."
Neither is envy and that's what Im full of at the moment.
Gosh two dandy find's in the same day. "Way to go feller"

[Pahoo]

I only paid $100 for it. I need it like a hole in the head but it was too pretty and too cheap to pass up.

I've gotten some good deals at Gun Show but far from this deal. My compliments.

Be Safe !!!

[lockedcj7]

I've done some research today and it looks like those of you who ID'd the CVA as a Mountain Rifle are dead-on. The barrel is marked "Made in U.S.A" and 1:66. From what I've read, that makes it a Douglas and it should be a shooter. It has some rust near the muzzle and around the nipple along with a few other character marks. I'm going to clean it up a little and see what it can do.

Here is a picture of an original that I was hoping to approximate one day. It's been in my family since the 1850's and we're from TN. I've had an expert look at it and he agreed that it is correct for the period and place.

I've left more than one gun show empty-handed but yesterday was a good day. FWIW - I paid $300 for the Ruger.

[Capt Rick Hiott]

BOOTY?????


That's a gun!

[Jakeway]

I believe that mountain rifle is the second generation; they had three distinct shapes of the patch box; yours is the second. It looks in the picture like the ramrod thimbles are round; are they? The first version had hex ends and round middle, the point of the hex fitting into a groove in the bar between the thimble and the barrel. The builder of your rifle may have put aftermarket thimbles, though.

My CVA Mountain Rifle was very early in the production run. The serial number was three digits, I think 273. It was a great shooter; one of the few I wish I never sold. It was the first rifle I assembled. Being in the 1970s, before digital cameras, I have very few pictures of it, and none in digital form I can post.

[swathdiver]

That's a very late MR, the wood and rear sight are the clues. Throughout its history, the MR was in and out of production and at varying times the wood was changed from maple to beech and walnut.

Since the barrel says Made in the USA, it's either a Deer Creek or been restocked/rebuilt/customized. Either way, they are all shooters.

Is it just the angle of the photo or does the stock look long?

[FrontierGander]

man you stole that mountain rifle! high grade maple like that, along with the browned furniture, easily $600. If that barrel is stamped Made In USA, it is a Douglas barrel.

[lockedcj7]

I'm not sure if it's long or just the picture. The stock measures just over 30.5" from the heel to the end of the fore end cap. The thimbles are round and the ramrod rattles around in them. The ends of the ramrod appear big for the diameter of the rod itself.

Here are a few pictures of the rust I was talking about. Compared to some BP guns I've owned, this is nothing. There is also a crack in the stock on the other side that I just noticed but it looks like an easy fix. The last picture is of the markings and sight.

[swathdiver]

Someone probably changed the rear site. The lock plate is one of the early ones and they had a tendency the crack the stock because of that little protrusion in the rear. It was quickly removed from later guns. These USA guns were made from 1976 to 1978, after that they were all made in Spain. The ramrod is of the kind used in the 1990s on the Kentucky Hunter and some others, not original. The originals those early years had aluminum hardware on the ramrod ends.

What do you figure the wood is? Should be maple but looks walnut to me. Walnut was used much later in the late 1980s and after that.

Do the set triggers operate the lock properly?

[Pahoo]

IMG_20180213_175625619.jpg

lockedcj7
In this second picture of you reply #16, I see a crown that is raising a red-flag. Have you had a chance to look at the full bore and crown area. I believe that the heart of an M/L, is the bore and the brains, is the lock. I have been very lucky in reviving bores that I thought were gone, for good. I have a few and they are still "shooters" !!!

My normal bore light, goes down to a .36 and for a .32, I use a bobber light.
Wishing you well and;

Be Safe !!!

[TruthTellers]

IDK why, but CVA's are really cheap. Are they not a good brand?

[Hawg]

They've always been cheap but actually they're pretty good rifles. CVA isn't importing side locks anymore but Traditions sells the same guns.

[4V50 Gary]

That Ruger.

[EIGHTYDUECE]

Wow! The Ruger is a given good deal on a great cap-n-ball revolver, but that CVA was a super deal on such a nicely finished build. Congrats

[Bishop Creek]

Great deal on both. Stainless steel fixed sight Ruger Old Army's like that are going for an average of $800 on Gunbroker.