Vintage CVA Hawken Rifle Restoration
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- Опубліковано 20 жов 2024
- A friend of mine recently got an old CVA Hawken black powder rifle, and it really needed some work to get it back into shooting condition. I took on the job of cleaning it up. I'll show you what I did, and how well it turned out in the end.
Never thought i would hear CVA and vintage in the same sentence!
So good to see these guns brought back to life after neglect. I am always amazed how well they will still shoot even after being in such rough shape.
I really enjoy your videos.
A free gun is hard to beat, especially when they turn out like this one did. You did a great job on that old rust bucket and you’re a great neighbor. It was nice of you to include Randy. I’ve got a T/C Hawken in .54 caliber that I haven’t tried yet. It belonged to my FFL buddy, Joel’s father. Joel has never fired a muzzleloader. I’d like to take him to the range soon and let him shoot his Dad’s old gun. I typically do a muzzleloader tune up day before the season opens, so that would be a good time to check out what I’ll be using this year and give Joel an introduction at the same time.
He is in for a treat. I hope he cherishes his dad's rifle.
I have a renegade someone shot and didn't clean for years , the bore was pitted bad , I ran about 100 patches down the barrel with steel wool and scotch bright pad , then 100 fines rubbing compound, then 100 chrome mag polish. then 100 with and without lube , the patches do not come out ragged any more, and shoot about a coffee cup size at 100 yards
Wow! You really put some elbow grease into that one.
I enjoy your videos as ALLWAYS...!!!
Thanks, glad you liked it.
Great Job there Tom, I reckon Randy got em a shooter there and a good friend.
Thanks for sharing your story about you and your bruds hunt...got a pocketful of memories with my big brother as well...atvb...Dave
Love your traditional muzzleloader videos...awesome
Thanks! I'll try to bring you more soon.
That is a good-looking rifle
I inherited an old Hawkin much like that one from my uncle, who had it hanging over his fireplace too. He said he never shot it and never did. The .50 caliber barrel turned out to be pretty rotten. I found a .45 drop-in barrel from Green Mountain and she’s a shooter once again!
I have a Thompson center Hawken and .50 cal pistol love them both! Thanks for your video!
Jeremiah Johnson and
Hatchet Jack would have been proud of that video 😊
Just recently found you channel and really enjoy it. We have much the same interests and hobbies. I got 13 guns from my buddies estate earlier this year and that had been stored in a basement and were a rusty mess. One of them was an old CVA frontier rifle from the late 70’s early 80’s. I tore it down and had to refinish the entire gun. About to order my reloading supplies and see how it shoots. Your vids have been a big help. 👍🏻
Thanks for the nice comment. That really means a great deal to me. My hope is to help others with the videos I post.
Good job. I like keeping those old side-locks running and hunting with them. They’re respectable weapons that just need a little attention to keep in shape.
The sidelocks I own have a certain special appeal that makes me want to take them into the woods.
The brass polish additive you use in a brass tumbler for reloading will almost instantly remove all tarnish and discoloration without any elbow grease. It's like magic. Time saver
Awesome video!👍🏽
You do such great work and take pride in all you do. I appreciate your informative videos!! You are a very good shot!! Those steel plates aren't that big!! Thank you Sir and see you around the ridge.
Holy shit,i got one of them just a week ago.
Bought it on e-gun for €220 (us$220).
Best bargain i made.Absolutely love my new toy.It was never fired and just hung on the wall as decoation.
My 1st BP rifle was a short kentucky rifle in 45.Whenever i go to the range with it i am the star.BP is the real thing to shoot.
Great work on this rifle, no doubt it will be a treasured piece for your neighbor for years. I started watching your videos around the same time I inherited a Kentucky rifle from my late father. Watching your videos has helped me tremendously to understand and appreciate black powder rifles, including the one my father built which I now have. I can't find #11 caps in Virginia to save my life but when I do I certainly plan on taking it hunting. Any deer I get will be thanks in part to you. Your videos are much appreciated
Great video !!!
..i am enjoying this video ..!!
I am a percussion cap lock fan. So enjoyable to shoot
They do have their appeal.
I'm here for the stories. We don't have a whole lot that nowadays.
Nice job !
The T/C 50 cal Renegade that I inherited was stored with a cork(who knows how long the cork was there) in the barrel. when I found out I took it apart and poured muzzle loader bore cleaner in it and took a 12 gauge brush attached to a drill and scrubbed the barrel out until all rust was gone and replaced the nipple and had to reblue the barrel. Now it is clean and works flawlessly.
Good video thanks
Just a couple of words. First, great video. I love watching redos.
First, Jake never removed the wedge plates after he installed them. He put them on, and let them age. Second, The Hawken shop never used brass. Except in special occasions and that was rare. They had a trademark, and very rarely changed the look. Here is how they blued their rifles, They browned them, carded them, and rebrowned them. Then they set the barrels that were browned into boiling and let them set untill the desired blue came on, it was controlled from light blue to almost black. There are also differences in the stock profile. The fish belly is gone, there is a wedge sanded into the grip next to the shooting fingers that goes from the cheek piece to, then down to half way to the trigger. Makes a subtle wedge. I am no expert, but the trigger guard indicates it was a Jim Bridger. His rifle had brass furniture, and the hooked trigger guard. That descending curl would get caught in the woods. A very accurate rifle. When I get a rusty bore, after cleaning it, I would load it, then put a patch under the ball soaked in Clover. A valve lapping compound. I start with 1 grain, with 1 cal of ball. If .50cal, I go 50gns. Fire five balls. One with 70 gns of black powder. A lot of times, the edges of the rifling has chatter marks. The Clover smoothes it out.
In the '60s my first rifle was a .50 Mountain rifle. CVA. I beat the snot out of it, and this year I gave it to my Grandson to learn on. Good rifles, like the Thompson Center you have.
You did a good job on that rifle. I loved the Video.
Great job getting that baby tuned up and ready, he should really be confident with shooting that old gal, Hope he has a good season and hope he gives you a backstrap for your efforts. Good luck this year and look forward to more videos. Have a nice day.
I hope you also have a good season. Thanks, and take care.
U do a great job with these old blackpowder rifles
I have an early cva in 54 . Really good condition except for the trigger spring. Had to make a new one. Keen to get to the range and see if it’s accurate. The previous owner looked after the barrel well
That grin on Randy's face when he said. "I just shot me a Sasquatch"
Great video,great job!!! I like to use Never Dull on brass,it works pretty well. Happy shooting!!!
I redid one of these earlier this year. I took the rear sight off, put a regular dovetail sight on and a proper blade front sight, made it look more traditional.
Kia Ora from NZ Tom.
Great job on your reconditioning.
I got the very same rifle & in much the same shape condition as yours.
I used steel wool a few strands wrapped around a jag & working on it over 2 weeks got the barrel clean.
I hear much bad on Spanish barrels ( ive never seen a USA on to compare)
But the spain barrel is great actually.
& i really liked the windage adjustments on back sight.
Pretty good shooter.
Really enjoyed your movie.
Have fun with that smoke pole 💥
Ata Marie
Nga mihi
Chris
I hear guns have two enemies, rust and politicians. Everyone forgets about the "Bubba" factor.
Love it! Very well put.
Have the twin to that rifle
I have the same CVA I bought at a flee market here in P.A. I really want to refinish the wood, it's really light in color.I would like mine to be as dark as your Thompson Hawken rifle.
I think you will have to stain it with some dark walnut stain. The T/C has a black walnut stock, and I am pretty sure those old CVA's used beech for their stocks.
GOOD NEIGHBOR
I made a .50 cal. CVA Mountain Rifle of the same vintage as that gun. Two barrel keys, all browned iron furniture and barrel but for German Silver barrel pins and a pewter cap on the forestock. Stock is maple with some figuring.
I suggest you retrieve and inspect your expended patches down range. You wil be able to see evidence if any gasses are escaping around the barrel and patch as it travels down the barrel. That would indicate rust pitting.
Beautiful old gun. My old boss gave me a new Knight Wolverine in 2000 and I have never fired it. I also bought a new Uberti 1851 London Navy I'm hoping to get to try pretty soon. I think I have collected all I need to fire them. I think somebody bought Goex and is supposed to start making powder again.
Sorry for the late reply, but if Goex re-opens i will stock up on black powder. That's good news. Thanks for sharing.
Some people talk bad about CVA guns. I've owned three since the mid 70s and a Hawken since 1990. If you do the maintenance they'll last a lifetime. My Hawken is just like the one in the video, but with a engraved lock. A earlier model I think, because my 70s Kentucky rifle has the same lock.
I have enough Black powder components to last me the rest of my life...at 70 years old..i have learned not to waste..
Keep your Powder dry.
Another great job Tom. Randy should be able to harvest a deer with that gun.
That hesitation is usually from the nipple. Sometimes they clog from the powder blow back. Picking the hole, or drilling it out slightly prevents this.
I have the same gun but in .58 cal. My boss had a new T/C Dimond I fixed it for him then he sold it back to me with the 58 cal.cva for free!
I believe I would have pulled the stock off of it before I poured solvent down the barrel and let it run out the nipple hole. It cannot help the finish. I leave the nipple in, plug it with a wooden toothpick and pour in the solvent and let it soak for a little. Then disassemble and clean and lube.
I was going to do that. I have found that traditional Hoppe's #9 doesn't hurt the finish, as was the case with this gun.
I thought the same thing, but he cleaned it up and it looked great. But as always, gun oil is good for the metal and bad for the wood if allowed to soak in.
Cool trying to keep restorative without a ton of modification. There is a disappointing back story on these Hawken Style not a Hawken reproduction. If one ever walks across a "True Hawken" as I have, I instantly knew the difference, these are great I got the same exact on my wall, most do not realize true Hawken has two barrel wedges, with exception to the Kentucky Hawken it is pinned. However these as I state are awesome as well as for the one barrel wedge I still get another. As far as Cap/Patch Box it can be used as either primarily the round ones were Cap, Patch Box was quite a bit larger.
My Dad had a CVA Hawken, I am looking for one, The gun is long gone but I still have the original paper work to it and the accessories.
thank you ,i'm in the beginning process of restoring a cva hawken myself, i need a new stock , if ya know of one let me know !
I've owned a T/C Hawkins for several hunting seasons now and don't clean the brass on it due to the shine it leaves for hunting season? I can live with the patina.
The T/C Hawken is a legendary gun. I own one and it shoots "lights-out". T/C's quality is top notch. Too bad they are no longer made.
Great Video, I really enjoyed it. And I was wondering if you could get your voice a little louder.
That unit running in the background tends to drown out my voice.
Pyrodex P...works good in CVA caplock......Finer granulated as we know..equal to 3 f black powder .i reduce charge when using pyrodex p.. ignition much better than RS
If I find some Pyrodex P, I'll get it and make a review video. Thanks for the suggestion.
jeremiah johnson's rifle...!!!
Sir how long is the barrel on that rifle?
This was very nice. I enjoy your videos. I do wish you would not dry-fire the caplocks without a cap on the nipple. Kind of like dry-firing a rimfire gun. Not a good idea in the long run.
That's true. Prolonged dry firing is never a good idea, and percussion nipples are easy to ruin that way. I should have mentioned it in the video. Thanks for the suggestion.
Please does it have a removable breech plug?
so its been over a year how is the cva doing and has it harvested a deer yet
👍
When i clean my BP rifles the last thing i do is to dpra some WD40 on a cleaning patch and wipe the barrel inside and out.This way i never have a rusty problem.
How about a TC Renegade off the website used guy said it was in great shape oh, of course that's what they all say I guess put a patch down through it and when I brought it out, look like somebody shot it with birdshot the patch has so many holes in it from the rusty boar I was very disappointed, I probably put 500 patches through it with chrome and mag polish, I forget the name brand now that thing shoots like a dream, still has plenty of rifling in it I guess, also used a little steel wool at first, a nylon 50 caliber brush with the chrome polish will clean out the lands and grooves
You should be doing that operation in the kitchen! Where it's cool. Besides, wives appreciate watching guns get cleaned in their kitchen! (not)
Oh yeah! She'd probably whack me over the head with the barrel! Just kidding, my wife is pretty easy going. I guess that's why we are still together since 1984.
At the range in between shots I probably put 6 to 10 patches down the barrel before the next shot
Wash with hot water and soap. Dry complely wash with alcohol and oil lightly
I have very similar Hawkens .50 cal.
I have been having problems finding a nipple.
Do you have any idea of the thread pitch/size?
All contemporary (CVA,TC) nipples do not fit.
Metric 6-1mm...
Already tried that. Thank you for the imput.
i changed my #11 nipple to a 209 shotgun primer stopped all my hangfires
What about 45 cal 1/60 trun
TRACK OF THE WOLF IS YOUR FRIEND
Please don’t dry fire a percussion rifle. You’ll deform the nipple pretty quickly.
How much do i owe ya..?.
I think he should have asked......
Well.....I agreed to fix the gun if I could make a video covering the project.
Yur a GOOD HEARTED PERSON...WORLD NEEDS MORE LIKE YOU..!
Get it back in the woods, and give him a lesson in cleaning bp rifles
Boil that barrle
We want to see the rifle, not you.
keep scrollin' buddy!
It would be nice to see what you are doing, instead of your face !
That would be easier to do if I had a camera man, but since all my videos are self filmed, I spend a great deal of time explaining what I do. Sorry, I'll try to focus more on the task at hand. Wish I had someone to help me.