Black power rife- need help

[jeremyb]

I got the old black powder rifle from my brother. It's a kit that he built about 20 years ago. I remember how to shoot it but don't remember how much powder to use. Also the nipple is rusted are they all the same size? I'm going to go buy the stuff to shoot it tonight. I also heard that some people are using something other water to clean it. Any thoughts or suggestions on powder or any other other advise.

Thank you.

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[Junk Yard Dog]

CVA Hawken .50? Looks like one, take the cone off, plop in in a small jar of vinegar and leave it there for a week, pull it out and wash off the black crud that will be on it and the rust should be gone. As a rule of thumb with BP it's grains of powder equals caliber for a maximum load. FFG powder, .50 would be 50 grains MAX, start off at 35 grains, that should be fine for plinking. I had one of these years back, good to learn on. Patch the ball with a lubricated patch, I use Wonder wads, but Crisco worked into a patch made from T shirt material will work. Tamp it down firm, never leave an air gap between bullet and powder in a BP shooter, remove all oils from the bore before shooting, pop a cap or two to dry out the cone and it's passage into the chamber, I think this uses no11 caps, but maybe 10's, in any event 11's will fit by just squeezing them a bit before slipping them on.
To clean it you pop the barrel out of the stock, it's a hooked breech, easy to remove, drop the tail end of it into a five gallon bucket half full of warm water with some dish soap in it, wrap a patch around the cleaning rod and get a sucktion action going in the bore as you scrub. dump the water once it turns nasty, refill and do it again, wash it off with hot water, oil it and check it again in a few days, black powder is 50 times more filthy than smokeless so expect that, and the substitute powders except for clean shot are no better. If you use a substitute powder like Pyrodex reduce the main charge by 5 or so grains as they have more punch than black.

Powder measure
Powder flask
ball puller/worm
bullets
caps
patches
ball starter,
patch lube or Crisco
shotgun size cleaning patches 12 gauge

Powder, I prefer real black, Goex, but you can shoot this with the substitutes.

Never load directly from the flask or powder jug, always load the measure first, then dump the measure into the rifle. one ember in there...

[Junk Yard Dog]

BP is highly corrosive, and the fouling is hydroscopic just like corrosive Mosin ammo, clean right after shooting.

[ponycarman]

Good looking rifle! Should clean up nicely.

[entropy]

If you don't want to go through the hot water treatment, a good alternative is T/C No. 13 Bore Cleaner. I swear by this stuff. Use it liberally, as the bottle says, and you can skip the tub of hot water and dawn. Find out the rate of twist, it will tell you which type of projectile will work best. 1:66= round ball, 1:48= conical. With my 1;48 Traditions, I find Buffalo Bore 385 gr. HBHP (Hollow base, hollow point) to be deadly on deer with 83 gr. of Pyrodex 'P'; I use a .50 AE case as a dipper, measured at 83 gr. A .44 Mag. casefull with round balls makes nice range fodder.

[jeremyb]

Thanks everyone. I look forward trying it.

[Warf51]

Genuine BP will be the most reliable in that rifle. The Drum style that you have, has three 90's to overcome before the main charge is lit by the Cap.

[jeremyb]

Well I picked up some powder. They didn't have a lot of choices and I recognized this name. I'll let u know how she shoots tomorrow.

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[Junk Yard Dog]

RS is Rifle/Shotgun, remember what I said about downloading the charge when using the substitutes.

[jeremyb]

So 30-35 would be in a good starting range?

Thanks

[Junk Yard Dog]

You would be safe in that range.

[jeremyb]

Thank u

[tjtM38]

It looks like your rifle has a musket nipple. You can also buy a nipple that uses the standard #11 percussion cap, but make sure you are getting a nipple that fits the CVA and not a TC. I believe the CVA nipples are metric size/thread.

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/161560 ... -pack-of-2

You need to do some rust removal from this rifle. I suspect you may also have some rust in the barrel if the nipple was neglected as badly as presented. Do you know what the bore looks like?

[ponycarman]

Thats what I have for my hawken. Wasn't able to find anything else worth buying locally. But walmart has a nice stash of the rs pyrodex around deer season.

[jeremyb]

From what I can see there is no rust in the barrel. But I can only see down so far.

[Ironnewt]

Keep us posted.

[Junk Yard Dog]

It looks like your rifle has a musket nipple. You can also buy a nipple that uses the standard #11 percussion cap, but make sure you are getting a nipple that fits the CVA and not a TC. I believe the CVA nipples are metric size/thread.

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/161560 ... -pack-of-2

You need to do some rust removal from this rifle. I suspect you may also have some rust in the barrel if the nipple was neglected as badly as presented. Do you know what the bore looks like?

These old CVA's used smaller caps, all three of mine were no11's if I recall on the past two, the one I still have is also a no11. Only my big Springfield used the Musket cap.

[jeremyb]

Your right it uses number 11. They fit perfect. I'll be trying this out later today.

[jeremyb]

Well I took the rifle out to the range today.. It shot very good and I had no problems. Front sight is loose so I need to fix that. Had two bull eyes at 50 yards, but the sight keep moving. turned out another black powder guy showed up and gave me some pointers. He had a beautiful 30 cal rifle.

thanks for all the advise.

JB

[bunkysdad]

I just bought a musket nipple for my TC's, but I can't decide if I want it on my 54 Renegade or 50 Hawken. My local ammo store had the musket caps. The TC musket nipple came from Graf and Sons.