The Russian Mosin Nagant Forum

I have a never fired 45 cal. replica percussion rifle that I have had since the early 70's. Have lost all manuals. I was thinking of shooting it so ran a cleaning jag with patch down the barrel to clean the dust out. I noticed that 4" from the breech end there seemed to be a 1" area that is a larger diameter than that on either side. Also at 14" from the breech end there seems to be a slight step down in barrel diameter. Is this normal? This is a 4 groove 33+"barrel. Thanks for any info.

I would guess this is one of CVA's 70's Kentucky rifles? They will be a bit more open at the breech end to allow for easier loading, as these barrels foul with black powder they get tighter, so that small bit of extra space down there will make life easier by the fourth or fifth shot. I don't know the recommended charge, but a black powder rule of thumb is 45 grains of FFG for ,45 cal, 50 grains of FFG for .50 and so on, loading to 30 should give you a good plinking load.

you can get the load data from CVA , my 45 cal TC hawken is a 1970's model , i have shot it and hunted with it a lot ,it has a slow twist round ball barrel like 1 in 66 , for a round ball hunting load i use 60 grs of swiss 2fg , with one of my ruger old army pistol bullets i cast that weighs 220 gr , i use 70gr of 2fg swiss , my gun hates pyrodex and replica black powder , if i use pyrodex i use 3fg or all i get is hang fires ...

It may not be a CVA, it could be Italian, Japanese, German, or Spanish, could also be American made. That time saw a big intrest in BP shooters again with the upcoming bicentenial celebration, everybody was getting into the BP act. CVA guns will say CVA on them.

The name on this rifle is Ultra-Hi, made in Japan.

The Japanese made some pretty good guns back then for the US collector market, they also made some real crap intended more as decorators and props. Best way to tell what you have is to strip it down and look at the workmanship of the lock, the breech and the bore. If it looks like a high school metal shop project then what you have is likely intended as a decorator. Problems is that the Japanese manufacturers would make whatever the US company ordering the guns wanted and junk and shooter tend to look alike because they are, only the higher end stuff got a much better quality build.
Ultra Hi was made by Miroku of Japan probably as a kit gun, but they also sold ready made versions. If it looks good shoot it.

This rifle was ready made and purchased at JC Penny's. Quality looks really good. My neighbor has all the goodies to make it go bang, so as soon as all the snow is gone,........

JC Penny store in Anchorage, Ak. Not sure all Penny's stores had a sporting goods dept.

Pennys would not have been selling decorators, I think you are good to go.

Thanks JYD

No problem, we would love to see some pics of this rifle