Question for Johnney Reb

[pastorp]

You made a comment to me about your CVA mountain rifle being your one & only rifle. Got me to thinking. What sets it apart from all the others rifles you've had over the years?

[JonnyReb]

 Byron, i can't think of a question i'd rather answer.      Give me just a few minutes and i'll explain my thinking on that 

[Winter Hawk]

I know that my .45 Deer Creek rifle (CVA Mountain Rifle parts) fits me well.  After I had Ed Rayle machine it down from 15/16" to 7/8" across the flats it weighs in at 7 1/4 pounds and is a joy to carry.  I can't complain about the accuracy, with my soon-to-be 70 y.o. eyes I get 4" - 6" groups at 100 yards with round ball which is good enough for me.

~WH~

[JonnyReb]

 WinterHawk thats a sweet rifle i know     and is the flint version duplicate of mine( cept the powerplant), barrel and all i think, so far as being Deer Creek and not otherwise marked. I'd found several references that mentioned those being American made barrels, as none were stamped with required proof marks for importation. I guess maybe they were spanish blanks, finished here and stamped simply ".45", but i prefer to believe they were homebuilt. That simple ".45" handstamp and nothing more, is one of the reasons i like the rifle so much.

  Like you, the Deer creek just fits me perfect. The long 32" barrel somehow balances just perfect and yet its a light rifle, comparatively.. I prefer it to carry over any other i've had including carbines. And as you say, accuracy is more than adequate. I'm grouping about like you, 4-6" at 100 yards but i'll never shoot at a deer that far away, at 30 yards i can put the ball whever i want and thats all i'll ever need.

  Byron i appreciate the thread. I won't get your question totally answered in this post but will hit on a few main points.
 About 2 years ago, i decided to find my perfect muzzleloader to take me into old age..a rifle i could show to a nephews son or daughter 40 years from now, and say "i've been carrying this for 40 years, , now its yours". One that meant something to me and fit me like a glove. What i didn't want anymore, was a safe full of guns i don't ever shoot. I did that for 20 years and had no "favorite" as a result. To much to choose from.

  I started buying and refinishing used guns. I bought quite a few including some real beauties..guns that really were scarce, guns never fired..all factory made rifles.  They were sweet rifles, and some of them were gorgeous but they didn't fit me PERFECTLY..and so i kept buying and playing with, then selling the ML's. I really hit on something when i bought the first of 4 CVA Mountain rifles. They were so trim, so balanced..very accurate and fit me well. l continued buying different guns after aquiring the MR's but came back to them as my favorite. In the end, i decided on this particular rifle for several reasons.

  My Mountain rifle wasn't the prettiest i had. It was however unique, having come from my friend Bubba .50, and so it had a bit of history behind it. It wasn't a perfect rifle, having a recarved buttstock, and other assorted minor changes but it shot fantastic and fit me like a glove. Its never misfired, lays in my hands like its mounted in a vise and the wide semi buckhorn is one of the best for me, i've used. I rebrowned it, and it didn't come out perfect, a bit streaky. The stock was the one and only "tru oil" job i've ever done,, disliked it at first but noticed the way it makes the maple birdseyes illuminate and over time have come to admire it. Its actually not a rifle that visually excited me at first, but unlike the ones that did, this rifle has grown on me and continues to.  I tried to sell it once actually, after i got what i thought was my rifle to end all rifles, the Jonathan Browning Mt. rifle, Come to find out the JBMR sucks to walk around with, in comparison with the CVA, and i'll go with the lighter one, that balances so nice.

  All in all, its a mix as to why i chose this rifle to be "the one". It fits me fantastic, shoots as well as i can see, never misfires, balances and is in great condition. It has a bit of history behind it and i made it mine by a less than perfect refinish job. Its days spent out in the field are low stress as i don't worry about rain or a bit of dirt. Scratches don't phase me. Its a working gun.

  Will try to get a pic or two up of it tomorrow, is just a plane jane .45 cva, but i think its quite a fine rifle. Do need to mention i DO have a few others i'll keep, but the CVA is my go-to. I have a backup rifle i bought from another fine gentleman here on the GBO, an underhammer .45. It happens to be a replacement for my first BP rifle from 30 years ago. I dumbly sold the original 25 years ago. I also have a 12ga New Englander which i will keep. I feel like these are all i'll ever need.   Jeff

[pastorp]

Thanks JR, I know what you mean about fit & finish and balance. My first ML was a TC hawken and I hunted everything with it. Even turkeys. I could see the sights back then and I never shot much over 75 yards or so. But then I traded it away. Don't know why I do that...... 

At my age & health I need lighter guns. Just can't tote heavy ones anymore. So I guess I'm on the search for another perfect ML myself. Your comment just caught my attention. And as usual you tell a interesting story.

I think what I want is a Mike Brooks fowler like the one Pete has. But I'm not sure about the flintlock. I might prefer percussion.

[JonnyReb]

 Thank you Sir. You can't guess how many times i write a response or post..then erase it all and go elsewhere, figuring noone really wants to read my "thoughts on it", i appreciate the compliment very much.

 Thought about what you said in your post and agree whole heartedly that you would probably love a custom fowler, those long barrels with thin walls make for a fantastic balance and swing if the barrel stretches out far enough. I have thought long and hard about a similar smoothbore fowler but realized that for me, it wasn't really what i wanted to use for deer and since i hunt little else, it didn't have a working purpose. I backed off on one but admire their feel and look. I do agree with you that a flint gun is a whole nother animal in terms of handling, and i myself will stay with what i'm familiar with and trust, cap lock. I certainly admire rocklocks and their proponents, may join them one day but maybe not too.

 Its a lot of fun searching out the perfect rifle, i've often thought that researching and planning a rifle or other products purchase  is almost as much fun as actually using it. Don't hesitate to try a few that you think you might like, knowing you can sell them if they weren't what you had in mind. I look forward to reading which way you eventually decide to go.   J.

 

[JonnyReb]

 Here she is..



http://s195.photobucket.com/user/xxjonnyrebxx/media/20130531_135328.jpg.html

[Ranger99]

now that's nice
mine's not as shiny (or as pretty )
but if it was i likely wouldn't use it.
i see i don't have a monopoly on
candy-striped ramrods 

[AtlLaw]

Hummmmmmm...

That officer 2 pictures over from the one you linked to looks like he's wearing a union uniform... 

He a relative of yours?   

Maybe the "blue sheep" of the family?   

And this is on-topic since it's a "question for Johnny Reb!"   

[JonnyReb]

now that's nice
mine's not as shiny (or as pretty )
but if it was i likely wouldn't use it.
i see i don't have a monopoly on
candy-striped ramrods 

  Thanks Ranger and good to see you. I know what you mean about the rifles too pretty and shiny to use, had a bunch of those and i couldn't use them either. This rifle shows its years more if you get close, and i've since cut the shine from the stock with that abrasive stuff that comes with the tru-oil. I AM partial myself to stripes in wood too       If it doesn't come naturally i'm always inclined to stain or burn it in myself.

[JonnyReb]

Hummmmmmm...

That officer 2 pictures over from the one you linked to looks like he's wearing a union uniform... 

He a relative of yours?   

Maybe the "blue sheep" of the family?   

And this is on-topic since it's a "question for Johnny Reb!"   

  Greetings Richard! Good theory's every one    and another favorite subject of mine.

  The officer pictured is a man named John Smith. I received an incredible gift years ago, a very large moldering box containing a southern families personals from 1779- 1940's.   The smith\jones lineage fought in the revolutionary war, and later the civil war and i have many of their letters, military awards, ledgers, will's, stamps, slave holdings, journals, marriage certificates, and from the 1860's on, pictures. John as pictured, was the postmaster of York  S.C. from 1862 till the end of the war. He owned a nice plantation on what is now congress st. in downtown York. The original homeplace was moved down the road and still stands. John was definitely all Confederate. I have the paperwork from confederate Postmaster General John H. Reagan , to John,, proclaiming his position within the confederate army.

  As for me, i'm a yankee. Was born up there on the canadian border but was brought south as a tiny kid, got plunked down into the middle of a southern farming community and ..lets just say ..its home still, 40 years later. So i'm a damned yankee i guess, but have done my darndest to fit in. Funny but now most of the folks i meet down south are from somewhere else. The old south is fading, and i for one, really miss it.

[pastorp]

Well JR you seem to fit in pretty well.  all my family was southern born except for my sisters kids. She married a Yankee she met here in Florida during the next Great War. You know after the war of northern aggression. WW2. Then to top that off she moved up there with him & raised her kids there. I let them call me uncle but its hard to swallow sometimes.  I guess it's not their fault though......