Feedback on CPA Stevens rifles

Standard Member

rmrix posted this 11 May 2010

Hello,

I have a few of them. They can be very good.

Before I comment I would ask that you narrow down your intended use. Like sporting or target, how you might configure it, caliber and what kind of powder, smoky or the new smokefree stuff. Some details might help direct the response.

MichaelRix

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CBA Member

6pt-sika posted this 11 May 2010

I have been wanting a full blown Schuetzen offhand rifle for about 10 years now and after looking over and handeling the Ballards , Winchesters , Millers and the CPA's . The only one for me is a CPA in Pope style with a nice old Lyman Super Targetspot on top !

I'm kinda hung up on the 25-20SS , 28-30 and 32-40 .>

I big contributing factor to me about the Stevens/CPA rifles is the fact that they are relatively easy to make dual barrel rifles !

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CBA Member

tturner53 posted this 11 May 2010

Hi guys, welcome to both of you, loco and rmrix. Always nice to “see” new faces. 6pt is the resident KING of Marlin .444s, any questions in that dept. he's got you covered. I don't know a thing about Stevens CPA rifles, sorry.

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CBA Member

Dale53 posted this 12 May 2010

CPA Stevens 44Ã‚Â½ are FINE rifles. I've had mine for a number of years and will tell you that Paul and Gail have treated me extremely well. I had some work done after shooting the rifle for several years and most of it was done under warranty (a genuine upgrade).

They use excellent barrels and their wood work was well done.

I bought the Pope style Schuetzen rifle and if you have large arms you might want to get their Walnut Hill model stock. I had to open the hook on my Pope style (Pope was a small man).

My rifle is competitive against most anything out there (the shooter (me) isn't but my rifle certainly is. If you buy a center fire you can buy a conversion to make it a rimfire (just need to change the breechblock and barrel). It takes just a couple of minutes to switch calibers.

FWIW Dale53

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CBA Member

nimrod posted this 12 May 2010

I can pretty much echo Dale53's comments, I have two one set up as a Schuetzen in a 32-40 and 22 rimfire easy to change barrels and breech blocks. The other is a 38-55 set up like a BPCR is my general shooting and am planning on adding more barrels as time goes on.

The first one the gunsmith didn't want to make it a switch barrel thinking that some accuracy would be lost by switching back and forth. But I haven't found this to be the case as both setups shoot great.

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Standard Member

loco posted this 12 May 2010

Thanks for the reply. Would like a 38-55 in a 12 twist for a 335 to 370 gr. bullet, barrel in the 28 to 30 in. range, and heavy #4. As far as a stock go's, prob a silhouette, but not sure what the drop is on that gun at this time. Most of the shooting will be done at 600 yds out to about 750 yds. Would like to find a stock that will allow me to shoot at 200 as well with the same stock, and I think the silhouette will work. Not much BPCR action around here and I'm a big smokeless shooter anyway, so smokeless it is. Been shooting to 300 yds for years but recently built a private range to 750 and all my shooters were to light or to slow of twist or both for this game. So I bought a Pedersoli competition in 45-70(Sharps) and just got a great load worked for it. Been told I'm full of it but I swear it chronographs from an oehler 35p at 1390fps with a sd of 4, waiting 3 min. between shots off a lead sled. 100 yds and 5 shot strings, but still testing and will try 10 shot strings soon. That load shot 1.100". c to c. As for the CPA I want a real nice shooter and one I can hand down to my son. Just shooting with friends and don't care about weight. Think I'm on the right track but your views would be appreciated, and thanks again.

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Standard Member

loco posted this 12 May 2010

Thank ya sir, thought it looked good but just needed to here it from someone else.

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Standard Member

loco posted this 12 May 2010

Thanks for the welcome and will keep ya posted if I buy one.

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Standard Member

loco posted this 12 May 2010

Thank you, that is just the kind of answer I was hoping for.

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Standard Member

loco posted this 12 May 2010

Thanks, adding a new barrel caught my eye too. You guys are all over it and that helps me out a lot, thanks again.

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CBA Member

nimrod posted this 12 May 2010

Are you going to use a scope or irons?

When I bought mine I just bought the action and then had barrels fitted from a gunsmith that is very familiar with single shots and long range shooting. Also I bought a unfinished stock from Paul and finished myself that way I could get the comb height that I wanted for myself. Worked out great.

My 38-55 is a badger with a 15” twist and handles 330 grain bullets very well but haven't shot it past 500 yards. If you are planning on shooting 750 yards I would think that the 12” twist would be fine and well suited for modern powder as you can't really get quite enough of “HOLY” black in the 38-55 case, not enough to suit me anyway.

Good Luck!

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CBA Member

R. Dupraz posted this 12 May 2010

Welcome to the CBA and forum loco:

I have been shooting the silhouette version of the CPA Stevens for several years. It is a 38-55 with a heavy half round Douglas barrel and a 1/14 twist. BPCR three position mid-range is the main game, however I have shot some silhouette along with some smokless/breach seating, just for the fun of it.

For BPCR mid-range, I use the Hoch 335 gr bullet with Goex cartridge and the smallest 200 yd groups that I have gotten so far have been right at 2 1/4” for ten shots. This combination will also take a 500 meter ram down on the silhouette range. The above groups were fired with a Unertle mounted however the BPCR mid-range is shot with tang sights.

With a breach seated Hoch 305 gr tapered bullet and IMR 4227, the rifle will put five shots in 1/2” at 100 yds, measured center to center, with this combination and a Unertle scope of course.

Mechanically, I don't have a lot of confidence in the switch barrel Stevens design to start with but I do have a soft spot for the Stevens single shots in general. And I think Paul Shuttleworth's rifles are one of the best values out there, not to mention his reputation. And his wood is second to none.

After about 700 rounds with black, the barrel loosened up to where the rifle couldn't be zeroed at two hundred yds. It was shooting good groups with a Unertle scope mounted on the barrel but when I put the tang sight back on, it would string the shots horizontally across the target. The barrel screw was tight. But when it was loosened, the barrel could be turned by hand past TDC and I could feel something going on when each shot was fired. This barrel had not been off since I had fitted and finished the wood after getting it from CPA.

Another shooter in our club has a CPA in a 45-90. He also has a .22 RF barrel which he had used to switch back and forth. He has had to send his rifle back twice to have the threads tightened up.

When I sent mine back to Paul, I had him torque the barrel up tight in the usual manner because it's not ever going to be taken off, at least by me. and it is shooting better than ever. He did this at no charge by the way.

After my experience, I believe this problem did not show up when the scope was mounted because it was entirely mounted on the barrel. But only when the tang sights were remounted did the barrel looseness become evident at the target.

Anyway, the above is in no way a reflection on the good folks at CPA and their rifles. I believe the problem is in the Stevens design. At some point I see another CPA in my future, maybe 25-20 Win. or a 22RF just for the fun of it. But they will have the barrels screwed on tight.

.

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Standard Member

JeffinNZ posted this 12 May 2010

Wish I could afford one. Would love a small caliber .25 or .28 for small game.

Cheers from New Zealand

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Standard Member

cityboy posted this 12 May 2010

R. Dupraz wrote: When I sent mine back to Paul, I had him torque the barrel up tight in the usual manner because it's not ever going to be taken off, at least by me. and it is shooting better than ever. He did this at no charge by the way.

I put my barrels on using a light barrel wrench and have had no problems wit them coling loose. I also put some low or medium strength locktite on the threads to ensure the barrel does not come loose. Jim

.

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Standard Member

loco posted this 13 May 2010

This will be shot with a soule sight and globe only, at least till my eyes give out. Shooting a Lee Shaver set up now on my 74 sharps, but would like to check out Ron Long and MVA sights too. Found out real quick when you get out past 300 yds. things like cheep spotters and sights don't cut it. Reloading had to tighten up as well. Just a few tho. case length or a different powder batch # would move P.O.I. at 600 yds as much as 2 to 3 feet. I'm learning!!! Thanks again.

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CBA Member

nimrod posted this 13 May 2010

Just a thought but if you are working on the stock yourself try to keep the top of the stock low enough to allow you to lay the long range rear sight down for ease of cleaning.

Something else that I would like to add is when changing barrels I don't change that often. Maybe a year or two between changes or at the most by season, and when I do I'll add a drop of Lock-tite to the threads not enough to make a perment bond but enough to keep them nice and tight but still be able to remove the barrel when desired.

Good luck!

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Standard Member

loco posted this 13 May 2010

Thanks for the reply. This custom build thing is getting out of hand! Talked to Gail at CPA yesterday and found out that mod. 54 engraving just went up to 1350$. So close to custom work now, that I called Ken Hurst about doing something all original, you know, one of a kind. Think I need therapy!!! I'm not sure about the whole barrel change system at this time,seems to be good and bad points voiced.All I know is I would like just one rifle on the special side to shoot and pass on to my family, but it must be accurate. Everyone seems to have good things to say about CPA and that makes me feel I'm on the right track. Thanks again.

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Standard Member

loco posted this 13 May 2010

Thank you for the big (welcome), never had one come from so far away. Would love to see New Zealand some time. Have a great day!!

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Standard Member

loco posted this 13 May 2010

Just how much wood is left on an unsanded stock, and how hard is it to work? I do a lot of woodworking and have a complete shop but just haven't done much on stocks? The last thing I want to do is screw up a nice piece of walnut. As for changing barrels, can't see me doing it very often either, but what a cheap way to have 2 guns. Thanks.

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CBA Member

32ideal posted this 13 May 2010

loco I own two CPA rifles, one set up for CBA Plain Base BR matches, very heavy #6 26 inch gain twist barrel in 32-40, rifle weighs 14 3/4 pounds with scope. I usually take the barrel off once a year in the off season and give it a complete take down cleaning.

The other rifle is a sporter model ordered in 7-30 waters, had CPA use a PAC-NOR 1:9 twist 3 groove barrel I provided finished to 27", it was intended as a hunting rifle and has been in the woods once, just a shade heavy to for me to carry for any distance, it shoots like a house-a-fire with the Saeco 168gr cast bullet and medium loads, before it was finished I had CPA use another provided Green Mountain 32 caliber 1:14 twist barrel finished at 29” in 32 Ideal caliber, shoots the Lyman 319289 bullet, so far working up loads it has grouped at 1 inch at 100yds with fixed loads in the 1400fps range, will be wringing it out with more loads this summer.

I have swapped the two barrels 7 & 32 and extractors back and forth quite a bit over the time I have owned this rifle, (over 5 years) and not had any problems with any looseness of fit, I do lube the threads with a light coat of extreme pressure grease on the threads whenever I change the barrels, after I wipe off the old.

One of the things that does not cost a lot and makes for a custom feature is you can pick your own serial number for your CPA rifle, on the BR rifle I chose my initials and a couple digits as the serial number, the 7-30 Waters also has a custom serial number.

As to finishing the wood it should be pretty easy for a wood worker, I'm strictly a metal guy and I managed to finish the sporter stock and it looks half decent (poor photo w/32 barrel installed) have never finished the wood on the BR rifle as I'm always sanding and changing something on the butt stock.

Do not believe you can go wrong with a CPA rifle, I am very pleased with mine and will have other barrels fitted to the sporter action in the future.

32ideal

:}

loco wrote:

Thanks for the reply. This custom build thing is getting out of hand! Talked to Gail at CPA yesterday and found out that mod. 54 engraving just went up to 1350$. So close to custom work now, that I called Ken Hurst about doing something all original, you know, one of a kind. Think I need therapy!!! I'm not sure about the whole barrel change system at this time,seems to be good and bad points voiced.All I know is I would like just one rifle on the special side to shoot and pass on to my family, but it must be accurate. Everyone seems to have good things to say about CPA and that makes me feel I'm on the right track. Thanks again.

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Feedback on CPA Stevens rifles

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