Rifle 262

CVA Apex Break -Action Rifle

The Apex is based on asingle-shot hinged action.

The CVA Apex is a hinge-action, single-shot rifle.That simple design of a barrel linked to a receiver bya hinge pin easily allows removing and replacing abarrel. All that’s required to switch barrels on theApex is to remove a couple of screws to slip off theforearm, tap out the pin that holds the barrel to thereceiver and lift out the barrel. The first time Iswitched barrels took all of a couple of minutes.

A snap of the wrist locks the barrel shut in the re-ceiver. Squeezing the tang on the rear of the triggerguard releases what CVA calls its E-ZOpen breeching mechanism that pullsan ear, at the back of the receiver,out and down from a V-shapedrecess in the rear ofthe lug welded onthe barrel belowthe breech. Whenthe barrel is re-leased andtips down,the front

VJohn Haviland

Versatility is defined by a riflethat offers the option of eas-ily switching to another bar-rel for a different cartridge,

or even to a muzzleloader, to meet a variety of hunting situations. Con-necticut Valley Arms’ Apex rifle doesthat with the choice of swappingamong 12 different cartridges andtwo muzzleloader barrels. Over thelast few months, I was quite pleasedwith the ease of alternating amongfour different barrels on an Apexframe to shoot targets and hunt muledeer and pronghorn antelope.

May-June 2012 49www.riflemagazine.com

CVA Apex Break -Action RifleExploring MulticaliberOptions

rates ahammer

block that keepsit from firing until

the hammer is fully cockedand the trigger pulled. That ham-mer block saved me from ringingmy ears and scaring away a bigmule deer buck I was stalking.

Last October in northern Wyom -ing, the temperature was hot evenbefore sunup as I crawled up on abedded mule deer buck. When Iattempted to pull back the ham-

of the extractor contacts a crossbolt in the front of the frame, andthe extractor is pushed back toraise the case head clear of thebreech face where the case is eas-ily pulled out of the chamber.

The Apex does not have asafety that can be en-gaged. Instead, therifle incorpo-

A variety of barrel options is available, including (left to right):.22-250, .270 Winchester, .45-70 and .50-caliber muzzleloader.

mer on the Apex,my sweaty thumbslipped off thehammer spurjust shortof the

– not even loudenough for the buck to

hear.

I would have liked to havetaken apart the rifle to see

how the hammer block actuallyworks, but when I do such thingsI tend to have several parts leftover when I reassemble a gun. SoI’ll let CVA describe how the ham-mer block works: “The hammerblock consists of an extended fin-ger on top of the trigger that en-gages a notch in the hammer, anda double acting mainspring thatboth powers the hammer on theforward stroke and then, after thehammer strikes the firing pin, re-tracts the hammer to a point thatallows the trigger to drop into thesafety notch.

“When the hammer is in the down

hammercocking. I

cringed at whatI thought would

be the concussion ofthe rifle firing. But aclick was the only noise

Rifle 26250 www.riflemagazine.com

CVA Apexposition, it is blocked by the trig-ger and cannot go forward andcontact the firing pin. When thehammer is drawn back, the ex-tended finger on top of the triggerdisengages the hammer. At fullcock the sear (trigger) and thesear notch (hammer) engage andhold the hammer back. When thetrigger is pulled, the sear disen-gages and allows the hammer toaccelerate forward to hit the firingpin. Because the trigger is held tothe rear, the safety notch does notengage the top of the trigger. Afterhitting the firing pin, the hammerrebounds back to a neutral posi-tion out of contact with the firingpin. When the shooter’s finger re-leases the trigger back to the for-ward position, the hammer blockis once again engaged.”

In addition, when the hammer iscocked, the closed action is lockedshut, and if the action is open itcannot be closed.

The Apex’s trigger pull releaseweight is adjustable by turning aneasily accessible screw locatedbehind the trigger guard. Turningthe screw in increases weight, and

turning it out decreases weight.CVA states the trigger pull weightis adjustable from 3.0 to 4.75pounds. However, trigger pullweight varied between 2.0 and 2.5pounds on the Apex rifle I’ve beenshooting as it came from the fac-tory box. That is the lightest trig-ger pull I’ve seen on a factory rifle.Turning the adjustment screw allthe way in brought the trigger pullup to 4 pounds. The trigger had anever-so-slight amount of creep,but no overtravel.

Apex barrels are available in .22Long Rifle and 13 centerfire car-tridges from .222 Remington to.270 Winchester, .300 WinchesterMagnum and .45-70. Barrels arestainless steel and 25 inches in

length. Muzzleloader barrels are.45 and .50 caliber and 27 inches inlength. The front halves of the bar-rels have six flutes.

The Apex and its barrels aremade in Bergara, Spain. An addi-tional Bergara centerfire barrelcosts $219.95, $145.95 for a .50-caliber muzzleloader barrel and$195.95 for a .45-caliber muzzle-loader barrel. Those prices are abargain and then some consider-ing how precisely they shoot.

A DuraSight Rail Mount comeson each barrel to accept clamp-onmounts to attach optics or a scope.This is convenient because onescope can be switched betweenbarrels by merely loosening andretightening a few screws. Ofcourse, the scope must be re-sighted each time it’s changed, butthat can be minimized by writingdown the scope’s setting for eachcartridge.

Below left, a hammer block allows the rifle to fire only after the hammeris fully cocked and the trigger is pulled. Center, when the hammer iscocked, the receiver and barrel are locked shut. Right, a screw at therear of the trigger guard allows adjusting trigger pull weight.

Above left, the barrel is held in place by a receiver pin. Drifting the pinout allows switching to another barrel. Right, depressing the triggerguard extension unlocks the barrel from the receiver and allows it totip forward.

Trigger pull is adjustableby turning an easily accessible screw.

May-June 2012 51www.riflemagazine.com

The Apex has a shallow framethat merges into a low-profilebuttstock. The rear of the raisedcomb is in line with the centerlineof the bore and slopes forward .5inch to the nose of the comb. Thatslope allows the comb to slideunder the shooter’s cheekboneduring recoil and slightly reducesfelt kick. The CrushZone recoilpad on the buttstock feels hollow,but it absorbs recoil well. Put allthis together, and the recoil fromstout .45-70 loads was acceptableshooting off a bench.

Forearms for centerfire barrelsare slim and short, with one-inchears that blend the forearm inagainst the receiver walls andraised rubber grip panels on thebottom and sides. Schnabel tipsgive the forearms a bit of flare.Forearms for centerfire barrelsare 10.25 inches long. One fore-arm, though, will not fit all barrels.The .270 and .22-250 barrels havethe same contour and one forearmfits both barrels. However, the .45-70 barrel is thicker and re-quires a forearm with wider inlet-

Apex forends are shaped to fit on different diameter barrels.

Apex Shooting Results 100-yard

bullet powder charge velocity groups(grains) (grains) (fps) (inches)

.22-250 Remington:

50 Winchester Supreme 3,633 1.43, 1.51Ballistic Silvertip

.270 Winchester:

120 Norma Kalahari 3,250 1.26130 Berger VLD Hunting Hunter 56.0 3,177 .31130 Nosler Ballistic Tip H-4831 59.0 3,145 .95150 Berger VLD Hunting Magnum 61.0 2,878 1.01140 Swift A-Frame H-4831 57.5 2,939 1.23150 Winchester Elite XP3 2,802 1.83

.45-70:

300 Barnes X-Bullet flatnose Xterminator 52.0 – .92, .65300 Remington Express – 3.67

jacketed hollowpoint350 Kodiak flatpoint H-335 58.0 – 3.77405 Remington Express softpoint – 2.07405 RCBS 45-405-FN IMR-3031 52.0 – 1.41, 2.24

.50-Caliber Muzzleloader:

240 Hornady HP-XTP Triple Seven 80 (by volume) – 4.75Harvester Crush Rib sabot

90 (by volume) – 2.56Be Alert – Publisher cannot accept responsibility for errors in published load data.

Rifle 26252 www.riflemagazine.com

CVA Apex

bullets. The 130s went in a raggedhole, and the 150s clustered in abit over an inch. I also shot a fewother .270 loads that are listed inthe accompanying load table. Asthe barrel heated up during pro-longed shooting, the Apex .270 didtend to string bullets up the target.

The Apex weighed 8 pounds, 10ounces with a KonusPro 3-9x 40mmscope in aluminum rings and theincluded Quake carrying strap.That’s a bit heavy for a .270. How-

ever, the rifle’s slimness compen-sated for the weight, and it wascomfortable to carry slung acrossmy back crawling during a stalk,suspended on my shoulder whileglassing and shifting between myhands while walking through thetrees.

I stalked up behind a fold in a hill to within 65 yards of a muledeer buck in its bed beneath aPonderosa pine. The buck wasclose, but instead of just shootingI started fiddling with my shootingsticks. The buck saw the move-ment and stood up. On about thecount of two, the buck was goingto run, so I dropped the sticks andbrought up the rifle, firing the in-stant the crosshairs met its ribs.The buck jumped, kicked its hindlegs and ran, but its run was short.

I stalked up nearly as close to apronghorn buck in its bed. Thesneak required most of two hoursof crawling through sagebrushwith the Apex suspended by itsstrap over the front of my chest.The buck might have seen a flashof my fluorescent orange hat be-hind the sagebrush, but it didn’thave time to dwell on what it hadseen. I poked the barrel throughthe branches, fired and the buckrolled over. Those two quick shotsshow the Apex is fast to handle.

The .45-70 is similar to today’s in-line muzzleloaders in that theyshoot large diameter bullets atcomparable velocities and belchsmoke. About the only differenceis the in-line is loaded by pouringpowder or dropping pellets ofpowder down the bore followed

ting. Forearms for muzzleloaderbarrels are larger and containkeepers to retain the ramrods. Allstocks and forearms are syntheticand are either black or camou-flage.

Last fall I started shooting anApex with a .270 Winchester bar-rel to prepare for a northeastWyoming mule deer and prong-horn hunt with Rawhide CreekRanches Outfitters (rawhidecreekranches.com). Shots can be longin the breaks above the Little Pow-der River, so I loaded the .270 withNosler 130-grain Ballistic Tips and59.0 grains of H-4831 for a muzzlevelocity of 3,145 fps from theApex’s 25-inch barrel. Several three-shot groups at 100 yards meas-ured slightly less than an inch.

To see how well the Apex .270would shoot, I also loaded Berger130- and 150-grain VLD Hunting

This muzzleloader group wasfired with Hornady .50-caliber,240-grain HP-XTPs in HarvesterCrush Rib sabots over 90 grainsof Triple Seven.

The Apex shot this group withRemington .45-70 factory loadswith 405-grain bullets.

May-June 2012 53www.riflemagazine.com

I’ve mostly shot cast bullets froma .45-70 through a Marlin lever action with open sights, so I reallynever knew how precisely theygrouped. Turns out bullets castfrom an RCBS 45-405-FN mouldshoot pretty well. The Apex shotthree of the big wheelweight alloybullets slightly under 1.5 inchesand slightly over 2 inches at 100yards. Remington .45-70 factory Ex-press 405-grain bullets also shotwell, but the Remington 300-grainload and a handloaded Kodiak 350-grain flatpoint failed to shoot quite

with a bullet, while the .45-70 pack-ages everything in a convenientcartridge case.

The trend with in-line muzzle-loaders is to shoot lighter-weighthandgun bullets encased in sabots.A similar load in the .45-70 is the Barnes 300-grain X-Bullet flat-nose. Two, three-shot groups withthese bullets grouped well underan inch shot through the Apex. Ididn’t record the velocity becausea headwind blew so strongly itnearly tipped over my chronographwhen I attempted set it up.

Harmonic Stress Relievingand Refinishing

Officer Stan Stanchina, Michigan Tactical Team/Sniper; “My rifle’s accuracy(1.5”-3”) improved to M.O.A. or better with the M&R process. Other rifles from M&Rwere verified with the same positive results”.Ken Kelly, Mag-na-port International; “I had my factory F.N. 7mm stress relieved.The groups went from 2.25 inches to under 1.5 inches”!

1126 S. Gratiot • Mt. Clemens, MI 48043 • Tel: 586-954-3998For more details: www.mrarms.com

Testimonials from our Satisfied Customers!

This .45-70 group was shot withbullets cast from an RCBS 45-405-FN mould over 52.0 grains ofIMR-3031.

Handloads with Berger VLDHunting bullets shot well.

Greg SwezeyGreg Swezey

2010 IBS HunterBenchrest Nationals• 100-200 National Champion• 200 L-R National Champion• 100-200-300 National Champion• 200-300 Long Range

National Champion• 4 Gun Top Gun

NationalChampion

If you want to shoot likea champion, choose Lilja!

www.riflebarrels.comLilja Precision Rifle Barrels, Inc.P.O. Box 372, Plains, MT 59859Tel: 406-826-3084 • Fax: 406-826-3083

The Apex also worked well on mule deer.Haviland shot this Wyoming pronghorn buck with a.270 Winchester barrel installed.

Rifle 26254 www.riflemagazine.com

shooting 40-some rounds, I wentto the bench and shot three Win-chester Supreme 50-grain BallisticSilvertips in 1.43 inches and five in1.51 inches.

Today’s black-powder substitutesleave behind less residue thanblack powder, but they still depositenough fouling to require a clean-ing patch down the bore betweenshots for best accuracy and tokeep from having to use a hammerto seat a sabot-encased bullet. Afterfive shots with Triple Seven pro-pellant measured by volume, aHornady 240-grain HP-XTP in a

Harvester Crush Rib sabot fit in thebore only if I leaned on the ramrodlike I was hammering a spike in arailroad tie. Three of the bulletslanded in 4.75 inches at 100 yardswith all that fouling in the bore.

When I swabbed the barrel be-tween shots, a three-shot groupmeasured 2.56 inches, and the bul-let and sabot seated much easier.After 20 shots, the Apex’s QuickRelease Breech Plug easily un-screwed. That access to the boreallowed easy cleaning of the bar-rel in a kitchen sink full of hotwater and Murphy’s Oil Soap. Thatquick clean up helped speed theprocess of switching back to an-other barrel to keep hunting andshooting CVA’s Apex.

* * *Rifle No. 261

(March-April 2012)

CORRECTIONIn “Stocky’s AccuBlock Stocks,”I mistakenly mentioned “BobbyHart of Hart Barrels.” This is in-correct. Bobby Hart is in no wayconnected to Hart Rifle Barrels.His company is R.W. Hart & Sonsin Nescopeck, Pennsylvania. HartRifle Barrels is located in LaFay -ette, New York. My apologies.

as tightly. Their groups were roundwith no sign of stringing when thebarrel heated up, just not as tight.

Without a long receiver to housea bolt, the Apex’s overall length is4.5 inches shorter than a short-action bolt action with a 24-inchbarrel. That made it handy toshoot off a bench and from sitting.It was kind of a pain to shootprone, though, because I had toroll on my side to open the actionand then tilt the barrel open.

The .22-250 is made for shooting,so I shot most of a bread sack fullof leftover this-and-that loads. After

CVA Apex

The Apex’s overalllength is 4.5 inches

shorter than a short-action bolt action.

R