[Chris Boyd]

So, I've dug one of my late pawpaw's guns out of the cabinet. It's one of two muzzle loaders I inherited from him. Neither is very old, or very rare, or very valuable (except for sentiment). This one, the nicer of the two, is a CVA Missouri in .50 cal with double set triggers. I've never fired this gun, as I've never been much into black powder (not for the last 20 years or so anyway). I want to get it cleaned up and working so that I can take it to the range to help a friend teach his young-uns about how things were done way back when. the bluing is a tad worn but the bore is OK with only a small amount of rust here and there, some around the lock and some in the bore. I plan to replace the nipple, as it looks to be pretty worn down. Overall it appears to be in decent shape and I'm sure it'll clean up well.

Now, on to my troubles. The gun is equipped, as you can see in the pictures below, with 'double set triggers'. However, these ones don't seem to work properly. The hammer will engage at half cock and at full cock, but when the 'set' trigger is pulled, nothing seems to happen. When the main trigger is pulled the hammer falls with authority but I cannot tell any difference between the weight of the main trigger after pulling on the 'set' trigger vs without. I have a video of me demonstrating this, but haven't a clue as to how to upload said video for your viewing.

Also, can anyone decipher the markings that appear on the barrel? I'm assuming the one beginning with 87 is a serial number but the other one is Greek to me.

 

[Col.Klink]

The other markings are what I would assume to be pressure testing proofs. As far as the double set triggers, try adjusting the set screw (in between the two triggers I believe) and see if that helps.