Hunting Washington Forum
Big Game Hunting => Muzzleloader Hunting => Topic started by: Mustangman on December 24, 2010, 10:56:53 AM
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I finally broke down this morning and bought the Traditions Vortek NW Edition. Noticed something really weird. The hammer does not drop and stay down. It drops back to half cock and stays there!!!! I pull hammer all the way back with a cap on the nipple and pull the trigger. The hammer travels forward, hits the firing pin and then the hammer drops back to the half cock. Feels like a spring is making it do that. I called Cabelas (where I bought it) and they said its supposed to do that. Has anyone heard of this?
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I'm sure it's a built in safety device, so it can't go off if something bumps the hammer while a live cap is on the nipple. So long as the gun fires when you want it to, I wouldn't worry about it or try to disable it.
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Thanks for the reply! I have never seen a hammered firearm that did that. I decided to run a few caps through and see what happened. Well, the first cap failed to fire on the first attempt and then three consecutive caps did fire. I'm assuming the gun needs a good cleaning from the packing grease. Still seems very odd. I guess cleaning and a trip to the range will confirm it.
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-Take it back and find yourself a BigHorn! :twocents:
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Usually when a cap fails to ignite it's because the cap was not pressed firmly onto the nipple. The sligtest gap between the primer and nipple can absorb the hammer/firing pin momentum enough to cause a "dead blow". I've seen guys complain that their gun was defective when it was just a case of a cap not firmly seated on the nipple.
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-Take it back and find yourself a BigHorn! :twocents:
X2
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Well a little more research and it appears the NW Vortek hammer rides at half cock a position Traditions calls, "at rest." This is on top of the safety at the rear of the trigger guard like a shotgun. I think this is a little overkill. After capping on a huge cow two years ago off Bethel, I'm excited to try this one. It looks like it's time to sell the T/C sidelock. Thanks for the reminder on getting the cap on good. I was excited and forgot. I should be at the range next week.
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If you do a search on here. You can read of some of the other issues. I had one for a little bit. It was cocked sitting in my leadsled when it decided to go off, without me touching the trigger or safety. I took it back and got the money back. Would never trust another one myself :twocents:
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Sounds like it might be a good safety feature. I have a Traditions Evolution and the safety lever sticks way up like a sore thumb. I beat the brush a lot, and have found it in the fire position a few times. I think I'll start carrying it without a cap when I'm hiking.
I checked out your new gun a week ago and it is a nice looking and feeling gun. Hope you have fun with it.
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It's funny. I find people who like the Traditions and I find people who hate it and point out flaws they have seen. I don't think there is a single smokepole that everyone likes. Many people raved about the CVA Elkhorn. To me it seemed cheaply made and the sights definately made me nervous. However, If I was on a tight budget, I would buy one in a heartbeat. I looked at the new T/C NW model and thought it was the worst ML T/C has ever put out. I could hardly get my thumb on the hammer because it was so small and my finger would barely fit in the trigger guard without gloves. However, many swear by anything T/C. Don't get me wrong; I love to see opinions on both sides of the coin. It gives me something to look for and consider when I look at a new ML. BTW: I looked at all three mentioned side by side on the counter at Cabelas and the Traditions won out. I just hope it performs as well as it rated. I also read something last night that said the parts for Knight rifles are being made in China.
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Mustangman... I just tore down my Traditions Evolution & found the trigger/safety assembly screws were loose. I snugged them up and the safety feels a lot more positive now. I bought my boy a CVA Buckhorn for Christmas this year, and I do like the way the safety lever sits inside a depression, so it can't catch on brush. His trigger and safety are both smoother that mine, at 1/2 the cost. I'm sure Traditions has made improvements since then. I can't say that I've been unhappy with my rifle at all. It's a straight shooter. I just need to practice more. This year, me and the kid plan to get out a lot for some shooting. Maybe a little smokepole coyote hunting.
Congrats on getting a fine rifle. I bet you're gonna love it.
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Mustangman... I just tore down my Traditions Evolution & found the trigger/safety assembly screws were loose. I snugged them up and the safety feels a lot more positive now. I bought my boy a CVA Buckhorn for Christmas this year, and I do like the way the safety lever sits inside a depression, so it can't catch on brush. His trigger and safety are both smoother that mine, at 1/2 the cost. I'm sure Traditions has made improvements since then. I can't say that I've been unhappy with my rifle at all. It's a straight shooter. I just need to practice more. This year, me and the kid plan to get out a lot for some shooting. Maybe a little smokepole coyote hunting.
Congrats on getting a fine rifle. I bet you're gonna love it.
Maybe you should give Traditions a call and let em know they might want to put some thread lock on the safety screws, dont sound very SAFE to me!!!
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-Take it back and find yourself a BigHorn! :twocents:
X2
x3
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The cva buckhorn is just a simplerer version of the cva elkhorn. i like it though durable easy to clean. and very accurate.
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The cva buckhorn is just a simplerer version of the cva elkhorn. i like it though durable easy to clean. and very accurate.
I can agree on that. We just tore my son's down yesterday & it was a cinch to clean. Very simple gun to work on. We're going out to shoot it for the first time today.
