Anyone shot/owned CVA Cascade?

A good friend of mine bought a CVA Cascade as his first rifle. He came with me to the range to zero and dope a new Tikka I had just bought. Within two weeks he had sold the CVA and bought a Tikka.

I shot the CVA. Stock design was horrendous. Made for way more recoil and muzzle flip than was necessary with that 308. It grouped ok but anything built today should.
 
A good friend of mine bought a CVA Cascade as his first rifle. He came with me to the range to zero and dope a new Tikka I had just bought. Within two weeks he had sold the CVA and bought a Tikka.

I shot the CVA. Stock design was horrendous. Made for way more recoil and muzzle flip than was necessary with that 308. It grouped ok but anything built today should.
Thanks for the reply. Confirms that I should use the old "buy once, cry once" line here.
 
It also matters what cartridge you are looking for. Some are available in one and not the other. Everything I have seen on the CVA is that it is one of the best entry level rifles. The cascade XT and LRH are supposed to be even better. I'm personally waiting for the 7PRC Cascade XT to hit my local shop to check it out. I have never shot a Tikka, so I can't compare, but they also don't offer the 7PRC.
 
I handled a few Cascades at SW a couple years ago, all of them had warped stocks that contacted the barrel on the left side, which is saying something because the free float gap was generous. Nothing that sand paper couldn't fix, but I'm not a fan of any of the soft touch stock coatings, they all end up looking like hell and peeling after hard use. The rifle initially appealed because of the stouter sporter barrel contour, and was threaded. I just don't care for the real skinny buggy whip style barrels.

After the hell I went through with CVA over a $200 muzzleloader that flat out had a barrel that was not concentric internally (that they did NOTHING about), I can't talk myself into handing them any more money. It truly was a fiasco, and when I posted repeatedly on their Facebook group about it, one of their marketing guys chimed in and ended up sending $150 worth of various Power Belt bullets to try. Let that sink in... they wouldn't replace a barrel on a $200 break action rifle, but they sent me $150 worth of bullets to try in it..... that shot horribly as well. I ended up trying nearly 40 bullet and powder combo's through it and none of them shot better than 6", 3 shot groups at 100 yds, except ONE that I finally found after getting some 200gr T/C Shockwave sabots, it's under 2" consistently. That rifle sits in the corner of the safe, I refuse to sell that garbage to anyone.

If you dig deep on the web there's a lot of info out there about bad barrels from CVA and Bergara. They do a very good job of suppressing any negativity about their products on forums, especially the one's they sponsor. I mean as far as actually deleting posts or having them deleted. I played that game with them too.
 
I would have no issues recommending a CVA cascade to anyone. I dig mine. Try a tikka and see how it feels. Try a cascade. You can’t go wrong with either. This is my cascade 30-06 at 100 yards playing with some different ammo..
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This is interesting. I have a cva cascade in 6.5 creedmoor and love it. Have a ruger American 243 for kids - also like it. Other than that, I have very limited rifle experience. And haven’t shot a tikka. I just planned on my next rifles being cva as well, but maybe I rethink that
 
I ended up going with a Tikka instead of the CVA and Im pleased. It is a smooth action and shoots pretty good groups. FWIW
 
So Ive been looking for a new rifle. Had decided on the Tikka T3x since it is beloved here. However, I came across the CVA Cascade which has a lot of the same features as the T3x (good trigger, good stock, relatively smooth action (though not as smooth as Tikka), good barrel (Bergara), cerakote, and threaded barrel) for basically half the price.

For instance, the top model T3x with fluted barrel and bolt, cerakote, camo stock and threaded muzzle costs $1450. The CVA Cascade has all of that excepted fluted barrel and bolt for $700. I know the Tikka is probably the better gun. But is it worth the difference in cost? I could get the base model T3x but I really want a threaded barrel and cerakote, so adding those costs in drives even the cheap T3x up to close to $1K once I leave the gunsmith.

Links for reference:

Tikka T3x Lite
CVA Cascade

Any opinions on accuracy, handling, durability of the CVA? Really having a hard time justifying spending another $700 for the Tikka. I do like the action of the Tikka better and that its lighter, but just looking for other opinions.
I have the CVA Cascade LRH in 7mm PRC and it does have a fluted barrel but not the bolt. Very happy with it so far. Only complaint is lack of aftermarket support. Would like to put it in a chassis so I could use a magazine that holds more than two rounds.
 
I bought a CVA Cascade in 30-06 a few months ago. I really like it. It shoots sub MOA. Seems to really dig Federal Terminal Ascent and Hornady Precision Hunter ELD-X. The trigger is crisp and the action is very smooth. When I got it, the trigger adjuster screw was so loose it almost fell out. I threw a little loctite on it. The bolt was a little sticky at first, but after cleaning and running it a few times with a little oil, its very smooth. I would say flirting with Tikka smooth... The magazine feels a little cheesy, but honestly its not much different than the Tikka mag. The stock is great. Nice and stiff. I like the rubber grip. We shall see how it holds up after elk season... Fully loaded and ready to hunt, it comes in at 8lbs. I installed a limb saver recoil pad and a picatinny rail. You don't have much for options on those currently. Talley was the only one I could find. It feels and shoots like a very expensive rifle.

I've probably put 60 rounds through it and I've had zero issues.
Same here. I have a cascade xt in 7prc, shoots great and after a tiny amount of polishing on the bolt it runs like butter now. The finish on the stock did start wearing off after a few times in my vice. Sent Cva an email and I had a new stock in a week. Havnt had an issue with the new one. I think for the price it’s a good gun that you don’t need to baby.
 
Same here. I have a cascade xt in 7prc, shoots great and after a tiny amount of polishing on the bolt it runs like butter now. The finish on the stock did start wearing off after a few times in my vice. Sent Cva an email and I had a new stock in a week. Havnt had an issue with the new one. I think for the price it’s a good gun that you don’t need to baby.
Loved my CVA. However, I sold it and bought a Tikka. I sold it because of the safety. The bolt doesn't lock when on safety. When I was looking it over at the store, it didn't occur to me that would cause a problem. While I was elk hunting, the bolt came open on me. I didn't loose my round, but that could have screwed me over. The CVA is a great shooter. The trigger is amazing. That being said, the Tikka is lighter, action is smoother and the bolt locks under safety. Both rifles shoot sub MOA.
 
So Ive been looking for a new rifle. Had decided on the Tikka T3x since it is beloved here. However, I came across the CVA Cascade which has a lot of the same features as the T3x (good trigger, good stock, relatively smooth action (though not as smooth as Tikka), good barrel (Bergara), cerakote, and threaded barrel) for basically half the price.

For instance, the top model T3x with fluted barrel and bolt, cerakote, camo stock and threaded muzzle costs $1450. The CVA Cascade has all of that excepted fluted barrel and bolt for $700. I know the Tikka is probably the better gun. But is it worth the difference in cost? I could get the base model T3x but I really want a threaded barrel and cerakote, so adding those costs in drives even the cheap T3x up to close to $1K once I leave the gunsmith.

Links for reference:

Tikka T3x Lite
CVA Cascade

Any opinions on accuracy, handling, durability of the CVA? Really having a hard time justifying spending another $700 for the Tikka. I do like the action of the Tikka better and that its lighter, but just looking for other opinions.
I own the CVA Cascade Long Range Hunter in 6.5 PRC and 7 PRC. They are both great rifles. They both shoot amazingly well. I certainly wouldn't consider them backcountry because they are not light. I recently took the 7 PRC to South Africa and it performed extremely well.
 
Tikka all day long.

The CVAs are ok- but they have 0 stock options. Also on the 350L I have, the stock bases were machined crooked. The action feels like hot garbage compared to tikka. Truthfully I’ve been tempted to sell it so many times but I haven’t done it yet.
 
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