CABELA'S BLUE RIDGE FLINTER

[lonewolf5347]

I WAS LOOKING AT THE CABELAS BLUE RIDGE FLINTER IN 54 CAL. WITH A 1 IN 48 TWIST.
I WOULD LIKE TO HERE THE FROM GUYS THAT OWN THE CABELAS BLUE RIDGE M/L AND YOUR VIEWS ON THE RIFLE.

 

[Rebel]

I think they are a real good flinter for the money. They are accurate, and have a very good sparking lock. Take a 7/8" flint. Only thing i needed to do with mine was enlarge the vent hole to 5/64", and then it was good to go.

 

[lonewolf5347]

REB:How does the 1 in 48 twist do with round ball may I ask?
How is the gun overall wood to metal fit for a production m/l?
I do like the fact the overall weigh of the 54 cal. compared let say a lyman GPR,which I find a little to heavy for walking in the woods.

 

[Rebel]

Mine was a .50 cal. It shot real well with rd. balls, never tried anything else in it. I ain't all that good with a flinter, being pretty new to them, but i could get 1 1/2- 2" groups off a rest at 50 yds with it. Someone better with a flinter could probably do better. I do know it has a real good sparking lock on it. Better than the lock i had on my North Star West Early English Trade gun. I had nothing but troubles with that lock, even after i sent it back to them and had a new frizzen fitted, and a new mainspring and frizzen spring. Never was reliable. But the Blue Ridge lock always was if i did my part and kept the frizzen, flint, pan, and pan cover clean, and the vent clear.

 

I have had 2 both shot RBs very well but was plagued with problems, bad tumbler, springs, trigger, even a bad barrel. Parts easy to get but very high priced, a new tumbler will run you 40.00 US , the fly 7.50 and a new barrel will get you hit with a 300.00 bill unless you get Cabelas to fix it for you
They both did sparked well though

 

[weasel]

:redthumb: I have the 45 and 50 both in flint, lock is excellent as are the triggers. my first flintlock whitetail was with the 50and a coyote also. the rifle is extremely easy to shoot offhand the front site will have to be filed about half way aint seen one yet that didn't shoot low out of the box. and speaking as a cabela's employee if ya aint happy take it back we'll give ya your money back or replace it.
weasel

 

I have a Blue Ridge flinter in 50 cal.I had to send it back once because it would not stay at half cock after about 50 shots because a spring was not temperd,I had the vent enlarged to 5/64,and the frizzen took so much effort to spring forward that I had the frizzen foot ground down so that it moved more easy.Once all these issues were taken care of it shot just fine.From what I hear,this isn't all that unusal for a flinter.They take a lot more tinkering than a cap gun,but I thought that Cabella could have taken care of some of these before selling the product.

 

[Keith]

I had one in .36. Sparked good but I never could get the main charge to go off. I think it was the position of the vent hole. If I am right you shouldn't have the problems I did because the vent will be positioned differently on the larger barrel. I sent it back to Cabella's and was refunded my money. It was a nice looking gun. The fit and finish was very good. The thimbles were held on by screws, not very PC if you care about that kind of thing. As I said the lock was darn good. :results:

 

I have a couple of friends that have purchased these guns and I have spent countless hours pouring over them fixing the varried problems.

Check this gun and make sure that you can get the stock against your cheek to line up the sights before you buy. The stock is totally mismatched on some individuals and they cannot get their heads low ehnough to see the sights.

The locks usually spark, but are small units and the spark seems to be sometimes cold.

The patient breech is extremely long and puts the main charge almost an inch away from the ignition source with the prime gharge required to travel down a 1/2" deep flash hole to reach the "powder chamber".

Neither of the guns I worked with would shoot at all when they arrived from the factory. These guns are badly engineered. Anyone that has a good one has the exception rather than the rule!

I know that you can "send them back to point A", "ask for a refund", "ask for a new gun", "get them to fix it", "this- that-and-the-other place stands behind teir products", call a friend with a drill".

:bull:

I do not want to spend my money on a product that is easy to repair or has a good service department, because it is broken, badly assembled or horribly engineered and will not work when I take it out of the box!

There are a dozen different guns that will work when you get them home, and cost no more than the piece of junk you are considering. You can get a GPR (I do not own one but it is the hands down forum favorite) for the same money!

Save yourself the misery.

 

and speaking as a cabela's employee if ya aint happy take it back we'll give ya your money back or replace it.
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Not always weasel

 

[lonewolf5347]

THAT WHY IT PAYS TO ASK :master:

 

[buck]

I don't know if you can blame cabela's for all these problems. While it sounds from the posts that the warranty is not always honored, these rifles are made and assymbled by pedersoli. I have two, a flint and a capper, and they do not say cabela's on them anywhere. Maybe cabela's buys the seconds or something but I think if this was true they would have to advertise them as such by law. I just think it harsh to blame the distributor instead of the manufacture for part quality. I assume you can trust cabelas, being a major distributor, but I must admit I have had problems with other companies but concerning traditions firearms. I think it is mostly luck of the draw, as non-custom guns are mass produced by humans in factories, which I am sure just love their jobs, and perform their duties with all their heart.( sarcasm there).


Everything in life is by chance. :imo:

 

[Slowpoke]

One of our club members brought one up to the range to shoot. It was a flintlock and the frizzen was very soft. He was using English black flint and it really chewed up the frizzen. After about 10 shots the lock refused to spark. I would lean towards the Great Plains rifle. It's a good starting rifle.

SP

 

[Rebel]

Ghost, i think you have the Blue Ridge and the Kentucky mixed up. The stock on the Blue Ridge doesn't have the Roman Nose comb like the Kentucky does. Also, the lock on the Blue Ridge is almost a Musket sized lock, uses a 7/8" flint, whereas the lock on the Kentucky is a real small, almost pistol size, lock, and uses a 5/8" flint.

 

[rich e]

I'm surprised so many have had problems with there Blue Ridge flinters, I have done nothing to mine xcept flip the flint over, Its a vary good shooter, really throws a shower of sparks, and almost feels like instintaneous ignition. The last time to the range I had to flip the flint over, but other than that its been a reliable shooter, I've let others try shooting it and they were surprised how quick it fires. Must be I got a keeper, Oh, mines a 50, forgot to mention that. :m2c:

 

I don

 

[Slowpoke]

Rich-e

Is yours relatively new or have you had it a few years.

SP

 

[rich e]

I guess I've had mine maybe 6 or 7 yrs, Cabelas had a close out sale on 'em in one of there catalogs, I believe it was around 249.00 or something like that. I wanted a 45cal, (there was an article on 'em in Muzzleloader Hunting). So I called about a 45, but all they had left was a 50 so I bought it. Its been a great shooting gun, and absolutely the fastest flintlock I've ever fired. I have a bunch of muzzleloaders, so I don't shoot this one all the time, But I have shot it enough if there was something bad about it it should of shown up by now.

 

[frontloader]

Ihave a Blue Ridge in 45 cal. had to do a little minor tuning on it. It shoot great now and shoot better then i can .

 

[swank]

I was shocked by all the negative comments regarding the Blue Ridge flinters. I am still a newbie to the whole rock+steel=bang thing so my opinion means little. However, all the previous posts regarding this gun seemed to be very supportive, so I bought a .50. Mine did cost just SLIGHTLY more from Cabelas than what Rich E paid though... :cry:

Thus far I have been thoroughly pleased with the gun. It fires everytime as long as the idiot on the butt end does all the things that he should. It does shoot a little low and as mentioned on a previous post, the ramrod leaves a little to be desired.

Overall though I think the Blue Ridge has been a great gun for me as beginner in the flint world. I am one owner that loves mine, perhaps I was just lucky. I have heard a few others who are more knowlegeable then myself also stating that they were satisfied with their Pedersoli's. :m2c:

Brad